The Woman in the Window (1944 film)

Last updated

The Woman in the Window
WomanintheWindow.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Fritz Lang
Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson
Based onOnce Off Guard (1942)
by J. H. Wallis
Produced byNunnally Johnson
Starring Edward G. Robinson
Joan Bennett
Raymond Massey
Dan Duryea
Cinematography Milton R. Krasner
Edited by Gene Fowler Jr.
Marjorie Fowler
Music by Arthur Lange
Production
company
Distributed by RKO Pictures
Release date
  • November 3, 1944 (1944-11-03)(United States) [1]
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Woman in the Window is a 1944 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, and Dan Duryea. It tells the story of a psychology professor [2] (Edward G. Robinson) who meets a young femme fatale (Joan Bennett) and murders her lover in self-defense. [3]

Contents

Based on J. H. Wallis' 1942 novel Once Off Guard, the story features two surprise twists at the end. Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson, having written the script for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), was invited by International Pictures to a picture deal, and The Woman in the Window was chosen as its premiere project. There have been rumours that Lang substituted the film's dream ending in place of the originally scripted suicide ending to conform with the moralistic Production Code of the time. However, Lang claimed that it was his idea when asked directly in an interview. [4]

The term "film noir" originated as a genre description in part because of The Woman in the Window. [5]

Plot

After college professor Richard Wanley sends his wife and two children off on vacation, he goes to his club to meet friends. Next door, Wanley sees a striking oil portrait of Alice Reed in a storefront window. He and his friends talk about the beautiful painting and its subject. Wanley stays at the club and reads Song of Songs . When he leaves, Wanley stops at the portrait and meets Reed, who is standing near the painting watching people gaze at it. Reed convinces Wanley to join her for drinks.

Later, they go to Reed's home, but an unexpected visit from her rich clandestine lover Claude Mazard, known to Reed initially only as Frank Howard, leads to a fight in which Wanley kills Mazard in self-defense. Wanley and Reed conspire to cover up the murder, and Wanley disposes of Mazard's body in the country. However, Wanley leaves many clues, and there are a number of witnesses. One of Wanley's friends from the club, district attorney Frank Lalor, has knowledge of the investigation, and Wanley is invited back to the crime scene as Lalor's friend but not as a suspect. On several occasions, Wanley slips and says things that seem to indicate that he may know more about the murder than he should, but Lalor does not suspect Wanley.

As the police gather more evidence, Reed is blackmailed by Heidt, a crooked ex-cop who had been hired to follow Mazard. Wanley and Reed discuss the problem, and he concludes that the best way to deal with a blackmailer is to kill him. Wanley gives Reed prescription medicine in powder form for the murder. When Heidt arrives to collect his extorted payment, he suggests that she leave the country with him in exchange for forgetting about the crime. Reed plays along, but Heidt is suspicious when she insists he drink from his tainted cocktail. He angrily takes the money and leaves after deducing her plan. Reed calls Wanley to tell him of the failed attempt, causing him to overdose on the remaining prescription powder in a suicide attempt.

Meanwhile, Heidt is killed in a shootout immediately after leaving Reed's home, and police believe that Heidt is Mazard's murderer. Reed, seeing that the police have killed Heidt, races to her home to call Wanley, who is slumped over in his chair and apparently dies. In a match cut, Wanley awakens in his chair at his club, and he realizes that the entire ordeal was a dream in which employees from the club were the main characters. As he steps out on the street in front of the painting, a woman asks Wanley for a light. He adamantly refuses and runs down the street.

Cast

Production

As in Lang's Scarlet Street (1945), Robinson plays a lonely middle-aged man and Duryea and Bennett co-star as the criminal elements. The two films also share the same cinematographer (Milton R. Krasner) and several supporting actors.

In the final scene, Robinson wore a tear-away suit with his original suit underneath. The crew changed the set behind him to complete the return to his club while Robinson remained in the chair.

Reception

Critical response

Joan Bennett as Alice Reed The Woman in the Window 3.JPG
Joan Bennett as Alice Reed

When the film was released, the staff at Variety magazine lauded the film and wrote, "Nunnally Johnson whips up a strong and decidedly suspenseful murder melodrama in Woman in the Window. The producer, who also prepared the screenplay (from the novel Once off Guard by J.H. Wallis), continually punches across the suspense for constant and maximum audience reaction. Added are especially fine timing in the direction by Fritz Lang and outstanding performances by Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey and Dan Duryea." [6]

The film holds a 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of May 2022. [7] In August 2015, the online entertainment magazine Paste named the film the best film noir of all time. [8]

Awards

At the 18th Academy Awards, The Woman in the Window was nominated for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture for Hugo Friedhofer and Arthur Lange. However, Miklós Rózsa won the award for Spellbound (1945). [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fritz Lang</span> Austrian filmmaker (1890–1976)

Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, better known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States. One of the best-known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Massey</span> Canadian actor

Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He reprised his role as Lincoln on television and in How the West Was Won (1962). Among his other well-known roles were Dr. Gillespie in the NBC television series Dr. Kildare (1961–1966), John Brown in Santa Fe Trail (1940) and Seven Angry Men (1955), Abraham Farlan in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), and Jonathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

<i>Scarlet Street</i> 1945 film by Fritz Lang

Scarlet Street is a 1945 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The screenplay concerns two criminals who take advantage of a middle-aged painter in order to steal his artwork. The film is based on the French novel La Chienne by Georges de La Fouchardière, which had been previously dramatized on stage by André Mouëzy-Éon, and cinematically as La Chienne (1931) by director Jean Renoir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward G. Robinson</span> American actor (1893–1973)

Edward G. Robinson was an American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays, and more than 100 films, during a 50-year career, and is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as gangsters in such films as Little Caesar and Key Largo. During his career, Robinson received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in House of Strangers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Bennett</span> American actress (1910–1990)

Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film, and television actress, one of three acting sisters from a show-business family. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 films from the era of silent films, well into the sound era. She is best remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's films—including Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945)—and for her television role as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the gothic 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy nomination in 1968.

<i>Arsenic and Old Lace</i> (film) 1944 film by Frank Capra

Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 American screwball mystery black comedy film directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant. The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein is based on Joseph Kesselring's 1941 play of the same name. The contract with the play's producers stipulated that the film would not be released until the Broadway run ended. The original planned release date was September 30, 1942. The play was hugely successful, running for three and a half years, so the film was not released until 1944.

<i>The Big Heat</i> 1953 American film noir crime film by Fritz Lang

The Big Heat is a 1953 American film noir crime film directed by Fritz Lang starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Jocelyn Brando about a cop who takes on the crime syndicate that controls his city.

<i>The Blue Gardenia</i> 1953 film by Fritz Lang

The Blue Gardenia is a 1953 American film noir starring Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, and Ann Sothern. Directed by Fritz Lang from a screenplay by Charles Hoffman, it is based on the novella The Gardenia by Vera Caspary.

<i>The Sound of Fury</i> (film) 1950 film by Cy Endfield

The Sound of Fury is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Cy Endfield and starring Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson. The film is based on the 1947 novel The Condemned by Jo Pagano, who also wrote the screenplay.

<i>Lady on a Train</i> 1945 film by Charles David

Lady on a Train is a 1945 American light-hearted comedy crime film noir directed by Charles David and starring Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, and David Bruce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Stewart filmography</span> List of films 1934–1991

James Stewart was a prolific American actor who appeared in a variety of film roles in Hollywood, primarily of the Golden Age of Hollywood. From the beginning of his film career in 1934 through his final theatrical project in 1991, Stewart appeared in more than 92 films, television programs, and short subjects.

<i>Ministry of Fear</i> 1944 film by Fritz Lang

Ministry of Fear is a 1944 American spy thriller film noir directed by Fritz Lang, and starring Ray Milland and Marjorie Reynolds. Based on the 1943 novel by Graham Greene, the film tells the story of a man just released from a mental asylum who finds himself caught up in an international spy ring and pursued by Nazi agents after inadvertently receiving something they want. The original music for the film was composed by Victor Young.

<i>Secret Beyond the Door</i> 1947 film by Fritz Lang

Secret Beyond the Door is a 1947 American film noir psychological thriller and a modern updating of the Bluebeard fairytale, directed by Fritz Lang, produced by Lang's Diana Productions, and released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Joan Bennett and was produced by her husband Walter Wanger. The black-and-white film noir drama is about a woman who suspects her new husband, an architect, plans to kill her.

<i>The Brasher Doubloon</i> 1947 American crime film noir by John Brahm

The Brasher Doubloon is a 1947 American crime film noir directed by John Brahm and starring George Montgomery and Nancy Guild. It is based on the 1942 novel The High Window by Raymond Chandler.

<i>Woman on the Run</i> 1950 film by Norman Foster

Woman on the Run is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Norman Foster and starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe. The film was based on the April 1948 short story "Man on the Run" by Sylvia Tate and filmed on location in San Francisco.

<i>Beyond a Reasonable Doubt</i> (1956 film) 1956 American film directed by Fritz Lang

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a 1956 American film noir legal drama directed by Fritz Lang and written by Douglas Morrow. The film stars Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer, and Arthur Franz. It was Lang's second film for producer Bert E. Friedlob, and the last American film he directed.

<i>You Only Live Once</i> (1937 film) 1937 film by Fritz Lang

You Only Live Once is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda. Considered an early film noir, the film was the second directed by Lang in the United States. At least 15 minutes were trimmed from the original 100-minute version of the film due to its then unprecedented violence. Despite the removal of such scenes, the film is widely considered an early film noir classic. The film is also known for being one of the first box-office bombs.

<i>The Black Vampire</i> 1953 Argentine film

The Black Vampire is a 1953 Argentine film noir directed by Román Viñoly Barreto, starring Olga Zubarry and Roberto Escalada. It is inspired by Fritz Lang's M.

<i>Man Hunt</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Fritz Lang

Man Hunt is a 1941 American political thriller film, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett. It is based on the 1939 novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household and is set in Europe just prior to the Second World War. Lang had fled Germany into exile in 1933 and this was the first of his four anti-Nazi films, which include Ministry of Fear, Hangmen Also Die!, and Cloak and Dagger. It was Roddy McDowall's first Hollywood film after escaping London following the Blitz. Man Hunt was one of many films released in 1941 that were considered so pro-British that they influenced neutral members of the U.S. public to sympathize with the British side in World War II.

Wanley is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

References

  1. ↑ "The Woman in the Window: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ Biesen, Sheri Chinen (2005). Blackout: World War II and the origins of film noir. Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN   978-0-8018-8218-0
  3. ↑ The Woman in the Window at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films .
  4. ↑ Lang, Fritz (2003). Fritz Lang: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN   9781578065776.
  5. ↑ Silver, Alain, and Elizabeth Ward, eds. Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, page 1, 3rd edition, 1992. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press. ISBN   0-87951-479-5.
  6. ↑ Variety. Staff film review, 1945. Accessed: August 14, 2013.
  7. ↑ "The Woman in the Window". Rotten Tomatoes. 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  8. ↑ "The 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time". Paste. August 9, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ 1946 Academy Award nominations and winners for films released in 1945 at Oscar.org

Streaming audio

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.