Laura. 1944. Directed by Otto Preminger.

(7/25/00-7/27/00)

Clifton Webb's character Waldo Lydecker is what comes to mind most vividly when I think of Laura. We take delight in his shameless nastiness, his ability to revel in bad manners while seeming impeccably mannered and superior to all around him. His dialogue is brilliant and his delivery is completely worthy of it.

We first see Mr. Lydecker in a sunken bathtub greeting a police officer. I think he may be working at a typewriter. He is completely unflappable and in supreme command of the situaltion, making sarcastic remarks to the detective that most of us would not have the guts to say.

And yet, for all his wit and brilliance, Waldo is a pathetic man. He is very sexually vulnerable to a brilliant young woman. He befriends her, mentors her, and yet she keeps being attracted to younger men. She likes hunks, which is one thing Waldo isn't.

The thing that gets to me is that Waldo seems completely deceiving of this female. He has a lot to offer and yet, while his friendship is accepted, love seems to be out of the question. Whether they ever had sex is left an unanswered question.

Lydecker is another character who meets his downfall at the hands of a woman. When Laura is about to marry another man he attempts to kill her, actually taking another woman's life by mistake. At the end he attempts a second time to murder her. Unsatisfiable passion is the cause of his ruin. And I think that there really is love there because his sying words are a sad, "Goodbye, Laura."

The relationship between Laura, her fiance Shelby and the model Diane was confusing to me. I was never able to wuite see what was going on. Did Shelby really love Laura? Was he basically a nice guy or a creep? Was Laura attracted to him in spite of knowing better? Was Diane just throwing herself at him or was it something mutual? And what about the older woman who tells Laura that she should marry Shelby? "I know he's no good, but you can afford him," she says, or words to that effect. It all doesn't add up.

One relationship which is really interesting is that between the police detective and Laura. He becomes infatuated with her when he believes she is dead and bids on her portrait. This almost seems like a blueprint for Hitchcock's Vertigo, especially when it turns out that Laura is very much alive.

There is a haunting scene in which the detective, having fallen asleep in Laura's apartment, wakes up to find himself staring at the woman whose murder he has been investigating. Unfortunately, this scene doesn't play as well as it should. It hasn't been prepared for well enough--I don't think so, anyway. The real problem is that there is so much going on in this picture that it really doesn't have much of a chance for impact.

Waldo Lydecker sneers at the detective as he does at all of his other rivals. But his contempt is unwarranted. The detective seems to be quite competent in his field. He is certainly intelligent in his own way. I think Waldo's problem is showing a smug contempt for fleshiness while secretly craving it.

Still, as Waldo Lydecker Clifton Webb steals the show. He makes more of an impact than Gene Tierny's Laura. His great moment comes when he sees Laura alive and passes out on the floor. And it is enjoyable to see a young Vincent Price as Shelby Carpenter. It's too bad his character is so confusing.