
directed by Otto Preminger
. It stars Gene Tierney
, Dana Andrews
and Clifton Webb
. The screenplay by Jay Dratler
, Samuel Hoffenstein
, and Elizabeth Reinhardt is based on the 1943 novel of the same title
by Vera Caspary
.
In 1999, Laura was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute
ranked the film #73 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, the score #7 in AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
, and it was ranked the fourth best film in the mystery genre in AFI's 10 Top 10
.
New York City
police detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews
) is investigating the murder of beautiful and highly successful advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney
), who'd been killed by a shotgun blast to the face just inside the doorway to her apartment before the start of the film.
I know you'll have to visit everyone on your list of suspects. I like to study their reactions.
To have overlooked me would have been a pointed insult.
If you know anything about faces, look at mine. How singularly innocent I look this morning. Have you ever seen such candid eyes?
This is our table, Laura's and mine. We spent many quiet evenings here together.
[to Laura] Young woman, either you have been raised in some incredibly rustic community where good manners are unknown or you suffer from the common feminine delusion that the mere fact of being a woman exempts you from the rules of civilized conduct, or possibly both.
[to Laura] I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.....I'll neither consider, endorse, or use the Wallace pen. I hate pens. If your employers wish me to publish that statement in my column, you may tell them that I shall be delighted to oblige.
She had something about her, that girl. I had to speak to her again. I had to see her.
[to Laura] I wish to point out that you caught me at my most difficult moment. Ordinarily, I am not without a heart...Shall I produce X-ray pictures to prove it? I wish to apologize...And now, for reasons which are too embarrassing to mention, I'd like to endorse that pen.