RKO
Radio Pictures, 99m 34s
After
he sees his family out of town, Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) plans to
enjoy a few drinks and cigars amongst friends. On his way to The Burgher's
Club, the somewhat meek assistant psychology professor becomes enchanted with
an idealistic portrait in a gallery window of a lovely young woman. He seems a
bit uncertain as to why he is so drawn to the image, but so he is, and his
amused friends cannot blame him. Sometimes the woman's portrait in the film noir acts as a gateway drug to the
dark side, where an inexorable downward spiral ensues. That is the underlying
theme of this finely crafted noir
work from 1944, one of the most important years of the genre, frontloaded with
such gems as DOUBLE INDEMNITY, MURDER MY SWEET, LAURA and PHANTOM LADY.
Over
alcoholic beverages that surely influence the story to come, Richard converses
with pals District Attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey) and Dr. Michael
Barkstane (Edmund Breon). The three men lament the aging process and its
associated limitations, especially in terms of the pleasures of younger women.
Frank opines, "We're like athletes who are out of condition. We can't
handle that sort of thing anymore." After his comrades retire for the
evening, Richard opens the book THE SONG OF SONGS WHICH IS SOLOMON'S, a
celebration of unbridled love between man and woman. Later that evening,
Richard cannot resist the magnetic pull next door of the portrait he found so
evocative of female charms. Such framed perfection in the film noir almost always hints at a woman not easily contained or
understood, as is the lesson of the same year's LAURA. With his second viewing of the framed beauty, this time
Richard is stunned to notice the manifestation of the actual countenance of the
model who posed for the oil painting. That woman is Alice Reed (Joan Bennett),
and without a doubt she is better looking than the painting. Despite all the
admiration in the world for her classic looks, Richard has so little idea how
to proceed that Alice picks him up,
not the other way. That is the major tip-off we are watching a male fantasy
unfold, where a reluctant man is targeted by an attractive younger female.
Fantasy meets reality in THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW |
A
creature of the night, Alice does not consider 11 PM late, as Richard does. A
drink at a bar soon leads to her apartment, where she promises more artwork
that depicts her. What neither of them foresee is an impromptu visit from
Alice's brutish sugar daddy Frank (Arthur Loft), whose arrival is accompanied
by heavy rainfall, a recurring backdrop of uncertainty in the noir film. Frank promptly attacks the
man he sees as his rival, and Richard defends himself with a pair of scissors
provided by Alice. The net-net is a sizable dead body and an awfully tough
situation for Richard and Alice to consider. The sudden problem of a corpse in
an apartment building catapults the unlikely couple deep into the unforgiving film noir orbit. Richard ever so briefly
considers notifying the police, but it is not long before he makes his debut in
the body disposal business while a thunderstorm rages in the background. As
Richard drives off into the night with a lifeless body to dump, there is a cut
to a fascinating composition of Alice, who observes from her apartment window.
Completely washed away is the romanticized version of Alice depicted in the painting.
Now an accessory to murder, her replacement image is obscured by rainfall and
contradicts what her idealized likeness had suggested early in the film.
Alice through the looking glass |
Without
much delay, the discarded body of Alice's benefactor is discovered by a Boy
Scout (George "Spanky" McFarland). The case captures the interest of
Richard's friend the D.A., who soon connects with Inspector Jackson (Thomas E.
Jackson) of the homicide division. What plays out from that point only can be
described as the worst imaginable predicament for Richard, who has little
choice but to observe as the case is investigated right in front of him! Essentially
the same thing happens to Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, with hard-boiled claims investigator Barton Keyes
(Robinson) unaware for much of his search how close he already is to the offender.
The shoe is on the other foot here, as THE
WOMAN IN THE WINDOW casts Robinson in the role of the man under scrutiny
who looks more guilty with every passing minute.
Despite
an ending that smacks of Production Code compliance, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW encapsulates standard film noir themes throughout its mostly nightmarish narrative. The
film takes a hard line on men who contemplate a life outside of traditional
family values. From the early going, the many temptations that test Richard
revolve around his absent family. Without his wife and children home to keep
him honest, Richard drinks more than usual and stays out later than what would
be typical, which leads to a one-on-one situation with an enticing woman. Fate
often brings a heavy hand down on such errant men in the film noir, where self-assured, sexy women like Alice are best kept
at a distance. Another enormous red flag and noir trope is Alice's mysterious man with multiple identities
(Frank Howard / Claude Mazard). One thing swiftly leads to another in Richard's
parabolic decline, as advanced police investigation techniques all but assure
his eventual arrest and conviction. Beyond THE
WOMAN IN THE WINDOW and its progenitor DOUBLE
INDEMNITY, other film noirs in
which a man must watch his own crime case gradually solved include WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950) and SCANDAL SHEET (1952). The template is
well suited to the noir genre, where
the protagonist's sense of paranoia is seldom without validity.
Family pics become more prominent each time Alice calls Richard |
Set
in New York, though filmed mostly on soundstages, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW was written for the screen by producer
Nunnally Johnson, who adapted the best-selling novel ONCE OFF GUARD (1942) by
J.H. Wallis. Johnson had founded his own independent production company
International Pictures, and THE WOMAN IN
THE WINDOW became its top priority. The already incredibly accomplished
director Fritz Lang was the filmmaker behind M (1931), perhaps the very first film noir, and absolutely one of the most influential. This time
out Lang gets plenty out of his leads Robinson and Bennett, and superb
supporting work from Dan Duryea as Heidt, the dirty ex-cop wise to Alice. The
screen chemistry between Bennett and Duryea is sensational, and would continue
in Lang's subsequent noir masterpiece
SCARLET STREET (1945), which
reteamed Robinson, Bennett and Duryea, as well as talented cinematographer
Milton R. Krasner. Besides their common contributors and some shared plot
points, both THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
and SCARLET STREET revolve around
portraits that come to life (in SCARLET
STREET it happens twice, first literally then figuratively). LUX RADIO
THEATER produced a 60 minute radio adaptation of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW on June 25, 1945. Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea
assumed their film roles.
Remastered
in HD and framed at 1.34:1, the new Kino Lorber single-layered Blu-ray edition
of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW vastly
improves upon the screen output generated by the MGM Home Video DVD released
back in 2007. Though an obvious upgrade, this new presentation does fall a
little short of perfection. Gatefloat can be a little nagging, various vertical
scratches are apparent, and damaged film elements are intrusive at times
(especially at 19m 43s).
Kino Lorber Blu-ray |
MGM DVD |
The
newly recorded audio commentary track features film historian Imogen Sara
Smith, author of IN LONELY PLACES: FILM NOIR BEYOND THE CITY (2011). Smith
labels THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW among
the first of the new type of crime thriller French critics would deem film noir. Though many have derided the
ending that recalls THE WIZARD OF OZ
(1939), she builds a solid case for the conclusion in a Freudian sense. If a
man even fantasizes about an affair with a beautiful woman, he subconsciously
believes he must be punished, thus desire and fear are inseparable. Especially
upon repeat viewings, the ending fits perfectly well given the events that lead
to it. The sequence in which Alice suddenly springs to life from her portrait
is the stuff of dreams, not reality. The same goes for her attraction to
Richard, which even for the movies stretches plausibility. Smith also notes the
repeated use of reflected images that suggest an alternate reality. Another
good point from Smith is that Alice is not a pure femme fatale, since she does
not deliberately set out to destroy men. The classic femme fatale appears weak
only to prove strong later, i.e. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) from DOUBLE INDEMNITY.
In
a discussion that dovetails with the Me Too movement, Smith confirms Fritz Lang
was one of numerous abusive directors of the studio system era. He would be
particularly tough on those who could not defend themselves, but would be less
domineering over stars who maintained clout with studio brass. Smith also
recounts the scandal that crushed Bennett's career like a steamroller. On the
afternoon of December 13, 1951, Bennett's agent Jennings Lang was shot twice
(below the waist!) by Bennett's husband Walter Wanger, who suspected his wife was having
an affair with her business associate. Wanger served a mere four-month sentence
for his crime, and then returned to a successful career as a movie producer.
Though she denied any romantic involvement with her agent, Bennett found roles
hard to come by after the incident, which sadly suggests implied adultery is
worse than attempted murder.
The
disc includes a trailer for the featured title as well as trailers for DAISY KENYON (1947), CRY OF THE CITY (1948), 99 RIVER STREET (1953) and A BULLET FOR JOEY (1955).
Good review.
ReplyDeleteThat ending. It has been called everything from copout to disaster to indefensible rubbish because it doesn't play by the rules. But the ending doesn't come out of left field. The stage is clearly set for a hallucinatory dream. Alice appears out of nowhere like a ghostly apparition, she materializes out of “unreality”. It's a magic trick. The audience should have been forwarded but I guess everybody - including me - completely ignored it.
BTW, I never heard that Lang was supposedly abusive. From what I read he was just the opposite. I don't know the commentary by Imogen Sara Smith but I wonder if it's not changing the narrative years after the fact.
Thanks for reading. I had read before that Lang was not the easiest guy to work with, and that he was a control freak.
ReplyDeleteGood readinng
ReplyDelete