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> The Woman in the Window (MGM Film Noir) |
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Staring:
Edward G. Robinson,
Joan Bennett,
Raymond Massey,
Edmund Breon,
Dan Duryea
Director:
Fritz Lang
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $14.95
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: ROBINSON,EDWARD G
EAN: 0027616081070
Format: Black & White, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-07-10
Running Time: 107
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1944-11-03 |
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Product Description
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 10-JUL-2007
Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com
Fritz Lang did his best work in Hollywood throughout the 1940s, and The Woman in the Window ranks among his best films from that period. Equally adept at crafting first-rate Westerns and melodramatic thrillers, Lang returned to the latter category for The Woman in the Window, a deliciously devious follow-up to 1944's Ministry of Fear and a near-perfect companion piece to Lang's 1945 follow-up, Scarlet Street. Adapted by producer/screenwriter Nunnally Johnson from J.H. Wallis's novel Once Off Guard, this briskly paced and brilliantly plotted thriller begins with a chance encounter between mild-mannered psychology professor Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) and Alice Reed (Joan Bennett), the stylishly alluring subject of a portrait that Wanley has dreamily admired in a window near the men's club where he socializes with a savvy District Attorney (Raymond Massey) and a friendly physician (Edmund Breon). When Alice invites Wanley to her apartment for casual drinks and conversation, Wanley is forced to kill an intruder, and his subsequent cover-up leads to a nail-biting plot in which Wanley must feign innocence as he "innocently" participates in the D.A.'s investigation with a homicide detective. Lang was an expert at turning the screws of suspense, and while Johnson's screenplay tempers its convenient coincidences with well-written characters, Robinson's increasing desperation is the engine that drives the plot. When a sleazy blackmailer (Dan Duryea) squeezes Wanley and Reed for every penny they've got, The Woman in the Window winds up to a fever pitch, with a "twist" ending that's either a cop-out or clever, depending on your tolerance for now-familiar surprises. As renowned critic Pauline Kael astutely noted, The Woman in the Window has "the logic and plausibility of a nightmare," and Lang surely enjoyed the superbly cast trio of Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea, for he invited them back for Scarlet Street just a few months later. And speaking of murder, check out the kid playing Robinson's son in one of the opening scenes: that's future real-life murder-conspiracy suspect Bobby (Robert) Blake (subsequently acquitted), at the innocent age of 10. --Jeff Shannon
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 Careful--slippery ending ahead, 2010-04-18
I won't be a spoilsport and give away the ending...but I will say that this film has a trick finish that pretty much defines the term "deus ex machina." (The "machina" in this case being the typewriter of a particularly cheesy, unscrupulous Hollywood scriptwriter.) With a bit of thought, one sees the sense of the whole thing...but IMO, no matter what writer and director were thinking, the "ending" is simply a dramatic cheat. This is one film noir where the old switcheroo happens not to some patsy in the film--but to the poor sucker watching the movie!
You've been warned.
Excellent!, 2009-07-15
What this proves is that you don't need a budget of millions of dollars, fantastic special effects, multi-million dollar stars, or even color to make an excellent movie.
This is classic film noir, with wonderful acting and lots of suspense.
What I liked about it:
1) I thought the acting was excellent, with good performance from everyone.
2) It doesn't hurt that Joan Bennett was a babe. She was definitely sultry and that see through negligee didn't hurt either. I loved the period dresses, and her deep voice was wonderful. Correct me if I'm wrong but you don't hear those kind of voices in movies anymore. Anyway, rule #1, always make sure you have a babe in your movie.
3) I thought the plot was great, it was slow going at the very beginning but we were drawn on more and more and deeper into the plot as the movie progressed. I'm sure that a lot of CSI fans cringed as the all those mistakes were made and I'm sure that they knew that even in 1945!
4) You just can't beat the classic film noir atmosphere. I'm even thinking some modern producer should try and re-create a new movie like that. Unlike 1960's or 1970's movies, these 1940's movies are just retro enough to be hip.
5) Loved all the extra bits, the old cars, the natty police uniforms, buildings, the acting, even the way people wore suits with ties at home!
Watching this movie is just like going back in a time machine for 60 years. If you are any kind of movie buff and haven't yet experienced film noir, you should try this movie. Even better than some of the so called classics - highly recommended.
One of the great film noirs, 2009-10-02
The war years saw Hollywood's leading men unavailable - Clark Gable, James Stewart, and many others, were otherwise occupied. At this point, some of the better character actors stepped up to starring roles they might not otherwise have gotten. The darkness of the war years also did a bit to loosen the grip of the production code by allowing darker plots than would otherwise pass inspection, but the evildoers still had to be punished in the end. This began the trend of "film noir" - related to their predecessors, the precodes, by examining the seedy side of life, but emphasizing the duality of man's nature rather than the sexual angles and the evolving roles of women and men in society as the films of the early 30's tended to do.
"The Woman in the Window" is a great film noir starring the great Edward G. Robinson as a mild mannered New York City professor. He packs his wife and kids off to the country at the beginning of the summer as was the custom back before the days of air conditioning, and he begins his three month bachelorhood by joining two friends at his private club, one of which is D.A. Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey). Before entering his club, though, he appreciates a painting of a beautiful woman, "the woman in the window". His two friends see him staring, kid him about it, and they proceed to have a conversation in which the D.A. talks about how many cases he sees in which a small wrong step by an ordinarily law-abiding citizen leads to major crime.
The rest of the film is basically a demonstration of what the D.A. spoke about when you mix Robinson's mild professor with the actual flirtatious woman in the window (Joan Bennett), add a case of homicide in self-defense under seemingly scandalous circumstances where there is no way to prove self-defense, and finally introduce a seedy blackmailing P.I. (Dan Duryea) into the mix. The film has many twists and turns and you can feel your guts wrenching along with Robinson's as he watches the police come closer and closer to his door with every update he gets from his friend the D.A. who thinks he is just sharing an interesting case with a professor of criminology.
The end then takes a sharp turn and totally surprises you.
This film was so good that Fritz Lang followed it up the following year with an even better effort - Scarlet Street - with Robinson, Duryea, and Bennett playing similar parts as they did in this film. There's even a painting as a central plot point in this second film as well.
The video and audio are terrific quality in this film. My only complaint is the same one I have with most MGM classic releases - absolutely no extras whatsoever. All you have are scene selections and alternate language selections. Highly recommended anyways, but be sure you follow it up by watching "Scarlet Street".
A must see!!!!, 2010-02-14
I think this is one of the best movies not talked about. Family film which puts thriller back where it belongs.The ending, the ending so worth the wait! I have shown this movie to most of my friends and it's contagious. I have ordered more movies of this era in hopes of getting the same thrill. I hope everybody puts this gem in their collection!!!
early Lang noir plays around with the style while the style was just getting going, 2009-12-09
** Some SPOILERS contained in this review which I feel are unavoidable **
It's interesting in retrospect that Fritz Lang, the director more than any other associated with the shadowy and deterministic world of film noir started off his noir period with this (relatively) sunny, funny, and even playful film that seems to poke fun at the whole criminal-detective genre all the while offering a riveting example of it. I suspect that most viewers won't guess the "twist" ending on their first viewings, but careful rewatches show it to be fairly logical and not the throw-you-for-a-loop that some less-kind viewers have seen it as.
Professor of Psychology Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) is seen giving a lecture on the psychology of murder, after which he sees his wife and kids off for their weekend in the country, and then goes to meet a couple of old friends at his club, just outside of which he admires a mysterious portrait painting of a beautiful young woman. One of his friends is a District Attorney (Raymond Massey) and the talk amongst the group inevitably turns to such subjects as crime, their growing infirmities as they move through middle age, the dangers of too much alcohol, the desires of infirm flesh and minds. Wanley retires to a favorite chair to read, desiring to be reminded when it is 10:30.
At the appointed hour, the Professor leaves the club, pausing once more to admire the mysterious portrait - but this time encountering the model who posed for it, the equally beautiful Alice Reed (Joan Bennett). Having had a little too much, the Professor unwisely accompanies Miss Reed to her apartment to look at more paintings - but they are unfortunately surprised by her lover, "Frank", a fight ensues, and Frank is dead with scissors in the back. The calm and rational Professor must now think through the best way for the two of them to beat the rap, disguise the crime, dispose of the body....but of course his friend the District Attorney is involved, as is blackmailer Heidt (Dan Duryea). Soon it appears there may be more blood on Wanley's hands, and can he really trust Miss Reed, who he has only known for hours? It all seems rather absurd...and perhaps it is.
The suspense keeps building - at every moment the Professor stays calm, though Miss Reed gets more and more upset, but at every moment the noose seems to get closer - and Wanley himself helps to tighten it as he keeps making strange, knowing comments in front of DA and police. Yet he appears too calm, and everything seems just a little too by the book, so it might strike us as a little too obvious when he finally chooses to take just a bit too much of his powerful heart medicine, and we see him slumped over in his chair, apparently....dreaming. He gets up, exits the club, can't help but notice the painting, but this time when a beautiful model walks up to him, he knows better than to stop and get involved in what might be just a moment's conversation...or an adventure ending in the gallows!
What's terrific here most of all is the playing around with conventions both of the kinds of characters we associate with these films - Massey's DA in particular seems like he's in on the whole `joke' at various points, and the subject that Robinson teaches, psychology, plays into both his own psychology as he coolly tries to find a way out of the mess - and that of the filmmakers and viewers, as we cast our critical gazes on the story and ultimately might decide that it's all a little too pat. Of course it is, and the film acknowledges this more than once as Robinson seems almost eager to give himself away - but it always just gets to the brink of self-parody, never quite crossing it; if this is among the most self-conscious of films noir, it's also one of the most fun to re-watch and re-analyze, even after one knows the gimmick.
Superbly photographed, very much a "Hollywood-New York" film, done all on sets, but in this case the artificial reality of it all affords the dream-logic of the film a perfect setting. It's nice to see Robinson play someone largely competent, a nice guy caught up by circumstance; Bennett, too, is more a "normal" character than usual. Duryea's usual greasiness and Massey's sardonic humor round things out nicely; certainly up to the director's usual standards. Followed the next year by Lang's SCARLET STREET with the same three principal cast members (Bennett, Robinson, Duryea) and director of photography (Milton Krasner).
The solid KINO DVD release looks great, but offers nothing in the way of extras.
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