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7[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laura_beautiful_painting_9448.jpg]]
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9->''"I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York. For with Laura's horrible death, I was alone. I, Waldo Lydecker, was the only one who really knew her..."''
10-->-- '''Waldo Lydecker'''
11
12New York City police detective Mark [=McPherson=] is investigating the murder of Laura Hunt, who had become one of the biggest names in the advertising business, thanks largely to the help and influence of her mentor, Waldo Lydecker. [=McPherson=] puts together the pieces that led up to the murder, and questions everyone from the dead woman's aunt to her fiancé, but finds himself slowly falling in love with the late Laura, particularly from staring at her portrait.
13
14''Laura'' is a 1943 novel by Vera Caspary. Originally, the story was supposed to be a play, but, after it failed to materialize, it was written into as a book. The novel was adapted by Creator/OttoPreminger into a classic [[TheFilmOfTheBook 1944 film]] starring Creator/GeneTierney as Laura, Creator/DanaAndrews as [=McPherson=], Creator/CliftonWebb as Lydecker, and Creator/VincentPrice as Laura's fiancé Shelby Carpenter. The film was one of the first to be labeled FilmNoir, being one of the TropeMakers of the genre. It was also later adapted into a TV play.
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16----
17!!Provides examples of:
18* AdaptationalCurves: In the film Waldo Lydecker is played by the very slim Clifton Webb, whereas in the book he is portrayed as obese.
19* AdaptationDeviation:
20** The film features a different murder weapon from the book.
21** The book has twin glass ornamental globes in Lydecker's and Laura's apartments. The movie replaces them with twin clocks [[spoiler:that were used to hide the murder weapon]].
22** In the book, Laura is painted wearing a hunting outfit. This outfit, plus the fact there are no pictures of anyone else in her apartment, serves to emphasize her self-reliance (an unusual thing in a woman of that era, and also an echo of author Vera Caspary's own self-reliance). In the movie, she is painted in a negligee, emphasizing her attractiveness.
23* ArtisticLicenseEngineering: The clocks' strike is a key plot point in the movie—but wind-up clocks need separate drive trains for moving the hands and striking the time, and so require two keyholes on the clock face. The prop clocks seen in the movie only have one keyhole, which would be for the hands; hence, they could not actually have struck the time.
24* BigNo: Bessie the maid lets out a very loud "NO!" after Mark arrests Laura for murder.
25%% * BunnyEarsLawyer: Mark always has his rolling ball maze on hand, causing no amount of annoyance to Waldo while he is being questioned.
26* CampStraight: Waldo has almost every gay mannerism you can think of, but is madly in love with Laura.
27* ChekhovsGun: The pair of identical clocks. [[spoiler:Waldo and Laura both have one in their homes. Mark finds a secret compartment in Waldo's, which Laura doesn't know exists on hers. That's where Waldo hides a shotgun for the final sequence.]]
28* ConspicuousConsumption: There is a montage of all the pretty and very expensive clothes Waldo bought Laura.
29* CrazyJealousGuy: Waldo seems to feel that no other man is worthy of Laura's affection. He uses his column to destroy the career of the painter of her portrait, openly loathes Shelby, chides Mark for his seeming posthumous interest in her, and, in the climax, we learn that [[spoiler:he was the murderer, driven to {{Yandere}} status by his obsession with Laura]].
30* TheDandy: Waldo has a very natty dress sense and is known for his walking stick and his white carnation.
31* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Mark first meets Waldo in Waldo's spacious bathroom, where Waldo is naked in the bath. This demonstrates Waldo's monolithic confidence in himself and need to dictate terms in all situations, whilst his luxurious apartment shows his [[ConspicuousConsumption wealth and pride in it]]. He even stands up naked, albeit only after Mark has handed him a washcloth and turned his back. It's also an EstablishingCharacterMoment for Mark [=McPherson=] as Waldo describes an incident when [=McPherson=] had a shoot-out with a gangster and won but was left with a silver shin-bone. This further demonstrates how well-read Waldo is and his need to be [[ControlFreak the narrator of life]].
32* {{Expy}}: In the novel, Waldo is based on the corpulent, AffablyEvil Count Fosco from Wilkie Collins' ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'' (which also influenced Caspary's use of SwitchingPOV). Averted in the movie, where Otto Preminger wanted a thin actor who wasn't ObviouslyEvil.
33* FaintInShock: Waldo collapses when [[spoiler: he sees Laura alive.]] He says that it's epilepsy and runs in the family.
34* FeminineWomenCanCook: Mark assumes career woman Laura won't be able to cook, and offers to make breakfast. Turns out she can cook extremely well.
35* FilmNoir: The film isn't really dark in theme, but has many of the style tropes of that genre.
36* {{Flashback}}: Much of the first half of the film is told this way, as other characters recount their relationships with Laura.
37* GoldDigger: Vincent Price's Shelby is a male example of this, first latching onto Laura, then onto her even more well-to-do aunt Ann (Judith Anderson). Ann, unlike Laura, fully understands this, and believes this is why she and Shelby are perfect for each other; she'll never expect him to be better than he is.
38* HardboiledDetective: [=McPherson=] affects this manner, despite being a legitimate [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops NYPD detective]]. Turns out [=McPherson=] isn't actually that hardboiled at all. This is lampshaded in the book, in which Laura echoes author Vera Caspary's own disdain for that type of detective.
39-->"In detective stories there are two kinds, the hardboiled ones who are always drunk and talk out the corners of their mouths and do it all by instinct; and the cold, dry, scientific kind who split hairs under a microscope."
40-->"Which do you prefer?"
41-->"Neither," she said. "I don’t like people who make their livings out of spying and poking into people’s lives. Detectives aren’t heroes to me, they're detestable."
42* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: Waldo tried to kill Laura for choosing another man over him.]]
43* ItsAllAboutMe: Waldo is highly self-centered, to the point that it sometimes falls squarely into AGodAmI territory. His recollections of Laura are all through the filter of how divinely awesome he is.
44-->"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention."
45* LoveAtFirstSight: Mark falls in love with Laura before he meets her, but it takes all of one day for Laura to start returning his affection and interest.
46* LoveBeforeFirstSight: Mark falls in love with Laura before he even meets her.
47* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Waldo's final speech confirms this in his case.]]
48* MaybeEverAfter: Mark is clearly in love with Laura, and she kisses him before the climactic confrontation, but then the film ends, albeit with her in his arms. Similarly for the BetaCouple, Ann is last seen comforting an appreciative Shelby.
49* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Laura has natural charisma and intelligence, but she was stuck as a lowly office worker before Waldo's guiding hand and networking connections gave her the boost she needed. [[spoiler:This fact also gives Waldo a sense of entitlement towards Laura, as he's the one who got her off the ground in the first place.]] Though, given how egotistical Waldo is, this might be a highly self-serving account by an UnreliableNarrator.
50* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Waldo Lydecker, the acerbically witty newspaper columnist, was modeled on Alexander Woolcott, a CausticCritic for ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' (who also served as the inspiration for Sheridan Whiteside in ''Theatre/TheManWhoCameToDinner'').
51* [[NiceGuy Nice Girl]]: Everyone loves Laura, with good reason; she's genuinely a nice and successful person.
52* PimpedOutCape: Laura wears a cape studded with pearls on the shoulder in one scene, and a mink cape in another.
53* PrettyInMink: The clothes Waldo buys Laura includes a few furs, including a fox wrap, a mink cape, and even a knee length fur skirt.
54* RedHerring: Ann seems the most suspicious of the earliest cast of characters, secretly seeing Shelby and not seeming all that troubled over Laura's murder soon after it happens. She's innocent, though.
55%%** [[spoiler:Shelby]] turns out to be a Red Herring.
56* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Laura's reaction upon getting home and being informed that she was murdered three days ago.
57* TheReveal: Laura being alive was a big twist, even if it came at the middle instead of the end.
58* SecondaryCharacterTitle: While she certainly drives the plot, Laura can in no way be considered the protagonist of this movie. That's Detective Mark [=McPherson=].
59* StartsWithTheirFuneral: The story starts with Laura's funeral, even though it turned out to be mistaken.
60* TheStoic: [=McPherson=] keeps his cool even under extreme provocation from Lydecker and others.
61** Waldo as well, barely flinching when the much bigger Shelby Carpenter goes to hit him, merely disguising his irritation by snarking at [=McPherson=] for playing with his puzzle. Throughout the film, while everyone else is afraid of being accused of Laura's murder, he never by word or gesture expresses guilt or nervousness. Even when Mark announces that Laura's attempted murderer is in the room and walks around, looking every person in the eye, most of them are terrified but Waldo remains completely unflappable. [[spoiler:Even more impressive, considering he did it]].
62* SwitchingPOV: In a structure influenced by Wilkie Collins' ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'', the novel uses multiple narrators, switching from Mark's point of view to Waldo's to Laura's.
63* UnreliableNarrator: One section of the book is narrated in first person by the character who is later revealed as the killer. Needless to say, this character never gets around in all that time to mentioning that ''they'' actually committed the crime, although nor do they ever say that they didn't.
64* WestminsterChimes: Laura's grandfather clock, which Waldo has a duplicate of, uses London's Westminster's chimes.

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