Laura · reception & legacy

1944 · Otto Preminger

How Laura has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A hit on release in 1944 — five Oscar nominations, a win for its cinematography — and it never really left; it's only climbed, from studio mystery to arguably THE gateway film noir.

What's debated

Cinephiles still argue over whether Laura is truly a noir at all — a glossy, drawing-room whodunit wearing noir's shadows — and over the long-standing 'it's all a dream' reading of the second half.

Its footprint

David Raksin's haunting theme became a jazz standard recorded hundreds of times, Waldo Lydecker's venomous one-liners ('I write with a goose quill dipped in venom') get quoted endlessly, and the portrait of Laura is one of cinema's most referenced images — David Lynch tipped his hat by naming Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer in its shadow.

Where it stands

Firmly in the 'you must have seen this' tier of the noir canon — a perennial Letterboxd favourite and the classic answer to 'where do I start with film noir?'

★ Did you know? Otto Preminger was originally only the producer — Rouben Mamoulian directed first, but was fired weeks into shooting and Preminger took over, re-shooting much of the film; the result got him his first Best Director Oscar nomination.