In case you just tuned in, I’m using Louella Parsons’ May 15, 1944, item on Rouben Mamoulian being replaced as the director of “Laura” to take a meandering look at the making of the film, which was released in Los Angeles in November 1944.
The previous 30 posts have been devoted to the writing career of “Laura” novelist Vera Caspary, the state of the detective story in 1941, when she was writing the novel, the locations Caspary used in the book and examinations of the major and minor characters.
The all too obvious question in this exercise is “Why study ‘Laura?’ ” or more precisely “Why not ‘Double Indemnity?’ ” Both movies were released in 1944 and of the two, “Double Indemnity” is a better book – though still somewhat problematic – and the film is much darker and has more of a claim to film noir. James M. Cain, the author of “Double Indemnity,” was a far more skilled novelist than Caspary and the screenplay was adapted by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, in contrast to the teams of writers brought in to beat the “Laura” script into shape.
The Making of “Laura” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
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