The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Fritz Lang
Produced by	Nunnally Johnson
Screenplay by	Nunnally Johnson
Story by	J. H. Wallis
Starring	Edward G. Robinson Joan Bennett Raymond Massey Dan Duryea
Music by	Arthur Lange
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Editing by	Gene Fowler Jr. Marjorie Johnson
Studio	International Pictures
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)	November 3, 1944
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Woman in the Window (1944) is a film noir directed by Fritz Lang that tells the story of psychology professor Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) who meets and becomes enamored with a young femme fatale.

Based on J. H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the story features two surprise twists at the end. Scriptwriter Nunnally Johnson founded International Pictures (his own independent production company) after writing successful films such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and other John Ford films, and chose The Woman in the Window as its premiere project. Director Fritz Lang substituted the film's dream ending in place of the originally scripted suicide ending, to conform with the moralistic Production Code of the time.

The term "film noir" originated as a genre description, in part, because of this movie. The term first was applied to American films in French film magazines in 1946, the year when The Maltese Falcon (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Laura (1944), Murder, My Sweet (1944), and The Woman in the Window were released in France.

Plot

After psychology professor Richard Wanley sends his wife and two children off on vacation, he goes to his club to meet friends. Next door, Wanley sees a striking oil portrait of Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) in a storefront window. He and his friends talk about the beautiful painting and its subject, and they encourage Wanley to join them for a late evening. Wanley stays at the club and reads Song of Songs. When he leaves, Wanley stops at the portrait and meets Reed, who is standing near the painting watching people watch it. Reed convinces Wanley to join her for drinks. Later, they go to Reed's home, but an unexpected visit from her rich lover Claude Mazard (Arthur Loft) leads to a fight in which Wanley kills Mazard. Wanley and Reed conspire to cover up the murder, and Wanley disposes Mazard's body in the country. However, Wanley leaves many clues, and there are a number of witnesses. One of Wanley's friends from the club, district attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey) has knowledge of the investigation, and Wanley is invited back to the crime scene, as Lalor's friend, but not as a suspect. As the police gather more evidence, Reed is blackmailed by Heidt (Dan Duryea), a crooked ex-cop who was Mazard's bodyguard. Reed attempts to poison Heidt with a prescription overdose when he returns the next day, but Heidt is suspicious and takes the money without drinking the drugs. Reed tells Wanley, who overdoses on the remaining prescription medicine. Heidt is killed in a shootout immediately after leaving Reed's home, and police believe Heidt is Mazard's murderer. Reed races to her home to call Wanley, who is slumped over in his chair. In a match cut, Wanley awakens in his chair at his club, and he realizes the entire adventure was a dream in which employees from the club were main characters in the dream. As he steps out on the street in front of the painting, a woman asks Wanley for a light. He adamantly refuses and runs down the street.

Cast

• Edward G. Robinson as Professor Richard Wanley
• Joan Bennett as Alice Reed
• Raymond Massey as Dist. Atty. Frank Lalor
• Edmund Breon as Dr. Michael Barkstane
• Dan Duryea as Heidt/Tim, the Doorman
• Thomas E. Jackson as Inspector Jackson, Homicide Bureau
• Dorothy Peterson as Mrs. Wanley
• Arthur Loft as Claude Mazard/Frank Howard/Charlie the Hat check Man
• Frank Dawson as Collins, the Steward

Background

As in Lang's Scarlet Street, released a year later, Edward G. Robinson plays the lonely middle-aged man and Duryea and Bennett co-star as the criminal elements. The Woman in the Window also features Raymond Massey as the District Attorney, a friend of Wanley.

Critical reception

Joan Bennett as Alice Reed

When the film was released, the staff at Variety magazine lauded the film and wrote, "Nunnally Johnson whips up a strong and decidedly suspenseful murder melodrama in Woman in the Window. Producer, who also prepared the screenplay (from the novel Once off Guard by J.H. Wallis) continually punches across the suspense for constant and maximum audience reaction. Added are especially fine timing in the direction by Fritz Lang and outstanding performances by Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey and Dan Duryea."

Film critic Dennis Schwartz also liked the film, writing, "The film was suspenseful, ably directed by Lang, and filled with all kinds of Freudian psychological interpretations about sexual repressions. The dark camera shots and jittery angles caught by cinematographer Milton Krasner, added to the tension seen in Robinson's internal struggle. The performances by the stars was superb. That the Robinson character made one wrong move in his life and had to pay for it, shows how even the most innocent type of person is capable of murder if he's faced with the right circumstances. The only thing I didn't care for was the surprise ending. It seemed to be tacked onto the story not for its artistic merit but as a Hollywood "Production Code" decision not to ruffle feathers about sexual misconduct."

See also

• 1944 in film
• List of American films of 1944

External links

• John Walker. (2009) "The Woman in the Window (1944) film review". artdesigncafe.
• The Woman in the Window at the Internet Movie Database
• The Woman in the Window at the TCM Movie Database
• The Woman in the Window film trailer at You Tube
• "The Woman in the Window": an interpretation.