The Woman in the Window
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| The Woman in the Window | |
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| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Nunnally Johnson |
| Written by | J. H. Wallis novel Once Off Guard Nunnally Johnson |
| 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 |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures Inc. |
| Release date(s) | January 26, 1945 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 99 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Directed by Fritz Lang, The Woman in the Window, a black-and-white film noir, is the story of psychology professor Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), who meets and falls in love with a young femme fatale.
Wanley first sees the portrait of Alice (Joan Bennett) in a store-front window, and then meets the woman herself on the street. After killing in self-defense, he finds himself blackmailed by a slick criminal, played by Dan Duryea.
Based on J. H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the film features not one but two surprise twists at the end. Scriptwriter Johnson started his own independent production company, International Pictures Inc., after writing some 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. Lang substituted the suicide ending in Nunnally Johnson's script with a dream-ending, in order to conform to Production Codes of the time.
The term film noir originated in part because of this movie. The term "film noir", according to many, was first applied to American films in articles appearing 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.
The film also received a nomination for an Academy Award for Original Music Score.
[edit] Cast
As in Lang's Scarlet Street released a year later, Robinson plays the lonely middle-aged man and Duryea and Bennett co-star as the criminal element. The film also stars Raymond Massey as the District Attorney, a friend of Wanley.
- 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 Hatcheck Man
- Frank Dawson as Collins, the Steward
[edit] Quote from the film
Wanley (Edward G. Robinson): "There are only three ways to deal with a blackmailer. You can pay him and pay him and pay him until you’re penniless. Or you can call the police yourself and let your secret be known to the world. Or you can kill him."
