The first part of the film is Laura’s life in flashback, mostly narrated by Lydecker. (Woollcott died the year before this film was made. Supposedly he was based on Alexander Woollcott, whom the title character in The Man Who Came To Dinner was also based on. Lydecker is someone that we don’t really have in America anymore-a newspaper columnist, a radio personality, a man of letters and a general all-around celebrity who has become quite wealthy by offering his erudite opinions on the matters of the day. McPherson starts by speaking with Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) about the murder.
The portrait becomes a point of obsession for McPherson. Laura’s apartment has a huge, glamorous painted portrait of her which dominates not only the entire room, but the film we are watching as well.
Police detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is assigned the case. We learn that she opened the door one Friday evening and was blasted in the face with a shotgun. Laura is the story of a woman, Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), who was murdered before the film even starts. But where the film is really shines is through some terrific performances from the supporting cast: Clifton Webb, Judith Anderson and a pre-horror icon Vincent Price. It really comes across as more of a murder-mystery plot with a huge twist mid-film. It has a murder and a hard-boiled police detective, but Preminger doesn’t employ many of the standard tropes of noir such as a moral ambiguity highlighted by the use of shadows. Laura, the 1944 film directed by Otto Preminger, is considered to be a classic of film noir, despite it not being very noir-y. So here is “Laura,” with Hank Jones on piano, Gene Ramsey on bass and Gus Johnson on drums from a 1979 jazz festival in the Netherlands.
(Thanks, Wikipedia!) But tonight’s version is a live one starring the great saxophonist Dexter Gordon. It’s been recorded by Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald and others. “Laura,” written by David Raskin with lyrics added on later by Johnny Mercer, has been a jazz standard ever since it came out in 1944. In honor of tonight’s film Laura, I’m presenting a jazz version of the theme song from that movie.
#THE WALKING DEAD THEME SONG ON PIANO FREE#
You’re free to skip to the baseball poll question at the bottom of you’d like. Here’s the part where I talk about jazz and movies. But because of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the Wednesday night/Thursday morning one will be really short and the one tomorrow night will be a bit longer. Then I do a brief one the next night and then close the week with a medium-sized one on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Normally I do a big BCB After Dark on Monday night/Tuesday morning. Another 41 percent thought Nationals outfielder Juan Soto deserved the award and nine percent voted for Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. As far as your vote went, 50 percent of you agreed that Harper was the NL MVP. We knew that the winner would be announced shortly after the poll went live, and of course we now know that Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper won his second Most Valuable Player Award. Last week I asked you who should win the National League MVP. Let’s hope there is still a Hot Stove as well. So we’ll have plenty of time to talk jazz and movies around here. I know a few prime prospects are playing in the Dominican Winter League, such as Alexander Canario, Kevin Made and Eury Ramos, but otherwise, baseball is done for the 2021 calendar year. I think we’ve dealt enough with the big Arizona Fall League title won by the Mesa Solar Sox this week. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon. Bring your own beverage.īCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the warm spot on a cold night for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad.