20th Century Fox Home Entertainment are set to release on Blu-ray director Otto Preminger's Laura (1944), one of the all-time greatest noir films. Starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, and Clifton Webb, and winner of Oscar Award for Best Cinematography, Laura will be available for purchase on February 5th.
Technical specs and exact special features to be included with this release are yet to be revealed.
A definitive film noir classic, Laura tells the shocking story of a Park Avenue society beauty murdered in her apartment, which brings Detective Mark McPherson (Andrews) to New York's most elegant neighborhood. As he tries to get inside the head of the victim, Laura Hunt (Tierney), he also questions the men in her life - the acerbic critic Waldo Lydecker (Webb) and playboy fiancé Shelby Carpenter ( Price). Lulled by her stunning portrait, fine liquor and classical music, McPherson doesn't know he's in for a heart-stopping shock with the sudden appearance of a woman who seems to be Laura herself. Steeped in suspense, heightened reality and witty sophistication, Laura leads to a shocking climax.
I don't know how many people remember that the first home video incarnation of "Laura" was on an RCA CED Laserdisc. It was one of the first truly affordable Fox titles, later joined by "Star Wars" and "The King and I".
The RCA CED system failed to catch on. Even though laserdisc was the survivor, VHS was going through the roof. Fox soon announced it would issue "Laura" on VHS as it had done on CED, but there was a delay. Some legal issues had arisen about the studio's not having "other-than-theatrical-distribtuion" rights for some of the music heard in the background of scenes in the movie (i.e. such as resaturants, nightclubs, etc.).
When "Laura" finally reached home video, all the music heard in those scenes were different arrangements of David Raksin's haunting theme. They are very well done because they seem to have been there all the time. But some of them weren't.
What I would like to know is, who among us knows what music not composed by Raksin was originally in the film but which had to be replaced because agreements did not cover any release beyond the theatrical?
the greatest film genre finally beginning to get some respect on blu-ray.
Postman Always Rings Twice, Big Heat, Maltese Falcon, Force of Evil, Touch of Evil, and now Laura.
so many more killer noirs out there need to be released.
should be a great next few years.
so true. those are great releases also!
they can never release enough for me; I just love film noir so much!
and am SO excited that some of the biggies are finally making it to blu-ray.
better late than never!
The dual-layer DVD is decent (only seen it upscaled), so this should look great on Blu-ray; however, the film was recently "restored," and I hope it hasn't been messed-up. Nevertheless, I pre-ordered.
Can't wait!! I've hoped for this one since seeing the first superb black & white blu-ray disc!! I know it will be spectacular. I've already pre-ordered!
Gene Tierney was one of the most beautiful women to grace the screen. Have many of her films on DVD and looking forward to this release as well. Let's hope it's an amazing transfer from Fox.
Great news, Fox... but seeing as you rarely put any significant special features nowadays, I'll wait until an official post to know if any features will be added to give this classic its due.
