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The Woman in the Window, 1944
Richard Wanley (Edward G Robinson) is a mild mannered professor who becomes enamored with a woman in a painting displayed in a window near his club. One evening, by chance, Richard meets the woman herself, Alice (Joan Bennett), and accompanies her back to her place against his better judgment. When a jealous lover bursts in and attacks Richard, he kills the interloper. Faced with scandal and ruin, Richard and Alice agree to work together to cover up the crime. But their trust in one another is strained as the man’s disappearance and death become quite the big deal.
This film is an engaging thriller that balances on the precarious alliance between its two main characters, though the whole thing really goes off the deep end with an absolutely terrible ending.
A lot of plot summaries or other materials around this movie use phrases like “siren” or “femme fatale”. But one of the things I liked the most about this film is the way that Alice actually doesn’t fit that character type. Is she a slinky, seductive woman who tempts Richard away from the safety of his routine? Yes. But tellingly, it’s always Richard who makes the decisions or comes up with the schemes that embroil them more in danger. I suppose a cynic might argue that this is a plot by Alice---let Richard be the one to make the wicked choices. But we see nerves from Alice in moments where Richard is absent, leading me to believe that her fear and shakiness is real and not some act she’s putting on.
The real lure in this film is the lure of adventure. Richard and his friends spend a long time talking about the idea that they are too old for such adventures. All through their evening together, Richard keeps saying that he “should” go home. He “should” stop at two drinks. But it takes very, very little nudging from Alice to get Richard to step out of the safe lane. Alice is a single woman, while Richard is married and a father to young children. If Alice is a “siren” because she seduced Richard away from his routines, what can we say about Richard, who seems to see Alice more as a symbol of youthful adventuring than as a real person?
The murder plot itself unfolds in a rather enjoyable way. Having disposed of the body, Richard and Alice must sit back as the police try to piece together the different clues. Alice’s deceased beau was apparently a bigwig, and so his disappearance and murder garner a lot of attention. Richard gets a front-row seat to the action, as one of his friends is a police detective. (There’s also a hilarious newsreel interview with the boy scout who discovered the body, who hopes to use the reward money to send himself and his little brother to college). Unlike a lot of murder cover up plots, Richard and Alice make very few errors. Alice makes one big mistake that one senses was more out of plot necessity than the reality of the character. Yet despite their surprisingly not-terrible efforts, complications still arise that might require more illegal and more immoral actions.
The film effectively builds to a powerful, emotional climax. Well. The film effectively builds to a powerful, emotional climax until it feels the need to shoot itself in the foot. I expected to read that the ending was studio-mandated or something, only to learn that it was Lang’s idea. Color me baffled. It would be a huge spoiler to discuss specifics, but the only word that really comes to mind is disrespectful. It is an ending that is disrespectful to the characters, the story, and to the viewer.
A fun crime thriller that really drops the ball in the last 10 minutes.
The Woman in the Window, 1944
Richard Wanley (Edward G Robinson) is a mild mannered professor who becomes enamored with a woman in a painting displayed in a window near his club. One evening, by chance, Richard meets the woman herself, Alice (Joan Bennett), and accompanies her back to her place against his better judgment. When a jealous lover bursts in and attacks Richard, he kills the interloper. Faced with scandal and ruin, Richard and Alice agree to work together to cover up the crime. But their trust in one another is strained as the man’s disappearance and death become quite the big deal.
This film is an engaging thriller that balances on the precarious alliance between its two main characters, though the whole thing really goes off the deep end with an absolutely terrible ending.
A lot of plot summaries or other materials around this movie use phrases like “siren” or “femme fatale”. But one of the things I liked the most about this film is the way that Alice actually doesn’t fit that character type. Is she a slinky, seductive woman who tempts Richard away from the safety of his routine? Yes. But tellingly, it’s always Richard who makes the decisions or comes up with the schemes that embroil them more in danger. I suppose a cynic might argue that this is a plot by Alice---let Richard be the one to make the wicked choices. But we see nerves from Alice in moments where Richard is absent, leading me to believe that her fear and shakiness is real and not some act she’s putting on.
The real lure in this film is the lure of adventure. Richard and his friends spend a long time talking about the idea that they are too old for such adventures. All through their evening together, Richard keeps saying that he “should” go home. He “should” stop at two drinks. But it takes very, very little nudging from Alice to get Richard to step out of the safe lane. Alice is a single woman, while Richard is married and a father to young children. If Alice is a “siren” because she seduced Richard away from his routines, what can we say about Richard, who seems to see Alice more as a symbol of youthful adventuring than as a real person?
The murder plot itself unfolds in a rather enjoyable way. Having disposed of the body, Richard and Alice must sit back as the police try to piece together the different clues. Alice’s deceased beau was apparently a bigwig, and so his disappearance and murder garner a lot of attention. Richard gets a front-row seat to the action, as one of his friends is a police detective. (There’s also a hilarious newsreel interview with the boy scout who discovered the body, who hopes to use the reward money to send himself and his little brother to college). Unlike a lot of murder cover up plots, Richard and Alice make very few errors. Alice makes one big mistake that one senses was more out of plot necessity than the reality of the character. Yet despite their surprisingly not-terrible efforts, complications still arise that might require more illegal and more immoral actions.
The film effectively builds to a powerful, emotional climax. Well. The film effectively builds to a powerful, emotional climax until it feels the need to shoot itself in the foot. I expected to read that the ending was studio-mandated or something, only to learn that it was Lang’s idea. Color me baffled. It would be a huge spoiler to discuss specifics, but the only word that really comes to mind is disrespectful. It is an ending that is disrespectful to the characters, the story, and to the viewer.
A fun crime thriller that really drops the ball in the last 10 minutes.