Main Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Dan Duryea, Edmund Breon
Release Year: 1944
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Directed by Fritz Lang, The Woman in the Window, a sadly tragic film noir, is the story of the doomed love of married psychology-professor Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), who, with murderous results, meets and falls in love with another woman. Wanley first sees the portrait of a beautiful woman, Alice (Joan Bennett), and then meets the woman herself. After committing murder in self-defense, he finds himself blackmailed by Heidt (Dan Duryea). The script, written by Nunnally Johnson, is carefully structured with crisp dialogue and a convincing ending. Lang is at his best, getting excellent performances from Robinson, as the doomed, naive professor, and Bennett both. The Woman in the Window shows that good and evil are present in all, and that circumstances frequently dictate moral choices. Based on J.H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the film gives viewers their money's worth with not one but two logical and satisfying surprise twists at the end. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Review
Working from a script by Nunnally Johnson, Fritz Lang tautly crafts a nightmare world for a mild-mannered professor bewitched by a portrait. In a studio-lot city, Edward G. Robinson's aptly named Prof. Wanley finds himself acting like a professional criminal after he encounters the woman of his portrait dreams come to life in the enticing figure of Joan Bennett, and gets tangled in an accidental murder. Master film noir director Lang infuses Robinson's increasingly threatening world with shadowy paranoia, offsetting the potentially mitigating effects of the surprise ending(s). With Wanley hounded by a slimy blackmailer (Dan Duryea) and suspected by his D.A. friend (Raymond Massey) and the police inspector, Lang builds suspense while implying that Wanley is not so far from the opposite side of the law as he seems. Regardless of the outcome, the potential for violence and criminality still lurks within the seemingly innocent man. The Woman in the Window's combination of director and stars worked so effectively that Lang, Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea reunited for Scarlet Street (1945), once again delving into the fate of a doomed older man who meets a femme fatale. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
