bombersflyup The Woman in the Window is an intriguing film-noir, with a likable lead character.While you could get annoyed with the surprise ending that it all was a dream, I found it quite amusing and like that it was something different. It also makes some of the finer details more feasible, even though that doesn't change your experience of those things as they have already happened, it can change your view of them in hindsight or on a re-watch. Like stabbing someone to death through a suit with a pair of scissors, which seems like an impossible outcome, especially without a great deal of strength behind it, but how else would a civilized non violent person commit such an act in his own mind. Also, tagging along with a friend in the murder investigation or leaving blood on the wire fence when you were worried about every small detail at the apartment. Because they are only in his mind, they can be a means to an end and not just poor writing. Anyway, though unendearing, it is a solid to good film with quality acting.Richard: 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.

Spikeopath The Woman in the Window is directed by Fritz Lang and adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the novel "Once off Guard" written by J.H. Wallis. It stars Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey & Dan Duryea. Music is by Arthur Lange and Milton R. Krasner is the cinematographer.After admiring a portrait of Alice Reed (Bennett) in the storefront window of the shop next to his Gentleman's Club, Professor Richard Wanley (Robinson) is shocked to actually meet her in person on the street. It's a meeting that leads to a killing, recrimination and blackmail.Time has shown The Woman in the Window to be one of the most significant movies in the film noir cycle. It was part of the original group identified by Cahiers du Cinéma that formed the cornerstone of film noir (the others were The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura and Murder My Sweet). Its reputation set in stone, it's a film that boasts many of the key noir ingredients: man meets woman and finds his life flipped upside down, shifty characters, a killing, shadows and low lights, and of course an atmosphere thick with suspense. Yet the ending to this day is divisive and, depending what side of the camp you side with, it makes the film either a high rank classic noir or a nearly high rank classic noir. Personally it bothers me does the finale, it comes off as something that Rod Serling could have used on The Twilight Zone but decided to discard. No doubt to my mind that had Lang put in the ending from the source, this would be a 10/10 movie, for everything else in it is top draw stuff.At its core the film is about the dangers of stepping out of the normal, a peril of wish fulfilment in middle age, with Lang gleefully smothering the themes with the onset of a devilish fate and the stark warning that being caught just "once off guard" can doom you to the unthinkable. There's even the odd Freudian interpretation to sample. All of which is aided by the excellent work of Krasner, who along with his director paints a shadowy world consisting of mirrors, clocks and Venetian blinds. The cast are very strong, strong enough in fact for Robinson, Bennett and Duryea to re-team with Lang the following year for the similar, but better, Scarlet Street, while Lang's direction doesn't miss a beat.A great film regardless of the Production Code appeasing ending, with its importance in the pantheon of film noir well deserved. But you sense that watching it as a companion piece to Scarlet Street, that Lang finally made the film that this sort of story deserved. The Woman in the Window: essential but not essentially the best of its type. 8/10

dougdoepke I expect a lot of hookers went hungry after this cautionary tale was released. It's enough to frighten most any philandering husband into permanent fidelity. Because once the screenplay finishes with Prof. Wanley (Robinson), he's not even going to think about straying, blonde, brunette, or redhead. And that controversial ending is especially effective at driving the point home.I like the way the screenplay makes use of "doubles". After all, a part of the professor peels off in his dream and has the romantic adventure the real guy can only fantasize about. At the same time, the sexy portrait peels off into the "real" woman such that the two doubles meet in a twilight world of fantasy.No wonder the professor is restive. He's a highly respectable family man in a highly respectable profession with highly respectable friends, undergoing what we would now call a mid-life crisis. His body may feel trapped, but his imagination isn't. And get a load of Bennett—she's one delectable package, especially in that clinging gown. She's certainly no streetwalker, more like a kept-woman with a list of prestigious clients. Note how the Production Code screenplay stays vague about her means of support. Still, she and her ritzy apartment are just the kind of set-up a guy like Wanley (note that the name begins with 'wan') would dream about, that is, until things get out of hand.The middle part sags a bit as police procedure takes over, and the prof's conscience begins to drop hints to the authorities. It's clear, even then, that not even his double can escape the respectable man himself, as the climax reaffirms.But that showdown between Bennett and Duryea amounts to a little gem of scripting and acting. It's a cat and mouse contest all the way, except it's unclear which is which. Bennett is so good at being a silken conniver, while Duryea is the last word in slimy schemer. Watching them maneuver is fascinating, and in my book, the movie's high point.What a fine turn by Robinson as the under-stated professor. Hard to believe his unimposing figure could also snarl with the best of them, e.g. Little Caesar (1930). Here, his homely little man yearning beyond respectability is so believable. For that matter, so is the nightmarish lesson he's taught himself. As a result, when he runs from the blonde streetwalker at movie's end, I expect more than a few guys were running with him. All in all, if Family Council Oscars were given out, this crafty screenplay would deserve a big one. More importantly, the 90-minutes amounts to a darn good film noir.

Michael O'Keefe Fritz Lang directs this fulfilling film noir about a straight-laced college psychology professor entering into a surprising dalliance while his family is away. Richard Manley(Edward G. Robinson)sees the portrait of a beautiful woman, Alice(Joan Bennett), and lands in a world of hurt, when he meets the model and she invites him up to her apartment for a drink. It becomes more than one drink; there seems to be thoughts of romance, but Alice's jealous boyfriend(Arthur Loft) arrives and goes into a rage assaulting the couple. In self defense the professor puts a pair of scissors in the back of his attacker. Now there is the problem of disposing of the body. It gets a bit dicey, because Manley's best friend,(Raymond Massey), happens to be the D.A. working the murder case. And for more suspense, a blackmailer(Dan Duryea)slinks into the mix.Very crisp black & white with just the right atmosphere, off and on rain showers. The story line of forbidden and doomed love is what movies are made of. Robinson is in top form and Bennett is absolutely beautiful. I'm a sucker for classic movies like this.