The Woman in the Window

Directed by Fritz Lang, The Woman in the Window, a black-and-white film noir, is the story of psychology professor Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), who, meets and falls in love with a younger woman (the movie's femme fatale).

Related Topics:
Fritz Lang - Black-and-white - Film noir - Edward G. Robinson - Femme fatale

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Wanley first sees the portrait of Alice (Joan Bennett) in a store-front window, and then meets the woman herself on the street. After committing murder in self-defense, he finds himself blackmailed by a slick criminal, played by Dan Duryea.

Related Topics:
Joan Bennett - Dan Duryea

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Based on J. H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the film features not one but two surprise twists at the end. Scriptwriter Johnson started his own independent production company, International Pictures Inc., after writing some successful films such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and other John Ford films, and chose The Woman in the Window as its premiere project. Lang substituted the suicide ending in Nunnally Johnson's script with a dream-ending, in order to conform to Production Codes of the time.

Related Topics:
J. H. Wallis - The Grapes of Wrath - John Ford

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The term film noir originated in part because of this movie. The term "film noir", according to many, was first applied to American films in articles appearing in French film magazines in 1946, the year when The Maltese Falcon (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Laura (1944), Murder, My Sweet (1944), and The Woman in the Window were released in France.

Related Topics:
The Maltese Falcon - Double Indemnity - Laura - Murder, My Sweet

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The film also received a nomination for an Academy Award for Original Music Score.

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