Twin Peaks

References to other works

There are several references to the 1944 movie Laura, both explcitly through shared names and implicitly through the plot. Some examples follow

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Laura Hunt in the movie is thought to have been murdered in the doorway of her apartment, but reappears midway through, having let her apartment to a friend named Diane who was the actual victim. Since the victim's face was destroyed, the body in the apartment was misidentified. The character of Diane is only mentioned, never seen. In Twin Peaks Laura Palmer is in fact murdered, but midway through the series her cousin and double Maddie appears. Diane is the unseen secretary to FBI Chief Gordon Cole.
• Despite her high-society lifestyle, Laura Hunt in the movie is really a 20th century courtesan, who owes her position to relationships with men, especially Waldo Lydecker. The movie producers referred to the character specifically as a whore. Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks is promiscuous and indulges in deviant sexual behavior.
• Waldo Lydecker is the murderer in the movie. In Twin Peaks the Lydecker Animal Clinic is where the investigators find the one-armed man, Mike.
• Waldo Lydecker is a father figure to Laura Hunt in the movie, but attempts to kill her out of jealousy. Laura Palmer is killed by her father.
• Jacoby is a painter and sometime lover of Laura in the movie. He painted the portrait of her which obsesses various men, just as the photo of Laura Palmer features so prominently in Twin Peaks. The TV series has the psychiatrist, Lawrence Jacoby.
• In the movie Det. McPherson bizarrely plays with a hand-held ball-bearing game that features a baseball diamond, claiming it helps him think. In Twin Peaks Agent Cooper uses baseball pitching as a divining tool.