The Woman in the Window

Perhaps the director most associated with the full arc of film noir, even originating its expressionistic aesthetic in his native land of Germany, Fritz Lang had already been making films for 25 years when he released The Woman in the Window, an early American noir that helped establish the look and feel of the cycle in America. An enormous star at the time, Edward G. Robinson plays Professor Richard Wanley, a simple New York man whose casual conversation with a beautiful woman on the street triggers his descent into personal hell while his wife and children are away on vacation. The subject of a painted portrait admired by Wanley, Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) is the accidental femme fatale whose innocent flirtation with the professor and invitation to her apartment results in Wanley’s murder of another Alice admirer in self-defense. Shocked and afraid, Wanley and Alice agree to keep quiet and dispose of the body off a country road somewhere in Westchester County north of the city. This, of course, is just the beginning of the professor’s troubles. Not only does Wanley’s close friendship with District Attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey) hit too close to home as Lalor invites him to tag along for the investigation, but Alice becomes the victim of blackmailer Heidt (Dan Duryea), who saw the victim enter her apartment on the night of his disappearance. Lang makes extensive use of mirrors and reflections, perhaps to hint at the alternate realities at play, and he uses creative camera placement to convey subtle power dynamics (note, for example, the low angle from the floor as Wanley scrambles to wrap up the body while Alice watches from above.) Some may be disappointed by the ending, but Lang gives us a masterful cinematic journey on the way there.