The Woman in the Window (MGM Film Noir) Reviews

• Excellent suspense thriller with unusual and intriguing plot

  
  By ANIHXYXKPZL2H on 2001-03-14
  Edward G. Robinson gave a superb performance in "The Woman in the Window" which he made the same year as he starred in Billy Wilder's classic movie "Double Indemnity" (1944). To have two great parts such as these in the same year was a remarkable achievement but Robinson was a talented actor and played a variety of roles in a long and successful career. He started out at Warner Bros. in typical gangster roles (along with Bogart and Cagney) but by the 40's had branched out into other more satisfying characterisations. In "The Woman in the Window" he was outstanding as Professor Richard Wanley and had excellent support from Joan Bennett as the seductive Alice Reed and Dan Duryea was suitably menacing as the villainous Heidt. The film was powerfully directed by Fritz Lang with an unexpected surprise twist at the end!!
  
  Robinson plays decent and respectable Richard Wanley whose family life is very straightforward and orderly. However, his peaceful routine is about to be devastated by sinister events completely beyond his control. With his wife and children away on holiday he is visiting his club for a quiet drink with colleagues when he stops to admire the painting of a woman in the window of an art gallery nearby. Much to his astonishment he sees the glamorous model (Joan Bennett) watching him carefully. She explains that she often visits the gallery to check on people's reactions to her painting in the window. After a few minutes conversation they go for a drink and then continue on to her apartment which turns out to be Robinson's biggest mistake. The events which follow lead to violence, murder and blackmail made even more complicated when Wanley's friend District Attorney Lalor (Raymond Massey) is assigned to the investigation.
  
  Some favourite lines from the film:
  
  Joan Bennett (to Edward G. Robinson): "I'm not married. I have no designs on you and one drink is all I care for".
  
  Robinson (to Bennett): "I should never have stopped to talk with you - I should never have come here to drink with you". Bennett (to Robinson): "Never?".
  
  Raymond Massey (to Robinson): "It's all right Richard - don't get excited. We rarely arrest people just for knowing where the body was".
  
  "The Woman in the Window" has a gripping storyline with many surprises along the way and edge of the seat suspense. The viewer is completely riveted by Wanley's predicament as he is drawn deeper and deeper into a situation he can't understand or explain and is unable to get out of. Just when it seems that Wanley's troubles can't get any worse there is a totally unexpected twist at the end of the film which was certainly a surprise to me! The success of this film encouraged director Fritz Lang to reunite with his three leading players the following year for another classic thriller "Scarlet Street". See them both.
  
  

• Brilliant Film Noire

  
  By A351U204R5YS6M on 1999-06-01
  Fritz Langs great, clever movie about fidelity, of all things, wrapped in a murder melodrama. Robinson plays a meek, well-respected man of standing who after sending his wife and child away for the summer (a common practice of well-off New Yorkers in the days befor air conditioners)lusts after the painting of a beautiful woman in the window of an art store.

  The conservative, reliable Robinson imagines what it would be like if he were presented with the opportunity to be impetuous for once. Oh, what he would do if he ever met this woman.

  Lang obliges, or shall we say lets him have it, and Robinson's dream turns into a nightmare. A lesson actually. Remember what your mother told you about what happens to little boys who smoke?

  Maltin calls this a melodrama. It's actually a very subtle, dark comedy, one without any jokes. Just a scenario that gets out of hand as it rolls along. I can't explain why without giving it away, just a terrific storyline.
  
  

• Great "Who done it..??"

  
  By A2WD487DM2UDPE on 2007-04-28
  Stars Edward G. Robinson as a college professor who meets regularly with colleagues at a mens club. Next door to the club is a portrait of a beautiful woman in the window of a studio. The men come look at the portrait and admire her beauty. One evening Robinson meets the woman and goes to her apartment for a drink. Her boyfriend bursts in and in the ensuing scuffle is killed. But things are not really as they seem and Robinson eventually learns the truth behind his chance meeting with the "woman in the window". A Very good mystery with good performances.
  
  

• Film Noir Fan? Don't Miss This!

  
  By A2W7C9WIYIWWPC on 2000-07-01
  I do not know have I've managed to miss seeing this film up to now. It has all the elements that film noir fans want--atmosphere, mystery, murder, wet streets and femmes. Shadows are terrific. Music very good. Seeing this movie will likely remind you again why you like this genre so much.
  
  

• A great thriller in the film noir genre.

  
  By on 1999-02-23
  If you can enjoy a film with all the suspense and turns that each character can contribute to the story, then "Woman In the Window" is for you. The video is approx. 120 minuntes and had been digital restored to provide a crisp video and audio that will satisfy the film noir fan.
  
  
• Classic old film starring Joan Bennett & Edward G. Robinson
  By A2SIA5ZT4ST0BC on 2003-04-09
  Robinson plays a criminology professor who sees his wife and kids off at Grand Central station while he continues to reside in Manhattan. After hours at his club with his good friends, the psychiatrist and the district attorney, the three men agree that they are too old for any adventures, particularly amorous ones. On the way home Robinson pauses in front of an enticing portrait of Joan Bennett and runs into the woman herself. Flirtatious but innocent banter ensues, and the two spend a lovely evening which ends, oddly enough, with Robinson in Bennett's apartment. He's just about to open some champagne when Bennett's lover comes in raging. The rest of the film involves Bennett and Robinson rather incredibly dodging complicity and association with the man, financier Claude Mazard, as Robinson has the even more harrowing experience of learning that his great friend the district attorney is investigating Claude Mazard's murder! This is classic escapist film noir entertainment, beautifully shot with great directing and fun acting. And I liked the ending too.
  
  
• Gripping melodrama marred by co-out ending
  By on 2001-08-08
  Robinson and Bennett are terrific in the Fritz Lang movie, but the cop-out ending shatters what could have been among the best of the film noir genre ever.
  
  
• CAPTIVATING FILM NOIR.
  By A3BSS2M2DPPV4T on 2000-05-19
  One of the best of Fritz Lang's American movies - a thriller with the logic and plausibility of a nightmare. Lang's technique is so sure and so seductive that the viewer completely identifies with the safe, serene protagonist (Edward G. Robinson), an associate professor of psychology in a New York City college, and shares his shock and fear when he's caught in a trap. The professor is interested in the relation of motive to homicide - an interest that's purely a matter of intellectual curiosity. Then, when his wife and child are out of town, he visits a woman's apartment; her lover comes in and unexpectedly attacts him, and he kills the intruder with a pair of scissors.............. Cleverly, Bennett is the alluring subject of a painting he admires; (the woman in the window, natch). A refreshing, intelligent little thriller-melodrama with a surprise ending.
  
  
• SUPERB NOIR THRILLER.....
  By A1GF7BR6K22GZD on 2007-07-18
  "Woman in the Window" has everything good noir needs. An innocent man drawn into the world of a mysterious femme fatale and getting in over his head in murder. Edward G.Robinson as the man and Joan Bennett as the woman are excellent. As in "Laura", the psychological angle of the man meeting the model of a portrait that mesmerizes him is played up well. When she appears out of nowhere, she is appropriately dressed in glittering black from head to toe. And at night of course. It's actually not murder but self-defense in Bennett's apartment. But the wonderfully slimy Dan Duryea turns up as a sadistic blackmailer and goes after Bennett. This is good, gripping film noir and masterfully directed by Fritz Lang. There's a great creepy sequence of Robinson disposing of the body in the woods and a sardonic twist at the end. Very good DVD print too in shadowy b&w. Highly recommended. Especially if you liked Lang's "Scarlet Street" again with Robinson, Bennett and Duryea. Enjoy.
  
  
• Forget the ending and enjoy the film
  By A1TPJMIG83W12L on 2003-04-14
  Yes, the ending does look like it is tacked on and it does spoil a wonderful piece of film noir. The film does not mince words. One drink, one dalliance and you are on the way to the electric chair. There is one straight and narrow and you'd better not cross that line. Edward G. Robinson does cross that line and pays the penalty.

  The direction by Fritz Lang is sometimes intrusive but he can keep a story going and Robinson's descent from flirting with another woman to murderer is absorbing.

  The film is occasionally clunky, but it works well enough to be entered into the honor roll of film noir. The later reworking of Scarlet Street with the same cast works better, but this film has a lot going for it - apart from the ending.
  
  

• Enjoyable Murder Drama that Launched Dan Duryea's Face-Slapping Career.
  By A3UPYGJKZ0XTU4 on 2007-11-11
  "The Woman in the Window" is an enjoyable, suspenseful murder drama, as they were called at the time, that is also notable for launching Dan Duryea's string of "sadistic dandy" roles, upon which he built a lucrative career in the 1940s. Middle-aged professor Richard Wanley (Edmund G. Robinson) admires a portrait of a comely young woman in a shop window before meeting some friends at his club. After joking about the perils of adventure in middle age, Wanley is pleasantly surprised to run into the model from the portrait, Alice Reed (Joan Bennett). When he accepts an invitation to Alice's apartment to look at some artwork, the harmless flirtation turns deadly: Wanley is forced to kill a jealous boyfriend in self-defense, and his friend Police Inspector Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey) is investigating the crime.
  
  "The Woman in the Window" was released in January 1945. Edmund G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, and director Fritz Lang reunited for "Scarlet Street" later that year. Scarlet Street is darker and has more depth, with a very different message than "The Woman in the Window". It is a great film noir, while this is a solid murder drama. But "The Woman in the Window" excels in creating suspense around the issue of trust. Richard and Alice are likeable, ordinary people who barely know one another but must place their faith in each other if they are to escape an unpleasant fate. Dan Duryea's role as the dead man's blackmailing bodyguard doesn't display his talent as well as several later roles in the same vein would, but it started an unforgettable trend.
  
  The DVD (MGM 2007): The print is good. There are no bonus features. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish. Dubbing is available in French and Spanish.
  
  
• Fritz Lang intrigue with a twist - rightly 4 1/2 stars
  By A39AWL2FKWDFK6 on 2005-07-20
  The affable Edward G. Robinson plays criminal psychology professor Richard Wanley in "The Woman in the Window". After spiriting his wife and children away on vacation he goes to his club to spend time with his friends, one of whom being D.A. Lalor played by the angular Raymond Massey.
  
  After they depart, Robinson becomes enraptured with a portrait of a beautiful young woman displayed in the window of an art gallery next to the club. Robinson is startled when he sees a face reflected in the window of the woman in the portrait. After his initial shock, Robinson engages the gal Alice Reed played by Joan Bennett in converstaion. They eventually wind up in her apartment for an innocent nightcap. Quite suddenly and unexpectedly an agitated unknown man bursts into Bennett's apartment and in a jealous rage starts to choke the life out of Robinson. Protecting himself, Robinson grabs a pair of scissors and stabs the man in the back killing him.
  
  Bennett and Robinson are conflicted as to what to do and ultimately decide to cover up the crime and move the body to a distant location. Since they are both amateurs, very soon evidence starts to mount as the body is quickly found. It turns out that the gentleman was a millionaire who had been missing since arriving in New York's Penn Station. Massey, not suspecting Robinson involves him in the investigation. Robinson starts getting panicky when the noose starts tightening around his neck. Things really start going awry when Dan Duryea, a bodyguard of the millionaire arrives at Bennett's pad threatening extortion.
  
  Lang creates an intense sense of fear, dread and intrigue as his plot evolves greatly aided by nice acting performances by a solid ensemble. Lang's finale is a bit of a cop out but didn't spoil the overall fine quality of the flick.
  
  
• Absorbing Film Noir from Fritz Lang finally comes to DVD
  By A260GVQ1KZ2V6V on 2007-07-18
  In the mid '40s, Fritz Lang directed two classic Film Noirs: Scarlet Street (the Kino re-mastered DVD is the only one to own) and The Woman In The Window. Both films starred Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea. I like Scarlet Street very much, but in my opinion, The Woman In The Window is the better film. I feel it has a tighter script, it is more complex and definately more suspensful. But the main reason for this review is to explain the ending with which so many people seem to have a problem. When this film was made the Production Code would not allow anyone to get away with murder, thus this ending was out of necessity, not out of choice. The film has so many wonderful moments that the ending can be forgiven. The MGM release looks excellent. I give the picture quality an 8.5+ out of 10. Check out the excellent prison drama, Caged to see what a black and white film should look like. The quality is perfect 10.
  
  
• Subtle Film Noir
  By A3TIG1JZ3EE4JF on 2007-09-28
  I've always thought of Film Noir as a tense shoot-'em-up kind of genre. This surprised me -- not only because Edward G. Robinson was a sympathetic character, but because this was more psychological than anything else. It came across like a stage play without the stodginess of a filmed stage play. It's so wonderful to see excellent acting without all the hoopla of special effects. It leaves you with a sense of mulling.
  
  The DVD was crisp and the picture was like it had just been shot today. It arrived in good condition. If you've never experienced Film Noir or are only used to Humphrey Bogart/James Cagney features, you should try this one. It was wonderful.
  
  The Woman in the Window (MGM Film Noir)
  
  
• Civilization and its Discontents
  By A2YOU2NS0Y5MKO on 2000-05-22
  Edward G. Robinson plays a straight-laced professor of psychology who gets involved in a difficult situation. Or does he? Memorably casted with Robinson, Joan Bennett as the high-class companion to the rich man that Robinson murders in the heat of passion, and Dan Duryea as the semi-sleazy private detective who tries to blackmail the pair. (Fans of Fritz Lang or any film noir should also check out "Scarlet Street," directed by Lang a year later with the same actors).
  
  
• DVD?
  By A15YFRQGN5VRLO on 2006-10-29
  Why isn't this classic on DVD? Joan Bennett has never been lovelier. Great film - DVD whomever?
  
  
• Dvd...? Hello...?
  By A30Z9VYA845RAI on 2007-01-17
  I first saw this picture when I was 17, perhaps 18 - a long time ago, anyway. I remember my boyfriend at the time called me on the phone during the commercial break and I also remember what I told him: "I'm going to bed NOW. I can't stand this!" I remember having a similar reaction to a totally different movie - "Whatever Happened to Babby Jane?", by Aldrich, a few years later. Which speaks volumes. This is an absolute classic. We need the dvd!
  
  
• A fine noir with a clever and -- the second time you see it -- satisfying twist
  By A2GCHG6U8HTVIT on 2007-07-20
  The Woman in the Window has an ending almost guaranteed to infuriate you the first time you see the movie, and, the second time, to leave you with an immensely satisfied smile.
  
  "The man who kills in self defense, for instance, must not be judged by the same standards applied to a man who kills for gain." So says middle-aged and happily married Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), professor of criminal psychology, to his class at Gotham College. Wanley is about to put his dictum to the test. When his wife and their two young children leave for a brief vacation, he dines at his club with two old friends, one a doctor and the other, Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey), the district attorney. Wanley bemoans his increasingly middle-aged life. "I hate this solidity," he says with a rueful smile, "this stodginess I'm beginning to feel. To me, it's the end of the brightness of life, the end of spirit and adventure." His two friends leave and he settles in, before returning to his empty home, with one last brandy and The Song of Songs. When he leaves the club late in the evening he stops, as he often has, and gazes at the portrait in the window of the gallery next door. The woman is lovely...beautiful, with a challenge in her eyes and a gaze that looks right at you. When a voice asks him for a light for her cigarette, the professor turns and is stunned to see that the voice belongs to the woman who posed for the portrait. Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) sometimes stops by the gallery to see the reaction of men when they look at her portrait. The two somehow wind up at a quiet bar, talk and then the professor escorts her to her apartment in a taxi. She invites him up and shows him sketches the artist made of her before painting her portrait. She seems genuinely friendly and honest and the professor apparently has no intention of becoming an adulterer. But when an angry man breaks into her apartment, slaps Alice Reed and attacks Professor Wanley, it's only a matter of seconds before the man is dead, stabbed by Wanley in the back with a pair of scissors handed him by Alice. Professor Wanley's life now begins to spin out of his control.
  
  He decides to say nothing to the police. He leaves Alice and returns with his car. With her help he gets the body into the back seat and drives it to a deserted parkway, where he disposes of it in the underbrush. The man turns out to be a powerful businessman who had been seeing Alice regularly two or three times a week. The Professor's friend Lalor takes charge of the investigation and invites Wanley to accompany him, thinking the professor of criminology will be interested in how the case is slowly being built up to identify the murderer. Wanley keeps making little errors and mistakes...a ripped coat, a scratched wrist, a tire track in the mud, a slip of the tongue that seems to say Wanley knows more than he should. Lalor begins to look curiously at his old friend. And then the bodyguard (Dan Duryea) of the dead man turns up. He blackmails Alice, who must ask Wanley for help. This time Wanley reluctantly begins to think of murder.
  
  The Woman in the Window is a fine noir. Some may think it's just the opening act for Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street, filmed the following year with the same three stars, Robinson, Bennett and Duryea. Scarlet Street is a classic, drenched in casual cruelty, loneliness and sadness. The Woman in the Window starts out as a classic noir. Professor Wanley is a man of good intentions whom we like and who finds himself moving in situations well beyond his capability. Joan Bennett's Alice Reed, however, is no Kitty March. Alice may be a kept woman, but she wants to do the right thing as long as she doesn't get in trouble. And she seems genuinely to like and even respect the Professor. Dan Duryea, of course, is a rotter, but he's at least straight forward here. He wants money; he doesn't seem to delight in hitting women. It makes for a movie which puts a premium on the skill of the actors to bring us along with them as events conspire against them. Few were better at this than Edward G. Robinson and, in my opinion, the under-appreciated Joan Bennett.
  
  So we have a first class noir...and then Fritz Lang pulls the rug out from under us. To fully appreciate The Woman in the Window -- trust me -- you'll need to see it a second time. How about making that second time a double feature? Have some friends over and play Scarlet Street first, then The Woman in the Window. Keep them in that order. You'll have a great main course, and then a great desert.
  
  The DVD transfer of this black-and-white film is first-rate. There are no extras.
  Scarlet Street (Remastered Edition)
  
  
• Edward G. Robinson Classic
  By A4OONRR06RWAM on 2007-08-29
  This is a different mystery with Edward G. Robinson and a great supporting cast. He plays such a mild mannered character, then finds himself over his head with trouble. Surprising twist at the end. I've been waiting a long time for this to be available on DVD.
  
  
• masterpiece that rivals Hitchcock
  By A3L84JNFS2DJBM on 2008-02-26
  this rare gem of a film rivals Hitchcock in suspense. i urge anyone who hasn't seen this film not to read any reviews before viewing it. don't cheat yourself out of a great viewing experience.
  
  i have been collecting classic films for years, first on video than dvd and i have never seen this great movie. the only movie that possibly comes close to the mind blowing experience this one does is "Beyond A Reasonable Doubt" which was released in 1956, 12 years after this one.
  
  i will not reveal any significant plot details in this review. just trust me that if you're a classic film conniseur as i am you won't be disappointed. sit down, dim the lights and prepare to be fully engrossed and enveloped into one of Fritz Lang's masterpieces.
  
  as for the DVD, the print is very good and so is the audio. no real extras here, but you don't need them. the film itself is sufficient.
  
  
• One Misstep Leads to Murder
  By A3MV1KKHX51FYT on 2007-02-28
  The film shows "Gotham College" in New York, founded in 1812. Professor Richard Wanley lectures his class on the psychological aspects of homicide. His wife and children leave for vacation, leaving him a summer bachelor. His friend the DA tells about the troubles for middle-aged men who try to act like a young colt. Professor Wanley stares at a portrait of a woman in a shop window, then at the model herself. Alice Reed talks to him, then invites him over. One thing leads to another. Alice's boyfriend returns to her apartment; there is a fight and the Professor stabs the man. At first the Professor picks up a telephone to call the police, then pauses to review the events. He decides to cover up this crime, and makes a deal with the woman. There is suspense when the Professor removes the body for disposal. Things don't go as planned, but the body is dumped beside a highway. The next day the newspapers report that financier Claude Masard was murdered. The police have the footprints and the tire tread, a blood sample form the man who dropped off the body, and some wool thread from the man's coat.
  
  There is another complication. Masard had a bodyguard who followed him, but he has also disappeared. This bodyguard showed up at Alice Reed's apartment. He knows much, but will take a payoff to keep the secret. The Professor explains there are three ways to deal with a blackmailer. Will one death lead to another? The bodyguard is worldly-wise, and not easily fooled. He wants his payoff, and he gets it in an unexpected way. Alice Reed calls the Professor but does not get an answer. Will this nightmare ever end?
  
  This film serves as a checkpoint to criminology, the art of detection from the clues left behind. Edmond Locard says a criminal always leaves something at the crime scene, and takes away something. The Professor received a cut from barbed wire, and touched poison ivy to get an infection.
  
  
  
• edward g. robinson lovers here's a A+ pick
  By A2D4BF1V4L43MK on 2007-08-09
  All you old film noir fans, here's a movie your'll enjoy. Edward G plays a physch professor who finds himself fixated on a portrait of a beautiful woman right next to his daily hangout with the guys.
  
  This fixation becomes more than he can handle. Watch and see how.
  
  I love the old movies when stars were stars...Bogart, Cagney, Grant, Hepburn, Tracy and on and on the list goes. If you're like me...you'll enjoy this one too.
  
  
• Atmospheric suspense drama marred by shoddy conclusion
  By A243QU0ETOXQBX on 2007-08-10
  Great performances, especially by Bennett and Robinson, and adeptly directed by Fritz Lang; but in the end, worse than mediocre. Personally, I'll forgive a lot of flaws in a film if its last seven minutes are satisfying; conversely, even if the preceding 100 minutes were admirable, I'm likely to feel cheated if an ending is highly contrived. This movie concludes with a not-so-dizzying plot twist that tosses aside character development, story, and common sense to append a narrative cheat, precisely the same undramatic, logic-defying "surprise" ending used by umpteen amateurish authors before and since. For me, a repeat viewing did not increase the appeal of the "surprise" ending; on the contrary, it only served to highlight the film's fatally flawed internal logic. A disappointing movie, in spite of the remarkable starring performances. I recommend Scarlet Street instead: same cast playing similiar roles, same director commanding a similarly triangulated tale, and a shocking conclusion that you'll never forget.
  
  
• egr - woman in the window
  By A1M0J5P12K3YZA on 2007-09-13
  This movie "Woman in the Window" was overlooked by many people during its release but is a great tasteful little film noir movie by my hero Edward G Robinson, whom I think is the greatest actor ever in Hollywood history
  If you like EGR you have to get this DVD
  
  
• The Woman in the Window is a twist in the wind
  By A1BIUS17H661FW on 2007-10-15
  This Film Noir is a great film to watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The end is the kicker and totally unexpected. Mr. Robinson or should I say Mr. Goldberg gives a great performance with Joan Bennett, his perfect object of lust. Suspense and drama entertainment at its best in black and white. A very enjoyable film for all lovers of classic films.
  
  

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