Evening star., 1944-11-02

bloodshed. They all are fascinating
ly suave in this Goth Century Fox
version of Vera Casparys whodunit,
which was praised as quite a literate
thing when it appeared in novel
form.
There is only one flaw, and that
not a manning one, in Laura" !"
That is the fundamental assump-
ton of the script writers that they
are making every one extremely
witty, that the merest commonplace
of dialogue is the sort of thing that
columnists covering the smart set
would send winging to 100000
newspaper readers tomorrow after
noon. 1t is hardly true. except in
the case Of Clifton Webb, an actor
who appears to have started in
babyhood to master the art of the
icy insult The others too often
seem merely to admire the art in
stead Of having mastered it. AS we
say, however, the air of excitement
that pervades the atmosphere of
Laura" will take care of such a
defect.
Y X \
The gloss which becomes CORY as
Laura unfolds is to be found
chiefly in its Park avenue settings
and the people who occupy them.
The latter are primarily an arrogant
columnist, a brilliant young adver-
Using woman, a laconic and very
wise young detective lieutenant, and
the er-do-Well son OF a once
prominent Kentucky family. 1t is a
slick quadrangle they make, to
which another Is periodically added
in the form of a wealthy middle
aged woman whose emotions are
distinctly erratic.
Into the somewhat jaded lives of
these brittle people comes an at
tractive corpse, who has been most
unattractively murdered by getting
a double load of buckshot in her
beautiful face. Not since an ambi-
tious reporter sought to whip up ex-
element by recording, The nude
body of well-dressed man was
found floating today in the East
River" has a murder been better
dressed than this one.
It's columnist (Webb} is to be so
sartorially perfect that the picture
dares to introduce him sitting in his
bathtub turning out his next days
earth-shaking revelations about the
private lives and thoughts Of his
wide circle of acquaintances. It's
heroine Miss Tierney) is a girl who
looks as if she were the solitary CHI
ent of Valentino, and even the hard
boiled detective (AndreWs) is a man
to whom the haughtiest tailor could
point with pride.
Without giving away anything of
Miss Caspary's mystery it may be
said that the murderer clearly is one
Of the exclusive group. 1t is the de-
tectlve's job, of course, to track them
all down. pursuit which leads him
to some of the loveliest lairs along
Park avenue Little old Ming vases,
trinkets from the tombs of the
Egyptian kings, clocks and other
items which would make a museum
arrogant are scattered among the
lives Of the group as tired old oak
scatters its leaves in october.
X ~
Most dramatic character of the lot
is difficult to select among so many
fancy frames. but this Department. s
). guess is that it will be Mr. Webb
He is the epitomization of the in
sufferable columnist. the man who
trades insult and vilification for IA
vors and courtesies, but he still man.
ages his engaging moments in his
dealings with the heroine and the
detective. Palpably, Mr.. Webb is one
of the slickest performers the movies
have laid their hands on in seasons,
a thing that Broadway would have
been glad to tell the movies years
ago.
Miss Tierney, whose stately lowell
ness has been her chief asset in so
many earlier pictures, is given an
opportunity to register dramati tically
in Laura and manages it quite