DVD Review: The Woman in the Window (1944)

Writer-producer Nunnally Johnson chose this adaption of the J.H. Wallis novel “Once Off Guard” as the first movie for his own production company, International Pictures. Choosing German-born Fritz Lang as director, and a cast that included Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea, the resulting movie, “The Woman in the Window” is one of the quintessential examples of 1940s film noir.

The versatility of actor Robinson is the first noticeable element, eschewing the snarling gangster character for which he’d become known, and playing Richard Wanley, a lonely, pensive college professor who becomes obsessed with the image in a painting, meets the attractive woman who modeled for it and soon stumbles into committing a murder. Cover-ups and blackmail ensue, as this very ordinary family man finds himself sinking deeper into a world that he fails to understand beyond the psychological ramifications he had studied academically. Robinson’s ability to convey tragic helplessness is brilliantly understated, while Bennett alternates between trembling fear and conniving calculation.

Fritz Lang recalled in the book “The Celluloid Muse: Hollywood Directors Speak” by Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg:

“I liked the script for The Woman in the Window very much. There was only one thing wrong with it: all the male parts in it were written for old men, not only Edward G. Robinson's and the man who kept Joan Bennett, but also the part ultimately played by Dan Duryea. I was able to persuade the studio to let me bring (Duryea) in; that was the only way I could introduce someone relatively youthful into the male cast.”

Because this was an independent production, Fritz Lang was able to create according to his vision without any big studio interference. It is he who chose the twist ending that deviates from both the script and the novel (which ends with suicide). Some period critics were disappointed with this choice, but now, watching this film as cinema rather than as popular entertainment of the period, it aligns well with other such ideas from the German-born director’s other American films including “Fury” (1936) and “They Only Live Once” (1937).

Lang’s choice of shots, use of darkness, and fixation with signs and still images might seem textbook so many years later, and his dream idea might seem a bit pat. But within this film’s context, they all work masterfully. It is really different levels of wish-fulfillment fantasy, with the attention of the beautiful woman and the excitement of the “caper” among the Professor’s darkest and most suppressed desires.

Kino Lorber’s blu ray is remastered in high definition, the special feature including an insightful and interesting commentary track by film historian Imogen Sara Smith, whose book “In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City” is available from McFarland and is highly recommended.

“The Woman in the Window” is available for purchase here.

The Kino Lorber release of “The Woman in the Window” ties in with their other Fritz Lang releases, including the German films “Dr. Mabuse the Gambler” (reviewed here), “The Spiders,” and the epic “Die Niebelungen,” and the American film “Western Union” (reviewed here). One year after filming “The Woman in the Window,” Fritz Lang directed Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea in “Scarlet Street,” an equally impressive noir that is also available from Kino Lorber. My review of that film is here.