When a dignified middle aged professor starts to muse about how dull and boring his life has become and also feels frustrated by the constraints placed upon him by his lifestyle, he becomes increasingly discontented and despondent. The necessity to no longer respond to events completely spontaneously or to simply act in accordance with his own instincts has taken a great deal of the colour and vitality out of his world. The opportunity for an improvement seems to arise however, when his wife and family leave for a short vacation and after having become captivated by the portrait of a beautiful woman in a gallery window, he unexpectedly meets her and she invites him to her apartment to see some sketches by the artist who'd painted the portrait. Unfortunately for the professor, these developments also propel him into the guilt trip of a lifetime.
Professor Richard Wanley (Edward G Robinson) and Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) spend a pleasant evening together until an extremely angry guy suddenly storms into the apartment, slaps Alice and starts to strangle Wanley. As the two men struggle, Alice slips a pair of scissors into Wanley's hand and he stabs his attacker. At first, Wanley intends to contact the police, but then on reflection, decides to dispose of the body instead. Alice tells Wanley that the man had regularly visited her and she knew him as Frank Howard. She empties the man's pockets before Wanley takes the body to his car and finds a watch with the initials "CM" engraved on it. He then goes and dumps the body in a wooded area.
Next day, Wanley meets his friends District Attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey) and Dr Michael Barkstane (Edmund Breon) at their club and Lalor announces that he's been put in charge of investigating the disappearance of prominent financier Claude Mazard. The body is subsequently discovered by a boy scout and Lalor thinks it's likely that Mazard had gone to his mistress' home and been killed by one of her other male friends. He also mentions that a bodyguard had been employed to follow Mazard and that the "tail" was also a criminal. When Barkstane notices Wanley looking increasingly disturbed and upset, he prescribes some sleeping powders but warns that an overdose would be fatal.
Mazard's bodyguard Heidt (Dan Duryea) visits Alice's apartment and after threatening to expose her involvement in Mazard's death, demands that she hand over $5,000 to ensure his silence. He searches around and finds the scissors and the professor's initialled pencil. She asks for time to pay and he promises to return the following day. Alice contacts Wanley to tell him about the blackmail and knowing that Heidt won't stop after receiving the first ransom; Wanley gives Alice the cash and some sleeping powders to put into Heidt's drink. Heidt collects the money, but becomes suspicious and avoids the drink and after another search, finds Mazard's watch which he puts in his pocket before leaving. His possession of this item is incriminating and leads to the first of the two twists which conclude the story.
"Thw Woman In The Window" is a gripping melodrama in which the suspense builds relentlessly as Wanley's predicament becomes increasingly serious. His anxiety is also made progressively greater by the fact that:-
1. through his friendship with Lalor, he is close to the investigation and is alarmed at the speed with which developments seem to be racing towards the obvious conclusion that he is the culprit.
2. he has a seemingly uncontrollable habit of blurting out remarks which, if taken seriously would point the finger of suspicion firmly at him.
3. when he dumped the body, he left behind a whole series of clues.
He also feels the strain of knowing that things have become hopelessly out of control as he goes from killing a man to disposing of the body and then colluding with Alice to kill a second man. The tension he feels also becomes unbearable as he tries to maintain his respectability so that he can avoid jeopardising his marriage, his family life and his career.
This movie is a well regarded film noir but one which departs from some of the conventions of the style. Most notably, the much maligned ending changes the whole tenor of what had transpired earlier, the very repressed Wanley is certainly not a typical noir hero and Alice is a far more mysterious and benign presence than the standard femme fatale. Similarly, its rather moralistic and salutary tone (especially at the end) is at odds with the more ambiguous and objective stance more commonly adopted in these films.
The strong supporting cast act in a style which is extremely competent, though maybe rather "stagey" by modern standards and Edward G Robinson and Joan Bennett are excellent throughout.
Professor Richard Wanley (Edward G Robinson) and Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) spend a pleasant evening together until an extremely angry guy suddenly storms into the apartment, slaps Alice and starts to strangle Wanley. As the two men struggle, Alice slips a pair of scissors into Wanley's hand and he stabs his attacker. At first, Wanley intends to contact the police, but then on reflection, decides to dispose of the body instead. Alice tells Wanley that the man had regularly visited her and she knew him as Frank Howard. She empties the man's pockets before Wanley takes the body to his car and finds a watch with the initials "CM" engraved on it. He then goes and dumps the body in a wooded area.
Next day, Wanley meets his friends District Attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey) and Dr Michael Barkstane (Edmund Breon) at their club and Lalor announces that he's been put in charge of investigating the disappearance of prominent financier Claude Mazard. The body is subsequently discovered by a boy scout and Lalor thinks it's likely that Mazard had gone to his mistress' home and been killed by one of her other male friends. He also mentions that a bodyguard had been employed to follow Mazard and that the "tail" was also a criminal. When Barkstane notices Wanley looking increasingly disturbed and upset, he prescribes some sleeping powders but warns that an overdose would be fatal.
Mazard's bodyguard Heidt (Dan Duryea) visits Alice's apartment and after threatening to expose her involvement in Mazard's death, demands that she hand over $5,000 to ensure his silence. He searches around and finds the scissors and the professor's initialled pencil. She asks for time to pay and he promises to return the following day. Alice contacts Wanley to tell him about the blackmail and knowing that Heidt won't stop after receiving the first ransom; Wanley gives Alice the cash and some sleeping powders to put into Heidt's drink. Heidt collects the money, but becomes suspicious and avoids the drink and after another search, finds Mazard's watch which he puts in his pocket before leaving. His possession of this item is incriminating and leads to the first of the two twists which conclude the story.
"Thw Woman In The Window" is a gripping melodrama in which the suspense builds relentlessly as Wanley's predicament becomes increasingly serious. His anxiety is also made progressively greater by the fact that:-
1. through his friendship with Lalor, he is close to the investigation and is alarmed at the speed with which developments seem to be racing towards the obvious conclusion that he is the culprit.
2. he has a seemingly uncontrollable habit of blurting out remarks which, if taken seriously would point the finger of suspicion firmly at him.
3. when he dumped the body, he left behind a whole series of clues.
He also feels the strain of knowing that things have become hopelessly out of control as he goes from killing a man to disposing of the body and then colluding with Alice to kill a second man. The tension he feels also becomes unbearable as he tries to maintain his respectability so that he can avoid jeopardising his marriage, his family life and his career.
This movie is a well regarded film noir but one which departs from some of the conventions of the style. Most notably, the much maligned ending changes the whole tenor of what had transpired earlier, the very repressed Wanley is certainly not a typical noir hero and Alice is a far more mysterious and benign presence than the standard femme fatale. Similarly, its rather moralistic and salutary tone (especially at the end) is at odds with the more ambiguous and objective stance more commonly adopted in these films.
The strong supporting cast act in a style which is extremely competent, though maybe rather "stagey" by modern standards and Edward G Robinson and Joan Bennett are excellent throughout.