The Woman in the Window | |
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Directed by | Fritz Lang |
Screenplay by | Nunnally Johnson |
Based on | Once Off Guard (1942) by J. H. Wallis |
Produced by | Nunnally Johnson |
Starring | Edward G. Robinson Joan Bennett Raymond Massey Dan Duryea |
Cinematography | Milton R. Krasner |
Edited by | Gene Fowler Jr. Marjorie Fowler |
Music by | Arthur Lange |
Production company | |
Distributed by | RKO Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Woman in the Window is a 1944 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, and Dan Duryea. It tells the story of a middle-aged psychology professor[2] who murders in self-defense the lover of a young femme fatale he just met while his family is on vacation.[3]
Based on J. H. Wallis' 1942 novel Once Off Guard, the story features two surprise twists at the end. Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson, having written the script for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), was invited by International Pictures to a picture deal, and The Woman in the Window was chosen as its premiere project. There have been rumours that Lang substituted the film's dream ending in place of the originally scripted suicide ending to conform with the moralistic Production Code of the time. However, Lang claimed that it was his idea when asked directly in an interview.[4]
The term "film noir" originated as a genre description in part because of The Woman in the Window.[5]