Laura

Laura is a film noir directed by the great Otto Preminger. It's filled with dodgy imagery, impending doom, and illusions. We open, and a tragedy has already occurred. Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) is dead. A detective (one of those fast talking and blunt kind of detective replete in film noir and played by Dana Andrews) is on the case. He interviews Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), a popular mogul who is infatuated with Laura. He interviews her fiancé (Vincent Price) who was also deeply attracted to her. As the case moves on and new things come to light, the detective himself becomes entranced by a painting of Laura. We get a lot of backstory then, about the relationships the fiancé and Lydecker had with Laura. The suspense here is pretty great, Laura is dead, but who the murderer is, is executed better than most films. It's elevated by the good acting and the clever direction as well. Tricks with shadows and characters who seem so constantly frightened makes it great.