The Woman in the Window (1944)

Edward G Robinson was one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood history. While he was one of the early gangsters and many remember him for that, he was far and away one of the better dramatic actors, one who could play parts much more complex than an oily gangster like Rico "Little Caesar" Bandetto. When film noir became the style Robinson became one of the most prolific actors in the genre with a part in arguably the biggest film noir in history, Double Indemnity, but his work went far beyond that superb performance.

Robinson played several times more in film noir, including one of the few so-called "farm noir" movies The Red House, set in the country, rather than the city.

Robinson was also featured in Fritz Lang's movies, in 1945's Scarlet Street and 1944s The Woman in the Window, where he played milquetoast city men who are out maneuvered by savvy streetwise women and thugs. Both Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea played together with Robinson in both movies and each played their parts with aplomb, but 1944's The Woman in the Window, had too bleak an ending, apparently, so a few more minutes of film were tacked on to draw the poison out out of the story. I won't give you the exact details because you may want to see it yourself, but you can easily see how the ending could have taken place right before the trick ending was tacked on.

In the movie, Edward G Robinson is a psychology professor and the first scene shows him lecturing, telling the students about killers - "The biblical injunction thou shalt not kill... requires qualification in view of our broader knowledge of impulses behind homicide.... ... The man who kills in self defense, for instance, must not be judged by the same standards applied to the man who kills for gain."

The next scene we see Robinson has sent his wife and kids away on summer vacation and left him back in NYC. Then he is ogling a sexy portrait in a shop window and we see his two cronies poking each other in the ribs as they see him checking out the nice looking chick. The same scene is shown again that night after he eats dinner but this time the portrait has a reflection next to it - the model herself. Robinson looks over at her and it is a beautiful young woman about half his age, played by Joan Bennett. She invites the aged professor back to her place - right! and he goes and they are having a drink and looking at pictures of her when a male friend of hers shows up, smacks her across the face and starts choking Robinson. He is handed a pair of scissors by the lady and naturally defends himself, killing the assailant. Now we get to see if he really believes what he said in his classroom lecture just a little earlier.

Of course he goes completely against his own admonitions by offering to get rid of the body after ascertaining that nobody knew the guy and she were an item.

The movie keeps progressing, and Robinson keeps making little goofs which keeps the suspense level up. And Robinson's buddy, the District Attorney (Raymond Massey), is investigating and darn if he isn't right behind Robinson, adding to the tension. As the film unwinds little details are added - the victim is a financier and his body guard (Dan Duryea) shows up to shake down Joan Bennett, who naturally calls Robinson who much to our surprise recommends knocking him off.

We can see how far his morals have regressed from his early lecture on self defense killing. The movie is full of details that make it interesting and add to the suspense but the production code ending, probably mandated by the studio, is a real downer and drags the movie down in my view. The twist makes all the story development meaningless and takes away from the great performances of the three main actors.

The MGM/Fox DVD is presented in black and white full frame theatrical format with a running time of 99 minutes. There are no extra features other than subtitles.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day