Movie Review: The Woman in the Window (1944)

Synopsis: While his wife and kids are on vacation, Professor Richard Wanley spends a late evening at a men’s club with his friends. While walking home, he stops outside a store window to study the painting of an attractive woman. As he is doing this, the model, Alice Reed, walks up to him and after a brief conversation, invites him back to her place to see some of her other modeling work. While enjoying some drinks on her couch, Alice’s lover, financier Claude Mazard, shows up and attacks Richard, forcing the professor to kill the other man in self-defense. Worried both about being charged with murder and the scandal that would follow even without charges, Richard convinces Alice to hide Claude’s body. Only, his careful plan isn’t as careful as he thought.

Who’s in it? The movie stars Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Dan Duryea and Edmund Breon.


Review: The Woman in the Window was on ScreenPix’s “movies to watch before you die” list and after reading the description, I decided to give it a try this morning. Overall, I think I can say the film lived up to the hype it was given.

This movie could easily be called “What Not to Do When Hiding a Body,” because everything Richard (Robinson) does following his decision to not call the police predictably came back to haunt him. This included everything from snagging his arm on barbed wire to being seen by multiple witnesses ranging from the parking garage attendant to the police officer who pulled him over for not having his lights on.

In fact, I think that was my favorite part of this film because just about everything that could go wrong for him did, including leaving Claude’s (Arthur Loft) hat on the backseat of his car. Then, when talking about Claude later, he constantly slipped up to the point I was surprised his friends didn’t immediately suspect him.

I was also intrigued by Alice’s (Bennett) role in all of it. While she seemed like a scared accomplice, I wasn’t completely sure if the whole thing wasn’t some sort of elaborate setup. After all, she was quite a bit younger than Richard and was the one who approached him. It did seem a bit fishy. I know I certainly would have some doubts if it happened to me.

The addition of the blackmailer, Heidt (Duryea) was a nice touch as well. The efficient way he spotted clues in Alice’s apartment made it clear he was a cunning enemy and the only way she and Richard would have any chance of getting away with what they did was by murdering the ex-cop. It also made me wonder, once again, if Alice was trustworthy.

I wasn’t a big fan of the ending, mostly because I thought it was a little bit of a cop-out. It did, however, bring closure to the film and a little bit of comedy to lighten the mood after getting a bit dark a little while earlier. It also didn’t do anything to ruin a good film (which happens way too often) so I’ll give it a pass.

Final Opinion: Would I put it on my list of movies you should watch before you die? Probably not. However, it’s a solid psychological crime film that I did enjoy watching and would recommend.

My Grade: A


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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1944:

Movie Review: Lost in a Harem (1944)

Movie Review: Lifeboat (1944)

Movie Review: Bluebeard (1944)


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