186. LAURA, 1944
- Jay Jacobson
- 1 day ago
- 18 min read
A haunting portrait of obsession and murder
Hypnotic and unforgettable, “Laura”, stands among the most mesmerizing movie mysteries ever made. Brimming with surprise twists, sharp wit, offbeat romance, sumptuous visuals, haunting music, and electric performances, it’s pure cinematic magic. Nominated for five Academy Awards (and winner of one), it launched many giant film careers both in front and behind the camera, and the American Film Institute (AFI) named it the 4th Greatest Mystery of All-Time and 73rd Most Thrilling American Movie, and it's one of a relatively short list of films to receive a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. “Laura” stayed with me since I first saw it as a kid, and I instantly fell in love with its star, Gene Tierney.
Because “Laura” is a psychological whodunit, I won’t reveal many plot details so I con't spoil any of the fun. Suffice it to say, it is the story of “Laura Hunt”, a successful marketing executive who was found murdered in her posh apartment. The film tracks detective “Mark McPherson” as he works to find the murderer.
The film opens with three suspects. First is columnist "Waldo Lydecker", "Laura’s" closest friend and mentor — brilliant, cutting, and obsessively in love with her — who also serves as the film’s sardonic narrator. Next is charming but shallow playboy "Shelby Carpenter", engaged to Laura while being kept by her wealthy aunt, "Ann Treadwell", whose jealousy of "Laura’s" hold over him also makes her a suspect. As "Mark" investigates, he becomes increasingly captivated by "Laura’s" portrait and falls in love.
By description, “Laura” may sound like just another detective story, but it’s far from that. The film’s dialogue is unusually smart and witty for films of this dark genre, and delivered by a motley crew of highly intriguing characters who, in their own distinct ways, are shrewd, funny, sophisticated, and ethically complex. So underneath all the snappy dialogue there’s a tension that makes one feel there's something darkly corrupt lurking just under the surface. As a crime drama with a femme fatale (of sorts), narration, flashbacks, chiaroscuro lighting, and moral ambiguity, “Laura” is stylistically classified as film noir, largely recognized as one of the best and most elegant of the genre.
Themes of obsession, desire, jealousy, and all-consuming love are enriched by an undercurrent of sex, power, and control — all seamlessly unfolding against an atmosphere as hypnotic as it is irresistible. It’s as finely crafted as a film can get. As effortlessly as “Laura” plays on screen, its journey getting there was marked by creative clashes, setbacks, and firings that make the film a stellar example of the complex, often chaotic art of making movies.
Amid the chaos, two strong wills shaped “Laura” into the masterpiece it became — Darryl F. Zanuck and Otto Preminger. A cinematic visionary and one of the central figures of the Hollywood Studio System, Nebraska-born Zanuck began as a scriptwriter in 1922, became head of production at Warner Brothers in 1931, and co-founded 20th Century Fox in 1935 as head of production. Though he rarely visited sets, Zanuck took a hands-on role in every stage of filmmaking (from script and casting to editing), always guided by an uncanny instinct for what would connect with audiences. You can read more about Zanuck in my post on “Gentleman’s Agreement”.
Meanwhile, Austrian-born Otto Preminger, began his career in the theater, quickly rising to prominence as one of Europe’s most respected stage directors. 20th Century Fox got wind of him, and after he successfully directing a Broadway play, Preminger headed West and signed a two-year contract with the studio. He first directed two B-movies (1936’s “Under Your Spell” and 1937’s “Danger – Love at Work”) before Zanuck promoted him to direct Fox’s most expensive production to date, “Kidnapped”, based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, adapted for the screen by Zanuck himself. When Zanuck saw the early footage, he accused Preminger of changing his script, which Preminger denied. A fiery clash between these two fierce personalities resulted in Preminger being removed from the film and unofficially blacklisted from Hollywood.
Unable to find work in Tinseltown, Preminger returned to Broadway where he directed a string of successful plays, including the 1939 satire "Margin for Error”, in which he also starred as a Nazi. Around that time, Preminger became interested in directing Vera Caspary's play“Ring Twice for Laura”, which she later reworked into the novel “Laura”. He hoped to collaborate with Caspary on a Broadway version, but not seeing eye to eye, they parted ways.
At the end of 1941, Zanuck left Hollywood to join the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, with William Goetz taking over his job at Fox. The studio decided to make a film version of “Margin for Error” with Ernst Lubitsch as director and Preminger reprising his Nazi role. When Lubitsch dropped out, Preminger offered to step in as director (as well as act) — but aware of Zanuck’s grudge, Goetz refused. Determined, Preminger offered to direct for free, stepping aside if Goetz disliked his footage after a week. Goetz agreed.
Preminger rewrote the screenplay with newcomer Samuel Fuller, and after one week of filming, Goetz was impressed enough to offer Preminger a seven-year contract as both actor and director, with producing rights as well. Scrambling for new projects to develop before Zanuck’s return, Preminger rediscovered Caspary’s “Laura”. Fox bought the rights and Preminger worked with screenwriter Jay Dratler (and later Samuel Hoffenstein, and Betty Reinhardt), to shape the story for the screen.
When Zanuck returned from military service and learned that Preminger had been rehired, he was furious. According to Preminger in Foster Hirsch’s book “Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King”, Zanuck summoned him to his home and said, “I see you are working on a few things. I don’t think much of them except for one — ‘Laura’. You can produce it, but as long as I am at Fox, you will never direct”. Preminger liked to embellish the truth, and if we look at facts, Zanuck did allow him to direct (and produce) another film, the 1944 B-movie "In the Meantime, Darling”, which he completed just before “Laura”.
Still slated to be a modest B movie, once Zanuck saw the script for "Laura" it was upgraded to an A movie with Preminger producing and reporting directly to Zanuck. Not completely happy with the screenplay, Zanuck sent detailed notes of what to fix, as quoted in the book “Twentieth Century's Fox”: “All of the people should seem as if they stepped out of ‘The Maltese Falcon’ — everyone has a distinct, different personality. This is what made ‘The Maltese Falcon’. It wasn’t the plot, it was the amazing characters. The only chance this picture has of becoming a big-time success is if these characters emerge as real outstanding personalities. Otherwise it will become nothing more than a blown-up Whodunit”. The writers listened, and the diverse characters are a large reason “Laura” is so enjoyably engrossing. Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Betty Reinhardt shared a Best Screenplay Academy Award nomination for their outstanding work.
Finding a director was challenging, as no directors were interested. Louis Milestone was given the script and turned it down, and finally Rouben Mamoulian, under contract to Fox, unenthusiastically accepted. Mamoulian did preproduction and shot for 18 days before getting fired and leaving Fox. There are different accounts as to why (one that Preminger was undermining him to get back in the director’s chair), but it's most commonly said that both Zanuck and Preminger were unhappy with Mamoulian’s footage, so Zanuck asked Preminger to step in as director. Mamoulian never again discussed “Laura”.
Preminger was determined to bring his vision of “Laura” to the screen, and changed nearly everything Mamoulian started. He hired a new cameraman, new sets, new art director, and even guided the actors to reinterpret their roles with fresh nuances. He also changed a key prop — the portrait of “Laura". Mamoulian had used a painting of actress Gene Tierney created by his wife, but Preminger wanted something more enigmatically alluring. So he had a studio photographer photograph Tierney, enlarge the photo and smear it with oil paint to soften the outlines and make it look painted. That portrait has since become one of cinema’s most iconic images.
Preminger’s direction is magnificent. His objective camera style is perfect for “Laura”, with long, fluid camera moves and a restrained use of close-ups and reaction shots. This approach invites us to stay alert and form our own shifting suspicions about who might be guilty. An example is when “Mark” first meets “Ann” and “Shelby”. The scene unfolds through a subtle mix of medium and long shots of two, three, and even four characters — all without a single close-up. By doing this, Preminger lets us observe and judge each character on our own, drawing us deeper into the film’s web of suspicion.
The entire film is just as gripping, with a tone that equally balances romance, mystery, elegance, and suspense — making “Laura” truly one of a kind. Preminger’s heavenly direction earned him his first Best Director Academy Award nomination, and turned him into a top Hollywood director. He went on to direct other classics, and because he pushed hard against censorship in Hollywood movies, he arguably became the one individual most responsible for causing the end of the Motion Picture Production Code. Read more about Otto Preminger in my post on “Anatomy of a Murder”.
Working alongside Preminger, was cinematographer Joseph LaShelle, whose shimmering interplay of light, shadow, and graceful camera moves imbue the film with its silky, dreamlike ambiance. His crisp lighting, eye-catching framing, and strategic shadows place our attention where it’s needed, while making the world inside the film come alive. One can feel the warmth inside “Laura’s” apartment or the bitterness of a nighttime snowfall. Only a year into his career as a full-fledged cinematographer, LaShelle knew this was his big break and took his time to get things just right. His efforts paid off, winning him a Best Cinematography Academy Award.
For two decades, Los Angeles-born Joseph LaShelle worked his way up from laboratory assistant, to assistant cameraman, to apprentice, before becoming a cinematographer with 1943's "Happy Land”. The following year came “Laura”, which launched him as one of Hollywood’s top cinematographers. Over the next twenty-plus years, LaShelle shot over sixty films, garnering eight additional Oscar nominations. He worked with Preminger five more times, and shot four films directed by Billy Wilder, (including "The Apartment"). LaShelle's other films include "Marty", "My Cousin Rachel", "How the West Was Won", and "Barefoot in the Park”. He also directed a handful of TV shows, including the very first episode of "The Twilight Zone", in 1959. He retired in 1969, and was married once, until his wife’s death. Joseph LaShelle died in 1989 at the age of 89.
Another key element that makes “Laura” an irrefutable classic is David Raksin’s score, steeped in melancholy and yearning. Preminger first approached composers Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann, but both declined. He next considered using George Gershwin’s song “Summertime”, then Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady”. Ultimately, Fox assigned Raksin, who rejected both songs, insisting he could compose something more fitting. Preminger gave him a weekend to prove it.
Come Sunday evening, still without a melody, Raksin read a note from his wife saying she was leaving him. Heartbroken, he sat at the piano pouring his emotions of love and loss into music. The result was "Laura", one of cinema’s most unforgettable scores, which AFI named the 7th Greatest Film Score of All Time. Its melody proved so popular that Johnny Mercer was hired to add lyrics, and “Laura” went on to become one of the most recorded songs in history — with more than 400 versions to date.
Born in Philadelphia to an orchestra conductor, at an early age, David Raksin studied music, played in bands, composed and arranged, and found himself working with top musicians like Benny Goodman and George Gershwin. In his early twenties, he went to Hollywood to help Charlie Chaplin arrange the score for "Modern Times", and after clashes with Chaplin, found himself composing music for B movies. "Laura" changed that, making him a major Hollywood composer. Over five-plus decades, Raskin penned more than 100 film and 300 TV scores — films like "Force of Evil", "The Bad and the Beautiful”, and "Bigger Than Life”, with two Oscar nominations for "Forever Amber" and "Separate Tables”, and writing the theme for the 1960’s TV show "Ben Casey”. He was married and divorced twice. David Raskin died in 2004 at the age of 92.
“Laura" is first-rate wherever you look, and that certainly includes the impeccable performances by its entire cast — led by the spellbinding Gene Tierney as “Laura Hunt,” the murdered girl. For a character everyone falls in love with (including a detective who falls for her portrait), Tierney’s breathtaking beauty alone makes it all believable. But it’s her bewitching performance that truly seals it. Seen in flashbacks and such, Tierney expertly captures “Laura’s” transformation from innocent working girl to confident advertising executive, while maintaining a delicate blend of believability, dreaminess, and mystery. That’s no easy task.
While every character in “Laura” remains somewhat unknowable, “Laura” herself is the most mysterious. Yet Tierney gives her strength, vulnerability, and a distinct individuality that makes her unmistakably human. She endures "Waldo’s" barbs at the Algonquin with gentle innocence, until patience hardens into contempt. In the following scene, she flips the dynamic, displaying biting sarcasm before shifting into warm compassion. And when "Laura" first meets "Shelby" at the party, Tierney layers in confidence, defiance, and poised self-assurance with a sincerely disarming curiosity: Beyond talent and jaw-dropping beauty, Tierney radiates the enigmatic allure of a true movie star. It’s a luminous, seductive, and deeply nuanced performance, and a major reason “Laura” remains unforgettable. It turned Tierney into a major star, recognized as one of cinema’s greatest beauties.
Signed by 20th Century-Fox, Gene Tierney was being groomed for stardom ever since she arrived in Hollywood. She made her film debut in a supporting role in 1940's "The Return of Frank James”, and by the following year was being cast in starring roles. But Hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with such an unusual beauty, as she stated in her autobiography "Self-Portrait: “I was to be cast as a frontier woman, an aristocrat, an Arabian, a Eurasian, a Polynesian, and a Chinese. Producers kept trying to type me as an exotic, slinky creature, the kind who are always leaning against pillars. That wasn’t me”. Then, after Hedy Lamar turned it down and Jennifer Jones was cast and failed to show up the first day of shooting, Tierney was assigned "Laura". As she remembered: “I liked the script, but after one reading was unenthused about my role. The time on camera was less than one would like. And who wants to play a painting?”. But she took the role and it catapulted her career to new heights until mental health battles interrupted her momentum at the end of the decade. She appeared in three more films directed by Preminger — "Whirlpool", "Where the Sidewalk Ends”, and "Advise & Consent". Read more about the life and career of Gene Tierney in my post on "Leave Her to Heaven".
Dana Andrews costars as detective "Mark McPherson", who investigates "Laura’s" murder and unexpectedly falls in love with her. Unlike the film’s polished society figures, "Mark" is a tough, blue-collar presence, and Andrews’ cool stoicism makes him quietly compelling. Under his hard shell lies vulnerability, revealed in small gestures like his evasive gaze, the puzzles he works to steady his nerves, or a genuine chuckle at "Waldo’s" crack about "Ann" and "Shelby" shooting craps. A pivotal moment comes when "Mark" is alone in "Laura’s" apartment at night — a scene Andrews plays with exquisite restraint. His frustration shows in how he handles her letters and diary, the conflicted tenderness with which he touches her lingerie and perfume, and how he studies her dresses, trying to imagine a woman he never knew. Catching his reflection in the mirror, a flicker of self-disgust says everything. Still, he cannot stop staring at her portrait. It is a finely measured portrayal of a man slowly unraveling between reason, longing, and obsession — and it made Andrews a star.
Since his screen debut in 1940's "Lucky Cisco Kid”, Dana Andrews was often cast as the heavy, until his first major success in a heart-wrenching supporting role in 1943's "The Ox-Bow Incident". Andrews was not the first choice to play Mark in "Laura" — Zanuck wanted John Hodiak. But while Andrews was working with director Lewis Milestone on 1944's "The Purple Heart", Milestone (who had been offered "Laura" along with the script), urged Andrews to read it, predicting the role would make him a star. Andrews immediately set out to secure the part. He met Preminger at a party, only to be told that Zanuck still wanted Hodiak. But as fate would have it, while filming his next film, “Wing and a Prayer”, Andrews ran into Zanuck’s wife at the studio and they had a long talk in which Andrews recalled to Rudy Behlmer in “Behind the Scenes”: “She said ‘You know Dana, I never thought of you as a leading man, but as a character type. But I’ve seen a different side of your personality today’… That was on a Saturday. On Monday morning Preminger called me up and said, ‘Dana, I don’t know what happened, but Zanuck says that you have the part in ‘Laura’”.
"Laura" became one of Andrews’ defining roles, and he remained a major leading man for the rest of the decade. He appeared in four more films directed by Preminger (like "Fallen Angel" and "In Harm's Way"), and a total of five with Tierney (including "The Iron Curtain" and "Where the Sidewalk Ends"). You can read more about the life and career of Dana Andrews in my post on “The Best Years of Our Lives”.
The third star of “Laura”, Clifton Webb, is a standout as “Waldo Lydecker”, a sharp-tongued, acerbic newspaper and radio columnist and “Laura’s” closest friend. Captivated by “Laura”, “Waldo” went out of his way to help her succeed, shaping her into the elegant woman she became. We hear his voice before we see him, beginning the film as he utters one of cinema’s most unforgettable lines: “I shall never forget the weekend Laura died". Moments later he appears seated regally in his enormous marble bathtub, typewriter in hand, as “Mark” enters to question him about “Laura’s” death. It’s an opening as grand and eccentric as “Waldo” himself.
A vain snob (who insists, “In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so deserving of my attention”), "Waldo's" fiercely jealous of anyone he deems unworthy of “Laura”, using his column to ridicule her suitors. Yet Webb transforms "Waldo's" venom into wit, as when he teases “Mark” with “It’s a wonder you don’t come [to 'Laura’s' apartment] like a suitor with roses and a box of candy — drugstore candy, of course”. He also takes insults with ease, as when “Shelby” mocks "Waldo's" age, saying, “I bet he’s still doing the polka” and “Waldo” fires back, “Yes, Betsy Ross taught it to me”. Webb’s performance drips with delicious condescension and razor-sharp timing that can cut like a knife while being very funny.
Like nearly everyone involved with “Laura”, Webb wasn’t the first choice for his role. Zanuck and Mamoulian wanted Laird Cregar, but after Preminger saw Webb onstage in “Blithe Spirit”, he knew he found the perfect “Waldo” and fought for Webb despite Zanuck’s concerns that he was unknown and too effeminate. Preminger directed Webb in a screen test that won over Zanuck, and “Laura” became Webb’s first sound feature film, earning him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, establishing him as a major character actor, and securing him a long-term contract with Fox.
“Waldo” is coded as gay. Since any reference to homosexuality was forbidden in Hollywood movies at the time, as per the Motion Picture Production Code (which you can read about in my “Red Dust” post), one must read between the lines — “Waldo’s” dandyish manner, his priceless antique-filled apartment, his making over “Laura’s” hair and wardrobe, and his asexual manner, all point to his being gay. He also makes snide, jealousy-filled comments about the virile men in “Laura’s” life — dismissing the man who painted her portrait as "so obviously conscious of looking more like an athlete than an artist”, calling “Shelby” "a male beauty in distress”, and referring to “Mark” as “muscular and handsome in a cheap sort of way”. It's as gay as a 1940's Hollywood movie character could get.
With his parents divorced shortly after his birth, Indiana-born Clifton Webb moved with his mother to New York City at age three. By five, he was studying dance, and by seven, performing at Carnegie Hall. He went on to act in plays, study painting and music, sing light opera, and work as a ballroom dancer, before making his Broadway debut in the 1913 musical “The Purple Road”. By the mid-1920s, he was a big Broadway star, especially known for musicals and comedies. After his film debut as a dancer in 1917’s “National Red Cross Pageant”, Webb appeared in four more silent films between 1920 and 1925, while keeping busy on stage. On Broadway, he introduced several songs that became standards, such as “I’ve Got a Crush on You”, “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan”. and “Easter Parade". He also appeared in notable nonmusical plays likes “The Importance of Being Earnest" and “Blithe Spirit”.
The 55 year-old Webb was so memorable in “Laura”, he became typecast as sophisticated, pompous, upper-class dandies. Two years later, he reunited with Tierney in 1946’s “The Razor’s Edge”, earning a second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. His next film, 1948’s “Sitting Pretty”, featured him as the unforgettable live-in babysitter “Lynn Belvedere”, a scene-stealing performance that brought him a Best Actor Oscar nomination and turned him into a major movie star. That film’s success led to two sequels, “Mr. Belvedere Goes to College” and “Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell“. In total, Webb appeared in 27 films, starring in films like “Cheaper by the Dozen”, “Stars and Stripes Forever”, “Titanic”, “The Man Who Never Was”, “The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker”, and his final, 1962's “Satan Never Sleeps”, before retiring. He never married, and though it was an open secret in Hollywood that he was gay, Webb had no known romantic long-term relationships. He was famously close with his mother, who he reportedly consulted with on everything. Clifton Webb died in 1966 at the age of 76.
Vincent Price plays “Shelby Carpenter”, a shady playboy gigolo and “Laura’s” alleged fiancé. One of Price’s great strengths is his natural, unpretentious acting, which makes “Shelby” unexpectedly compelling. Once wealthy, he’s now broke, and though he claims to love “Laura”, he is financially supported by her aunt “Ann”, while also seeing a model. Yet Price infuses “Shelby” with such Southern charm that he remains likable — so much so that "Laura" offers him a job upon first meeting him. Price also layers the character with subtle emotional shifts, especially in the cabin scene with “Mark”, moving from anger to insecurity while maintaining a sincere vulnerability.
“Laura” came at a point in Vincent Price’s career when he was being cast in smaller roles, often as weak or scorned love interests, and this film's success elevated him to prominence as a character actor. He had previously worked with Preminger on Broadway in 1938’s "Outward Bound” and again in the 1945 film “A Royal Scandal”, and appeared with Tierney in three other films — “Hudson’s Bay”, “Leave Her to Heaven”, and “Dragonwyck”. In 1953, he starred in the horror classic “House of Wax”, launching his iconic reign as a screen horror legend nicknamed the Prince of Darkness. You can read more about Price’s life and career in my posts on “The Fly” and “Leave Her to Heaven”.
The last actor I must mention is the phenomenal Judith Anderson as “Ann Treadwell”, “Laura’s” ultra wealthy aunt. “Ann’s” in love with “Shelby” and jealous of “Laura” because of “Shelby’s” love for her. Her “heart to heart” scene in the bathroom with “Laura” is one of my favorites in the entire film, for Anderson is so calmly ruthless as she puts on make-up and Tierney so vulnerable — it just can’t be beat. But then again, Anderson is such an extraordinary actress, she's superb anytime she appears onscreen. As quoted by Price in the book "Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography", while working on “Laura”, Price and Anderson "got hysterical all the time. We were thrown off the set day by day". The two later appeared in the 1956 epic “The Ten Commandments".
A Grand Dame of the theater, Anderson found her way to movies in 1930, rising to prominence as "Mrs. Danvers" in her second feature film, Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 masterpiece, “Rebecca”, earning her an Oscar nomination and a place in cinema history. She’d appear in 16 films in the 1940s alone — her busiest decade in movies, others of which include "Lady Scarface”, "Kings Row", "Edge of Darkness", "And Then There Were None", "The Diary of a Chambermaid", and “Pursued". Check out more about the life and career of Dame Judith Anderson in my post on “Rebecca", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”.
In addition to “Laura's" Oscar win for Best Cinematography and nominations for Best Director, Supporting Actor, and Screenplay, Lyle R. Wheeler, Leland Fuller, and Thomas Little received a Best Art Direction Oscar nomination for their stunning sets, which brilliantly illuminate each character’s personality.
"Laura" was remade twice for television, once in 1955 with Dana Wynter, Robert Stack, and George Sanders, and in 1968, again with Stack and Sanders, and Lee Radziwill in the title role.
I’ll leave the last word to Gene Tierney, who beautifully sums up this gem born out of mayhem: “[‘Laura’] defied any of the usual Hollywood success formulas. The picture started out with a ‘B’ — due in part to a feud between Zanuck and Preminger. We were a mixture of second choices — me, Clifton, Dana, the song, the portrait. If it worked, it was because the ingredients turned out to be right. Otto held us together, pushed and lifted what might have been a good movie into one that became something special”.
This week’s film glistens with wit, desire, sumptuous design, and evocative music, and unfolds like pure cinematic poetry. Enjoy the unforgettable “Laura”!
This blog is a (currently triweekly) series exploring classic films from the silent era through the 1970s. Each post recommends a film to watch, aiming to entertain, inform, and deepen your appreciation of cinema — its stars, directors, writers, the studio system, and more. Be sure to visit the HOME page to learn more, subscribe for email updates, and check out THE MOVIES page for a full list of films. Please comment, share with others, and subscribe so you never miss a post. Thanks for reading!
YOU CAN STREAM OR BUY THE FILM ON AMAZON
OTHER PLACES YOU CAN BUY THE FILM:
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, and any and all money will go towards the fees for this blog. Thanks!!
TO READ AFTER VIEWING (contains spoilers):
Zanuck was unhappy with the last 15 minutes of the film, rewrote the ending and had it reshot against Preminger's wishes. Many accounts say the final film reverted to Preminger’s original ending, but according to the research in Rudy Behlmer's book "Behind the Scenes", Zanuck’s ending (except for some missing dialogue) is what remains in the final version.