The Woman In The Window (2020)

The plot of A J Finn's book was tailored for fans of the classic film thrillers of the 30s and 40s and 50s — essentially a string of all the especially twisty-turny bits of Hitchcock's The Lady Vamishes and Rear Window mixed with the memorable moments of other noir thrillers like Witness To Murder — but what the book lacks and what this adaptation dutifully lacks is any masterful thriller storytelling: there is no clever pacing or building of suspense or deft shifts in tone, just a relentless, frenetically paced string of twists and, like the book, the movie is filled not with characters but mere shapes who all speak with A J Finn's voice and dart around with the same urgency and at the same speed, driving the story to its end before you've even started to distinguish between these blobs.

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

The Woman in the Window (1944)

In director Fritz Lang’s 1944 film noir full of great moments but dopey on the whole, a psychology professor played by Edward G Robinson has to dream up a way out of a terrible pickle when the woman whose portrait in a shop window he admires turns up in real life, invites him back to her apartment for a drink and before you can say, “What would your wife and kids think of this?”, the two become embroiled in murder, body disposal and blackmail!

★★☆☆☆ 

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS