All that we see or seem

The form within the form is tricky. Movies about movies run out of puff. Novels about novels disappear up themselves. Paintings about paintings could be the Droste effect. Music about music? Call the lawyers. But an art form referenced within a different art form triggers something in noir. In Fritz Lang's The Woman in the Window (1944) a 40-year-old and therefore almost dead assistant Professor Wanley (Edward G Robinson) is lured into a real-life dilemma by a painting of Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) – warning – overlaid by her reflection. Later something bad happens: both parties fall into the mirror. Dan Duryea is waiting. It's a mean trick.