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DVD REVIEW
Murder My Sweet, Dick Powell, 1943
Not all of the classic detective novelist Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowes are born equal. The definitive screen role is that of Humphrey Bogart in the Big Sleep. Dick Powell, however, here keeps pretty good company with his interpretation of Marlowe as the world-weary private detective who sees things through to the end, especially when he screws up an assignment. It's professional ethics, you know. That characteristic helped define the noir detective. Here Powell adds a little off-hand humor and self-deprecation to the role as he fight for his concept of rough `justice'. But mainly he is intrepid and that carries him a long way in the role. And surprisingly, unlike in the book that the film is based on, he gets the "nice" girl in the end. Who would have thought.
Apparently not all classic Raymond Chandler novels are born equal either. The film here takes bits and pieces from various shorter stories written by Chandler earlier in his career as he was defining the Marlowe model to make the plot line run here. If you want to see a truer take on the original novel Farewell, My Lovely that this film is based on then you should see the remake from the 1980's starring Robert Mitchum.
In Murder, My Sweet the story line runs more around the question of some jade lost by or stolen from a wealthy younger woman with a aging husband, a familar plot, although not always with aging husbands, who actions are central to a murder that occurs along the way. She, as is the order of things in noir films, is a mantrap and classic femme fatale who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. And will succeed to a point. But do not forget that Marlowe has his own sense of honor so do not cross that line, or else. See both films and judge for yourself.
DVD REVIEW
Murder My Sweet, Dick Powell, 1943
Not all of the classic detective novelist Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowes are born equal. The definitive screen role is that of Humphrey Bogart in the Big Sleep. Dick Powell, however, here keeps pretty good company with his interpretation of Marlowe as the world-weary private detective who sees things through to the end, especially when he screws up an assignment. It's professional ethics, you know. That characteristic helped define the noir detective. Here Powell adds a little off-hand humor and self-deprecation to the role as he fight for his concept of rough `justice'. But mainly he is intrepid and that carries him a long way in the role. And surprisingly, unlike in the book that the film is based on, he gets the "nice" girl in the end. Who would have thought.
Apparently not all classic Raymond Chandler novels are born equal either. The film here takes bits and pieces from various shorter stories written by Chandler earlier in his career as he was defining the Marlowe model to make the plot line run here. If you want to see a truer take on the original novel Farewell, My Lovely that this film is based on then you should see the remake from the 1980's starring Robert Mitchum.
In Murder, My Sweet the story line runs more around the question of some jade lost by or stolen from a wealthy younger woman with a aging husband, a familar plot, although not always with aging husbands, who actions are central to a murder that occurs along the way. She, as is the order of things in noir films, is a mantrap and classic femme fatale who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. And will succeed to a point. But do not forget that Marlowe has his own sense of honor so do not cross that line, or else. See both films and judge for yourself.
I have found an edition of some of Raymond Chandler's older stories and lo and behold sketches of both movie stories discussed here are outlined there. That book is made up of several stories from a period when Chandler was just developing his prototypal hard-boiled detective that evolved into Phillip Marlowe. The composites eventually make up this story, Lady in the Lake and The Big Sleep. Fascinating in their own right but also as harbingers of things to come. I found the edition one time on Amazon.com. Check there.
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