Lady in the Lake

I'll get the obvious out of the way first. Robert Montgomery's 'Lady in the Lake (1947)' is most renowned for being one of the only mainstream films to unfold almost entirely from the first-person perspective of the main character, in this case Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. The technique had been used before, albeit on a lesser scale, in the opening five minutes of Rouben Mamoulian's 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).' In 1947, shortly after the release of Montgomery's film, Delmer Daves would take an enormous risk by filming the first hour of 'Dark Passage (1947)' without showing the face of Humphrey Bogart, though the star's status was such that he was eventually forced to emerge from the shadows (after which point, it must be said, the film becomes more conventional and marginally less interesting). Montgomery, in his last film at MGM, was also given the opportunity to direct, and he doesn't flinch from his chosen gimmick. Marlowe's face is seen only during several brief explanatory interludes, and whenever he happens to catch his reflection in the mirror.

Setting aside the gimmick – which MGM optimistically hailed as the greatest cinematic innovation since synchronised sound – 'Lady in the Lake' doesn't quite measure up to other popular Chandler adaptations of the time. Robert Montgomery may have been a great actor – I honestly can't say, this being my first film with him – but his Philip Marlowe doesn't possess the toughness of Bogart in 'The Big Sleep (1946),' nor the cocky swagger of Dick Powell in 'Murder, My Sweet (1944).' The awkwardness of the role is only accentuated by Marlowe's constantly being behind the camera, though even the occasional direct-to-camera interruptions seem to miss the mark. I don't expect that the supporting actors had much experience in speaking directly to a piece of equipment, and so their performances are capable without being particularly memorable. The chemistry between Montgomery and Audrey Totter, the potentially-villainous femme fatale, was mostly stale for this reason, as we're really only seeing one side of their conversation.

Perhaps the film's greatest weakness – and, once again, this all comes back to Montgomery's chosen gimmick – is that everything moves so slowly. One would expect those 1940s movie cameras to have been incredibly clunky, and so, in these pre-Steadicam days, Marlowe ambles from A to B with devastating sluggishness. The first-person technique, however, did work wonderfully in the sequence where Marlowe is being pursued in his car, and also when he must drag himself across the gravel to a public telephone. There are lots of prolonged silences where nothing happens, and, despite striving for realism, the film should have conceded more of a musical soundtrack to fill these voids. The one piece of music put into use, however, was an eerily effective choir song that reminded me of György Ligeti's "Requiem" from '2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).' Overall, 'Lady in the Lake' is a fascinating film noir experiment that doesn't quite manage to pull it off. Even so, it's worth a look for its unique take on Philip Marlowe and several scenes of inarguable excellence.

I recently saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs Film Noir Festival. Popular actor Robert Montgomery branches out into directing in this Film Noir from 1947 with mixed results. Using a subjective camera technique, Montgemery stars as detective Phillip Marlowe in a film shot from Marlowes point of view and is rarely on screen himself except for occasional mirror reflections and in a few scenes where he relates the story directly to the camera. This POV technique for an entire film can be demanding on the actors who talk to a disembodied camera instead of an actor and can wear thin on an audience after a while but although I did like the film, I can see why others may not. Based on the the Raymond Chandler novel with a screenplay by Steve Fisher who enjoyed success in the Film Noir genre with several film screenplays it has some good witty lines. The film begins with Christmas carols and the opening credits on Chrismas cards and it does take place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but that's the only thing Christmasy about it. It wasn't even released for Christmas and make it's debut in theaters in late January of 1947. Marlowe is set to give up his private eye career and become a writer instead and submits his first manuscript to an agency specializing in pulp fiction and horror stories. Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter) isn't interested in Marlowe's literary talents and instead want to hire him to find out what happened to the missing estranged wife of her boss Derace Kingsby (Leon Ames). Totter's expressions, emotions, wit and beauty make a strong camera presence carry the film. Tom Tully as Cpt. Kane and Lloyd Nolan as Lt. DeGarmot make an excellent good cop-bad cop combination. Dick Simmons as Chris Lavery is excellent in a small role and Jayne Meadows as the mysterious Mildred Haveland is superb in her rapid-fire delivery. Meadows herself was on hand for the film's screening at the festival and did a Q&A for the audience after the screening in which she said she had never seen the film before even when it was first released. Beautiful blonde bit part actress Lila Leeds was only 18 years old when this was filmed in May of 1946 and was probably being groomed by MGM as the next Marilyn Monroe but in 1948 she was arrested along with Robert Mitchum for marijuana possession and as a community service part of her sentence she was given a staring role in the 1949 anti-drug film "Wild Weed." It would be her only starring role and at age 21 her film career was over. Look for great costumes on the actresses in this film by noted designer Irene. There are no location shots in this film and we never make to the lake and only learn of events that happen up there. It's an all-around strange film but a great cast and I would give it a 7.5 out of 10 and recommend it.

I saw this film on TMC on Christmas Eve 2000. I thought it was pretty interesting. The first first-person film I've ever seen. It really caught the first-person POV with which Chandler wrote the novel. I loved Marlowe, wise-cracking, one-liners ("Do you fall in love with all of your clients? Only the ones in skirts.") I thought the director handled the camera very well, with the mirrors to show the first-person perspective. I like it a lot. Great noir! Kept me riveted.

Striking camera work letting the viewer see through the eyes of hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe(Robert Montgomery). This is an intriguing Raymond Chandler tale that has the "private dick" solving a murder while seeking a missing socialite. Montgomery directs himself and is primarily only seen in a scene looking in a mirror. Novelty of the camera work is clever and makes YOU part of the movie. Its pretty cool finding the clues. Very apt cast featuring Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Leon Ames and Jane Meadows. Fun to watch.

Drawing on his life of crimefighting to write a short story, Raymond Chandler's tough but noble P.I. Philip Marlowe (Robert Montgomery, pulling double duty as actor and director) submits his work to Kingsby Publications, home of such pulp fiction mags as LURID DETECTIVE and MURDER MASTERPIECES. Before he can say "byline," editor Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter) has Marlowe up to his neck in murder, missing dames, and crooked cops -- and you can see things Marlowe's way, literally! Before all those slasher movies came along during the last couple of decades, LADY IN THE LAKE used the subjective camera treatment -- hell, the camera was practically a character in the flick! Throughout most of LADY..., we see everything exactly as Marlowe sees it; the only times we see Marlowe/Montgomery's face is when he looks in a mirror, as well as in a brief prologue, an entrè-acte segment, and an epilogue. In the trailer (featured on the spiffy new DVD version of LADY..., along with an enjoyable and informative commentary track by film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini), MGM's publicity department did its best to push the film as the first interactive movie experience: "MGM presents a Revolutionary motion picture; the most amazing since Talkies began! YOU and ROBERT MONTGOMERY solve a murder mystery together! YOU accept an invitation to a blonde's apartment! YOU get socked in the jaw by a murder suspect!" YOU occasionally start snickering in spite of yourself when the subjective camera gimmick teeters dangerously close to parodying itself, like when Totter moves in for a smooch with Our Hero The Camera. Some of Totter's facial expressions in the first half of the film as she spars verbally with Montgomery are pretty funny, too, though I'm not sure all of them were meant to be (she uses the arched eyebrow technique done so much more effectively later by Eunice Gayson of DR. NO and FROM Russia WITH LOVE, Leonard Nimoy, CQ's Angela Lindvall, The Rock, et al... :-). Having said that, the subjective camera technique works more often than not; in particular, I thought the fight scenes and a harrowing sequence where an injured Marlowe crawls out of his wrecked car worked beautifully. It helps that Steve Fisher provided a good solid screenplay for Raymond Chandler's novel, though Chandler purists were annoyed that the novel's pivotal Little Fawn Lake sequence was relegated to a speech in the recap scene in the middle (apparently they tried to film that scene on location, but the subjective camera treatment proved harder to do in the great outdoors, so they gave up). The performances are quite good overall, including Lloyd Nolan as a dirty cop and an intense dramatic turn by young Jayne Meadows. Montgomery's sardonic snap mostly works well for cynical Marlowe, though he sometimes forgets to tone it down during tender dialogue, making him sound simply cranky. Totter eventually tones down her mugging and becomes genuinely affecting as her Adrienne lets down her guard and begins falling for Marlowe. You may love or hate this LADY..., but if you enjoy mysteries and you're intrigued by offbeat movie-making techniques, give her a try!