User reviews

Almost all the reviewers of the Brasher Doubloon have complained that George Montgomery was no Bogart or Powell. True. Would this film had been better with either of them playing the iconic Philip Marlowe? Of course. And while you're at it, it would have been better with Lauren Bacall as the femme fatale and Peter Lorre as the villain, etc. etc.

Get over it, not every classic film can have a Hall of Fame cast. Many movies with 'B' stars were very entertaining -- and the Brasher Doubloon is a good example.

Watch the film with fresh eyes, pretend this is NOT Raymond Chandler's Marlowe and I think you'll enjoy it more. In this film, Marlowe is younger, handsomer and more suave. The script, which many also complained about, suits the persona of the debonair George Montgomery better than the more cynical lines given Bogart and Powell.

The main actors did a good job with their portrayals, the plot keeps you guessing with some good twists, the photography is great, the outdoor locations perfect.

In sum, this is NOT the Maltese Falcon or Murder, My Sweet which are 10+. But the Brasher Doubloon is a solid 7 and well worth watching on its own merits.

Can't add much to what has already been said, but what this film has over some of the better known Marlowe films is some real Los Angeles location photography, which gives it a special atmosphere; the eerie Pasadena mansion with huge palm trees blowing in the wind, and a rambling old Craftsman house in the Hollywood Hills on a windy afternoon.

Among other films based on Raymond Chandler stories, "The Big Sleep," in particular, all filmed on indoor sets, has no feeling of Los Angeles at all. George Montgomery in "Brasher Doubloon" is a lightweight, but the film is fun and entertaining. Surprising that it is virtually NEVER shown on TV. I only saw it because a pal owns a 35mm print.

The late 1940's produced some of Hollywood's best film noir....Out of the Past, Murder my Sweet, The Blue Dahlia, Crossfire, The Dark Corner, Dark Passage, The Big Sleep....and the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, The Brasher Doubloon was not one of them! However, the 1947 film with George Montgomery as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, has gotten a bad rap! It has terrific atmosphere...that old mansion, the Santa Ana winds, terrific character actors and that exceptional personality - actress Florence Bates.

True, George Montgomery doesn't possess the world weariness of Humphrey Bogart or Dick Powell (both of whom played Marlowe previously), but there is a winsomeness about his character that keeps surviving the constantly battering given to him that works for the film. Nancy Guild as the young woman in distress possesses a femme fatale quality which was often found in noir films of the time...ie..Martha Vickers in 'Big Sleep', Mary Astor in 'Falcon' as well as Veronica Lake and June Duprez "Murder My Sweet".

Most reviews of this film that I have read described this film as poor. Actually it really isn't. Its just that the other 40's Phillip Marlowe films are better. George Montgomery tries hard as Marlowe, but he is a bit to young looking to be convincing as a hard boiled detective. Ideally,an actor in his thirties or forties should have been cast; old enough to have grown world weary but still young enough to woo the babes. Despite this films faults, its still worth a look and is not the dismal failure some critics have claimed it is.

Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's trenchant private detective saw many incarnations on the screen big and small. Chandler like S.S. Van Dine the creator of Philo Vance sold his work to several studios and the studio cast whomever. Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep for Warner Brothers and Dick Powell in Murder My Sweet for RKO are the best known interpreters of Marlowe. George Montgomery in The Brasher Doubloon gets a short shrift from most film fans.

I don't think this is necessarily Montgomery's fault. The Brasher Doubloon was based on the Chandler story The High Window and unlike Warner Brothers and RKO this was meant to be a B film and was treated that way. I've never read the book, but I could tell a lot was left out in the treatment.

Montgomery is hired by the imperious Florence Bates to get back a valuable coin, The Brasher Doubloon which was the prize of her late husband's valuable coin collection. Upon arrival to her home, Montgomery is told in no uncertain terms that his services will not be needed by her son Conrad Janis. Janis plays this punk as well as Elisha Cook, Jr. ever did in this type of part.

Of course as he starts investigating bodies keep being strewn in his path and the police are blaming Montgomery for some if not all. The mother and son turn out to be some pieces of work.

The Brasher Doubloon has a good deal of its problems with the character Nancy Guild plays. She's Bates's secretary/companion who has issues and she really ought to be seeing a therapist rather than Philip Marlowe. Her character holds the key to the answers, but the character itself is ill defined in the script.

Maybe had The Brasher Doubloon gotten the A treatment it would be better received. As it is it's not a bad film, but not in the same league as the others mentioned.

In the mid-1940s Hollywood discovered Raymond Chandler: Murder, My Sweet (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) and The Lady in the Lake (1947). Also from '47, John Brahm's The Brasher Dubloon is a version of Chandler's The High Window and, unfortunately, the most disappointing of this crop. Troubles start with the running time; at 72 minutes, that's not enough time for Chandler's baroque structures to start to unfurl, unless you reduce them to mere plot (and plot is not Chandler's long suit). Second, there's George Montgomery trying to fill the shoes of Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart and the other Montgomery, Robert. He doesn't. While he's pleasant enough -- as a light leading man -- he swallows line after line of the script smoothly where a more nuanced actor would have found a whole ham sandwich to sink his teeth into. Still, there are good points here, especially in Brahm's directing. The big old mansion with its twin, massive turrets is especially ominous with the Santa Ana winds whistling outside; Florence Bates, as its owner, knows how to grande-dame it with the best; and a striking series of sinister characters take us down meaner and ever meaner streets. With a better star and a more leisurely pace, this private-eye flick could have been a contender.

_The Brasher Doubloon_ is clearly second tier, with at least one scene in Marlowe's office copied directly (and painfully directly) from _The Maltese Falcon._ If the characters are stereotypes and Montgomery's voice over shy-making in its adolescent appreciation of Merle Davis's beauty, the pacing and plot movement are still satisfactorily brisk. Florence Bates is perfect as the crusty, port-sodden Elizabeth Bright Murdock, and the night club goons look just right. It's not a masterpiece but is a diverting hour and a half. The final revelation is ingeniously presented as it involves a film-within-the-film and the way in which this key piece of evidence for the story came into being is more concretely explained in the movie than in Chandler's original, the one way in which the motion picture is superior to the published novel.

Decent Raymond Chandler adaptation that suffers by comparison to the more esteemed Chandler films of the 1940s. Leading man George Montgomery comes across as a poor man's James Craig, who himself was a poor man's Clark Gable. This is a poverty-stricken casting choice for one of the all-time great fictional American characters, Philip Marlowe. Montgomery is just wrong for this part. He doesn't look right and more importantly he doesn't sound right. The rest of the cast is so-so with Nancy Guild a standout, alternating between sympathetic and insufferable. It's interesting to see a young Conrad Janis with hair so there's that.

The script and direction are the film's strength. While it's not as quotable as other Chandler works and it borrows liberally from better stories, most notably Chandler's own The Big Sleep and Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, it kept me glued to the screen the whole time. I also enjoyed the bits of atmosphere throughout. The windy scenes are especially well done.

This was made previously as a Michael Shayne picture. I enjoyed that version more, largely due to Lloyd Nolan being a more interesting and likable actor than George Montgomery. Check out both for the sake of comparison. Neither is a bad watch as long as you go into it knowing you're not getting Bogart.

... with the exception of George Montgomery who plays the lead role of Philip Marlowe, but he just doesn't seem the type for this part. Montgomery has the looks, but he just seems like he should be wearing a suit with suspenders giving a presentation on Wall Street. His best film - to me - was "Accent on Love" where he played exactly that - a pedigreed but poor man married to a wealthy woman who treated him like a pet. But I digress.

I like Bogart's interpretation of the detective, as well as a surprising Dick Powell and I even warmed up to Robert Montgomery's Marlowe, who played perennial playboys in the 30s at MGM. But I just could never believe George Montgomery as the cynical detective.

So the script is pretty good. Marlowe is called out to the mansion of matronly socialite Elizabeth Murdock who wants him to find out what has happened to the Brasher Doubloon, a ten thousand dollar coin that disappeared without an apparent break-in. She has a beautiful but strange secretary, Merle (Nancy Guild) who tells Marlowe it is important for her to know what happened to the coin because she doesn't know whether or not she took it. Huh?

From there Marlowe stumbles into a couple of murders that - of course - the police think he did, he gets a visit from a goon working for a gangster who wants to pay him off not to go looking for the coin. There is also a German expatriate cameraman who can't get work BECAUSE he left Germany in the 30s???, and even a parade figures into the plot.

The script gets convoluted at times, but the main problem is I kept thinking - Ella Raines would be great as the enigmatic secretary!, or Peter Lorre would be dynamite as the gangster's henchman!, or Bogart would play Marlowe in these scenes with just the right balance of cool and humor, etc. It's a big mystery why Fox, who had the star power at the time at the height of the noir cycle, did not put more effort into casting this.

There are a couple of things to watch for in this film. First, for some reason there is a giant neon sign reading "Broadway Hollywood Hotel" just outside the window of Marlowe's office that is so gaudy and imposing that it looks like it is an extra character in the room. Also, when Marlowe goes to visit the gangster at his nightclub, there seems to be a female impersonator in the room who is scantily clad in a backless evening gown but has no lines and nothing to do with the plot. How odd in this time of extreme censorship.

Maybe worth it for the curiosity of it all.

Not just one but both leads in this movie are all wrong. George Montgomery, a skinny guy with a skinny moustache, looks like a fellow hanging around a dance trying to get a teenager in trouble. His voice is far too light to sound convincing speaking Raymond Chandler's grim or rueful lines, and his delivery sounds as if he hasn't even convinced himself he's the right one to say them.

It's obvious why most of his romance with Nancy Guild is conducted sitting down when you see them standing together. There are two shots in which this happens, both hilarious, as she comes up to about his belt buckle. In one of them, he is even standing a few steps above her! She also has a very lightweight voice, and she comes off in general like a schoolgirl who has done her hair and makeup to resemble Lauren Bacall, but overdid it. She seems overwhelmed by her hair.

Lacking mood and atmosphere as well, the whole thing is more like a Fifties television episode than a movie.

"The Brasher Doubloon" from 1947 is a Philip Marlowe detective story, Marlowe here played in an obvious fashion by George Montgomery. By obvious, I mean he's tough, he's loud, he comes on to the women - in this case, woman, portrayed by Nancy Guild, a Gene Tierney/Ella Raines type under contract to Fox.

This film was originally made as a Michael Shayne mystery starring Lloyd Nolan, A Time to Kill, in 1942, though it is a Philip Marlowe story by Raymond Chandler.

Marlowe is hired by an elderly woman (Florence Bates) to locate a valuable coin that has been stolen from her, the Brasher Doubloon. Everyone acts strangely, including the woman's secretary (Guild) and son (Conrad Janis).

Marlowe uncovers murders and blackmail as he attempts to unearth the mystery of who took the coin and why.

The most notable thing in the film for me was Conrad Janis, looking for all the world like a teenager - well, he was 18! Unrecognizable.

The film was probably made in a few days - the fight scenes are rather clumsy.

Some movies in the 40's starred Humphuy Bogart and some didn't. This one didn't. The Raymond Chandler story is however a very good, tight detective tale with a nice twist to the plot. If only the acting and directing were up to the task. But if you like 1940's detective stories with great location and some half way decent camera work, give "The Brasher Doubloon" a try. Perhaps it won't thrill you, but it won't put you to sleep either.

Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich widow to recover a rare and valuable coin which is missing. A series of murders increases his interest in the case.

Known as The High Window in Britain, and based on Raymond Chandler's novel, it is not the best or the worst of the Marlowe films. George Montgomery tries to bring life to the character, and it does makes for a satisfactory film, but falls short of the standard set by Humphrey Bogart or Dick Powell.

This is a movie I never thought I would find.

Brasher doubloon or "The High window" as the title of the Raymound chandler master peice is it is maybe one of his best stories after "Lade in the lake".

When you start to watch brasherdoubloon you see it is filmed page by page from the book something that is not done today.

I am a Chandler fan I love his work and this movie is a gem for any fan of the book a real must see movie.

It is said that often movies become classics because they somehow accrue talent. A star signs on, like Humphrey Bogart, and other interesting actors jump in, and magic happens.

Then you've got something like the Brasher Doubloon, which has a serviceable lead and a mixed bag of supporting characters. You can see interesting elements and some good performances, but things just don't quite gel.

Montgomery is fine as Marlowe. For me the only true Marlowe was Robert Mitchum, who is what I expect from the books - Bogart is great, but he still wasn't my idea of Marlowe. So I don't look at Montgomery and find him inherently wrong for the part. But he doesn't bring much to it.

Florence Bates, on the other hand, would slot into a better Chandler movie, and Nancy Guild, whoever she is, retains a nice jittery-ness even if the character feels a little all over the place.

There are also some good bit players, like the guy with one messed-up eye. Don't know who he is, but he nails it.

The story is okay, but not exceptional. The dialogue is generally okay, but unmemorable. But this is all generally enjoyable and it feels like if you could have just made a tweak here and there you might have had something genuinely good.

It's not a great Marlowe movie, but certainly if you're into Chandler it's worth taking a look.

The Brasher Doubloon plays a lot like a cross between another Marlowe adventure, The Big Sleep, and The Maltese Falcon. It's nowhere near as good as either of these movies, but the similarities are unmistakable. My pithy plot summary goes something like this: Philip Marlowe (George Montgomery) is hired by an eccentric old woman to find a missing coin known as the Brasher Doubloon. Marlowe's client is less than forthcoming and he doesn't have a lot to go on. Between the old woman, her mysterious secretary, her spoiled son, and the dead bodies that start piling up as he investigates, Marlowe's got a lot to figure out.

As should be obvious from my rating (6/10), I enjoyed The Brasher Doubloon. However, I'm going to spend the rest of my ramblings discussing a couple of things that I didn't like about the film. First, George Montgomery makes for a pretty poor Marlowe. He's not as tough talking or acting as he should be. He's also got something of a slight build to him that doesn't work. He's so . . . well, he's so blah that it's hard to take him serious. In short, he's no Humphrey Bogart.

Second, The Brasher Doubloon feels terribly rushed. The runtime of less than 75 minutes really hurts the film. The plot never has enough time to live and breath. There's not enough time for interesting plot developments or red herrings that go nowhere. Take The Big Sleep as a comparison. The Big Sleep takes its sweet time with twists and turns that create a more interesting world for the mystery to unfold. It's much more than A leads to B which leads to C - wrap it up, mystery solved. Heck, Marlowe finds the coin before the movie's half over. It took Sam Spade a lot longer than 75 minutes to get his hands on the black bird.

I guess that what I'm trying to say is that given more time and a better lead, The Brasher Doubloon could have been a real winner. The rest of the elements are in place - an above average director in John Brahm, a nice supporting cast, solid cinematography, and interesting writing. Overall, a good film, but a wasted opportunity.

The Brasher Doubloon is directed by John Brahm and adapted to the screen by Dorothy Hannah and Leonard Praskins. It stars George Montgomery, Nancy Guild, Conrad Janis, Roy Roberts, Fritz Kortner and Florence Bates. Music is by David Buttolph and Alfred Newman and cinematography by Lloyd Ahern.

Adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel "The High Window", plot has Montgomery as Private Investigator Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is hired to find a missing gold coin known as The Brasher Doubloon, but soon he finds himself in the middle of a blackmail and murder case that puts him in jeopardy.

The lesser light of the Marlowe filmic adaptations, that should not however deter anyone from seeking this out. The novel has obviously been condensed down and simplified for ease of viewing, but it maintains the sharp dialogue touches so beloved by Marlowe's fans, whilst the characterisations are splendidly noir in substance.

The look and feel is suitably atmospheric, where in Brahm's and Ahern's hands the mansion at the heart of the story is ominously photographed. Both men compliment each other, where one tilts the angles the other brings the shadow bars, these tech touches bring alive the key scenes in the story. Also nice to get some Los Angeles locations in the production, while the sound mix is a sneaky accompaniment as the wind features prominently throughout.

Montgomery is just fine if you accept his more breezy portrayal of Marlowe, managing to be suave and sharp enough to deliver the killer lines for entertainment impact. Guild is lovely and does enough to bring out her character's troubled vulnerability. Bates grand-dame's it with suspicious glee, while Kortner is the stand out performer from the roll call of sinister baddies.

Good solid entrant into the film noir pantheon, arguably stronger on visual terms than actual plot devices, but enjoyable either way. 6.5/10

Footnote: The High Window was previously adapted into Time to Kill (1942) and starred Lloyd Nolan and Heather Angel.

Plenty of errs' and actors thinking of lines, the lead man playing Marlowe was a bad cast, with all the character of a biscuit ! Forget this one and move on.

This is a very enjoyable mystery. Some reviewers don't have a high opinion of George Montgomery as the detective hero, comparing him to how they think Humphrey Bogart or Dick Powell would have been in the role, but I thought he was very good. Montgomery was handsome, charming and very likeable. Nancy Guild the young lead actress, was also a pleasure to watch--beautiful and mysterious.

The movie has a strong visual style and is fast-paced. Highly recommended for fans of 1940's mysteries.

If not the best Raymond Chandler mystery brought to the silver screen, this comparatively short feature film set in 1940s Los Angeles is nonetheless a watchable 'whodunit' done in the hard-boiled gumshoe style characteristic of the period and place.