Murder, My Sweet

'Murder, My Sweet' is based on Raymond Chandler's classic detective novel 'Farewell, My Lovely'. The book was later filmed in the 1970s under its original title starring Robert Mitchum. The Mitchum version is actually more faithful, but for some reason nowhere near as entertaining. 'Murder, My Sweet' tones down some of the racial and sexual aspects of the original story (which are included in the 1970s remake), and I'm might be mistaken (it's been a while since I read it), but the Anne Shirley character appears to have been created as a potential love interest for Dick Powell. She seems to have been inspired by a similar character in 'Double Indemnity' (written by James M. Cain and filmed the same year with the help of Chandler). Dick Powell was originally a crooner and casting him as Philip Marlowe was a very strange choice at the time, but it certainly works. Personally I would have preferred to see Robert Mitchum playing Marlowe in this version, but by the 1970s he was too old for the part, and comparing the two versions Powell definitely wins. Claire Trevor is also excellent as one of the definitive noir femme fatales, and her scenes with Powell are compelling. The drug sequence is also very memorable. 'Murder, My Sweet' is one of the most entertaining detective thrillers ever made, and along with 'Double Indemnity' and 'Out Of The Past' one of the very best crime movies of the 1940s.

The hard-boiled dialog flies faster here than eggs at Easter. Then too, practically every line out of Marlowe's (Powell) mouth is a cynical figure of speech, making the 90-minutes one of the more corrosive in the private eye canon. No need to recap the plot since I couldn't, anyway. There're so many twists and turns on who did what to whom, you may need to call in the proverbial rocket scientist. But then, I think writer Chandler said something about reality being a lot messier than usual detective fiction. Judging from this, he wasn't kidding.

Speaking of messy, catch the great Esther Howard as old lady Florian. No one was better at sloppy slatterns than the be-robed Howard, and when she says "no peeking" to Marlowe as her robe flops open, I'll bet a wave of shudders swept across theatres everywhere. At the same time, ex-song and dance man Powell shows he could do hard cases with the best of them, that is, when he wasn't jumping helplessly into another 'black pool'. And who knew hulking thug Mazurki could go from lion to lamb so quickly. It's really he who gives the film a heart.

There's some great photography and art direction from RKO's expert production team. No wonder that studio became the one of record for post-war noir. In fact, this 1944 effort signals the emerging era of noir, bringing together the private eye and a chaotic world of shadows, as it does. I especially like those final beach house scenes, perched precariously beside a dark sea of eternity.

Anyway, the movie's a fine piece of private eye noir; just don't try to figure out the plot, which is incidental, anyhow.

The private detective Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) is hired by the violent and stupid Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki) to seek out his former girlfriend Velma Valento. Moose spent eight years in prison and lost contact with her. Marlowe goes to the night-club where Velma worked but the owner died years ago; then he visits the widow that tells that she does not know Velma. However Marlowe finds a photo of Velma and the woman says that she is dead. On the next morning, Marlowe is visited in his office by a man called Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton) and he offers US$ 100 to Marlowe work as his bodyguard in an isolated area where he will pay an amount to retrieve stolen jewels. However things go wrong and Marriott is killed and Marlowe is hit on the head and faints. Marlowe goes to the police station to report the murder; the detectives ask if he knows a man called Jules Amthor (Otto Kruger) and to stay away from the man. Marlow meets Ann Grayle (Anne Shirley) in his office asking about the murder posing as a reporter. She brings him home and introduces his wealthy old father Leuwen Grayle (Miles Mander) and his young wife Helen Grayle (Claire Trevor) to him. Marlowe learns that a rare and expensive jade necklace was stolen from Helen when she was dancing with Marriott and Leuwen hires him to retrieve the jewel. When Marlowe is leaving the house, he stumbles upon Amthor. Then Moose forces Marlowe to go to Amthor's house and he drugs Marlowe trying to find where the necklace is. When Marlowe succeeds to escape, he starts to think to solve the puzzle. Who might have stolen the jade necklace? What happened with Verna Valento?

"Murder, My Sweet" is a complex film-noir with a mysterious detective story. The plot has many details and the viewer must pay attention to them. The plot begins with the private detective Philip Marlowe seeking out a vanished girl; switches to the investigation of a stolen jade necklace; and ends entwining the investigations. The romantic conclusion is entertaining. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Até a Vista, Querida" ("See You Later, Darling")

Private dick Phil Marlowe is hired by a "paltry, foppish man" to accompany him on a midnight assignation. What follows is a glorious piece of Chandleriana, a ganglion of a plot involving a jade necklace, a jailbird who carries a torch for a showgirl, a "big-league blonde" with a rich old husband and an eye for private eyes, and more narrative twists and turns than a Restoration comedy on acid.

Will Moose be reunited with Velma? Who's the brunette in the gulch? What is Anthor's precise relationship with Marriott? How many more times can Marlowe get slugged from behind without having his skull disintegrate?

Golden tenor Dick Powell may not be the obvious choice to play Marlowe, but in fact he turns in THE definitive performance. Chandler once defined the ideal hero in one of his essays as a special man, but at the same time a man of the people. Not amazingly bright, subject to bouts of confusion and wrong-headed wilfulness, but for all that a tough, decent, dry-humoured guy who just happens to be as sexy as hell. Powell delivers.

Watch out for a remarkable dream sequence after Marlowe is forcibly injected with heroin (yes, heroin). Expressionist cinema was never as evocative as here!

All in all, the film is an example of a genre captured at its apex - "like lighting a stick of dynamite, and telling it not to go off"!

Chandler once said that Powell was his favourite - not, naturally, his ideal - screen Marlowe. Though "Bogart is always excellent as Bogart", he wasn't Marlowe.

Claire Trevor is the classic proof of how personality is more important than looks, even in sexy parts. Short, powerfully built, coarse-featured, she comes across here as overpoweringly glamorous and alluring.