Murder, My Sweet
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Movie Reviews of Murder, My Sweet
Movie Review: One of the finest detective films of the forties
Summary: 5 Stars
Most film fans know the story: former boy crooner Dick Powell leaves Warner Brothers to sign with RKO. The latter hopes to start a new string of musicals, but Powell insists on his first picture being a dramatic role. Against type he is cast as Philip Marlowe in a film version of Raymond Chandler's FAREWELL MY LOVELY. Even director Edward Dmytryk is upset that Powell is cast in the role, but against all expectation Powell shines in the film. Unfortunately the public, thinking the film a musical, stays away until RKO retitles the film MURDER, MY SWEET, at which point the box office picks up dramatically. Today it is probably Powell's most highly regarded role.
Unbelievably, this was in fact the second film made from FAREWELL MY LOVELY. The novel provided the plot for one of the films in the Falcon detective series that starred George Sanders. I actually managed to see this a few years back on a TV station that was running all of the Falcon films. It actually is not a bad film though not as good as the Powell version. For my money the best version of all is the later version starring Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe and Charlotte Rampling as Helen Grayle.
It is hard to recall now that this was still a fairly new genre when this film came out. Though there had been a large number of detective series in the late 1930s, virtually all of them had been low budget affairs. THE MALTESE FALCON changed that, moving the detective film from the second tier and inspiring some of the finest films in subsequent film history. This one lays claim to being the finest detective film after THE MALTESE FALCON and before Robert Montgomery's turn as Marlowe in 1946 in LADY IN THE LAKE and Bogart's Marlowe in THE BIG SLEEP, also in 1946.
There are a number of departures from the novel, some of them actually borrowing from other Chandler novels, some of them put in for what movie execs imagined was desired by fans. We therefore get a horrible tacked on romantic ending that feels completely out of place with the rest of the film. Marlowe in the novels is a battered, emotionally scarred, cynical loner who despite himself still holds to ideals that no longer have relevance in his own life. It is pretty clear in the books that he is someone who will never know love himself, but he will do all he can to help preserve the possibility for others. In "Red Wind," a truly great Chandler short story, Marlowe is asked to recover a pearl necklace a woman was given by her one true love, who died a few years earlier. Marlowe recovers the necklace, only to realize they were high quality fakes. Knowing that the police will examine them upon their return and uncover the truth and therefore destroy the woman's illusions about the great love of her life, Marlowe has low quality fakes made up and placed upon the string. He returns the necklace to his client, telling her that the bad guys had already sold the pearls, but that at least he had recovered the string upon which they had been strung. She is grateful and retains her faith in her dead lover. The story ends with Chandler sitting on a pier, tossing one fake pearl after another into the ocean. Nothing illustrates Marlowe's character better than this story. Nothing runs more counter to it than the ending of this film. Marlowe may always get his man, but he never will he end up with a companion.
Sadly, as wonderful as this movie is, Powell would never be in as good a film again. While his transition to dramatic roles was genuine, he tended to spend his time in lesser projects until he largely shifted over to television--one of the first movie stars to do so--in the fifties. Anne Shirley, who played Ann Grayle and who though only 26 at the time of the film was released, never made another picture, though she had been an actress from age 4 and made well over 50 films. Claire Trevor, on the other hand, would go on to win an Oscar for KEY LARGO a few years later and would receive a nomination for THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY. Interestingly, perhaps the most active performer in future years would be Mike Muzurski, who played Moose Molloy in this one and gangsters, Indians, genial oafs, and bad guys in an enormous number of movies and television shows until his death. Director Edward Dmytryk went on to make a number of excellent films, including such classics as CROSSFIRE and THE CAINE MUTINY.
Movie Review: Wonderfully Serpentine Private Eye Film Noir.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Murder, My Sweet" was adapted for the screen by John Paxton from Raymond Chandler's novel "Farewell, My Lovely". The title was changed to "Murder, My Sweet" for American release, because the studio felt that Chandler's title might confuse Dick Powell fans into thinking the movie was a musical, as Powell had made a career up to this point of singing in musical comedies. This role as Chandler's blunt-talking private eye Philip Marlowe was intended to change Powell's image as the actor approached middle age and became unsuitable for crooning young man parts. And it worked.
The film opens to a scene of policemen questioning private detective Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) on suspicion of murder. Marlowe's in a bad mood, can't see a thing, and resentful of the whole situation, but he tells them, and us, his story from the beginning: One evening a tough guy named Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki) walked into his office, made some threats, gave him some money, and hired Marlowe to locate an ex-girlfriend whom Moose had known before he spent 8 years in prison. The next day, a stylish gentleman named Mr. Marriott (Douglas Walton) waved some more money at Marlowe to accompany him while buying back some stolen jewels for an associate. The buy didn't go as planned. Marriott was working for a Mrs. Helen Grayle (Claire Trevor), the wife of an elderly jade collector, who then hired Marlowe to find her stolen necklace. But Helen's stepdaughter, Ann (Anne Shirley) tried to buy Marlowe off the case for mysterious reasons. And Moose is increasingly impatient to find his former flame.
"Murder, My Sweet" is one of only a dozen or so private detective film noirs, and it adheres to some private eye and some film noir conventions. The story is told in flashback with voiceover narration. The detective goes from person to person, place to place, often around in circles, questioning people. And there is a pronounced sense of confusion. Marlowe is thoroughly perplexed about his cases -and has a sense of humor about it- for most of the film, but he keeps going until he bumps into something that will clarify matters. When he is beaten up, drugged, and held captive by some equally bewildered characters, Marlowe's drug-induced, surreal perception of reality exemplifies his confusion. "Murder, My Sweet" was made at RKO, where the noir visual style can be said to have originated under the influence of "Citizen Kane". Director Edward Dmytryk and cinematographer Harry Wild employ a lot of low key lighting and low angles, so this is a nice example of noir expressionist lighting.
The DVD (Warner Home Video 2004): There is a theatrical trailer and an audio commentary by film noir theorist and author Alain Silver, who wrote "Raymond Chandlers' Los Angeles", among other things. Silver is slow to introduce himself, but launches straight into a scene-by-scene analysis of the film. The commentary isn't very fluid, but it contains a lot of information. Silver seems to comment on whatever comes to his mind, so we have analysis of lighting and characters, information on actors and locations, discussion of Chandler's novel, and general trivia. Subtitles are available for the film in English, Spanish, and French.
Movie Review: One of the majuscule Ambassadors of the Film Noir!
Summary: 5 Stars
Edward Dmytryk achieved a very respectable status after this unusual and remarkable picture, so distant respect the previous entries and in the meantime so innovative, original, plenty of a lot of brilliant details that conform I sum a glaring vision of the Underworld as you never had experienced it before.
The picture begins with a ravishing ceiling light with accusing voices of presumable murder against Philip Marlowe, who bandaged eyes due unknown reasons. Rom this angle the same beginning shows a clear distortion of the reality, that will constitute a sinister atmosphere along the story. So he decides retell from the beginning the problem in question.
He is hired by Moose Malloy to find his missing girl friend, Velma. Through his first inquirers he will meet an pasty who will beg for his company if he accompanies to a determined place. In that dark night, Marlowe will be knocked.
Since that fact, a chain of chained events will constitute an admirable exercise of precision logic, where the greed, double cross, ambition will nourish this harrowing plot.
The cynical presence of Marlowe anticipated by far the future features given by Bogart in films like The Big Sleep, for instance. But there is still more, the disorienting angles, the nightmarish landscapes and chaotic images preview by far films such Vertigo and Touch of Evil. The sureeal sense of perversion suggested when Marlowe is drugged accent dramatically, the tension and mold still more the environment of corruption and decay that surrounds and maintain the nasty behavior of the rest of the personages.
This Noir Film is a true breakthrough by itself; it explores new dimensions and even amplifies the horizons of this passionate and fundamental genre. This is not only a quintessential picture in the genre, but also influenced many films.
Dick Powell conferred to Marlowe an unpredictable personality and gave him a certain English touch with visible elegance - watch for his impeccable elegance along the film - and a bitter vocabulary and fastness in every answer or observation; sharpness and cynicism; charisma and temperament; are some of the new features of this well know detective who finally knows about a certain happiness inside his blindness.
A personal cult movie and a very special advise for you at the moment you decide as I did it so many years ago a careful and remarkable collection of the supreme films of the Noir genre.
Movie Review: "You're not a detective, you're a slot machine."
Summary: 5 Stars
Dick Powell makes a fine Philip Marlowe in this splendid film noir. The film is based on Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely," which marks the second appearance of Marlowe in print. The book was actually adapted once before for an entry in the Falcon series ("The Falcon Takes Over"), which featured George Sanders. That film, however, simply adapted the plot of "Farewell, My Lovely" for the Falcon series; hence, the character is named Gay Lawrence, not Philip Marlowe. So in effect, "Murder, My Sweet" is the first screen appearance of Philip Marlowe. In addition, "The Falcon Takes Over" is a decent but lightweight thriller - not the noir classic of "Murder, My Sweet."
The plot is typically convoluted for a film noir written by Chandler. Marlowe, a somewhat down-on-his-luck private detective, is approached by Moose Malloy, a giant of a man who has just been released from the pokey and is searching for his ex-girlfriend. He reluctantly accepts the case. However, before he can make headway, Marlowe gets a second client, the effete Lindsay Marriott who wants Marlowe to accompany him on a late night pay-off. These two cases quickly become enmeshed and lead to numerous complications and murders.
"Murder, My Sweet" is first-rate film noir in every way. Director Edward Dmytryk (The Caine Mutiny, Crossfire) was one of the best noir film makers of all time, and he uses the conventions of the genre (shadows and unusual lighting, hard-boiled dialogue) with fine subtlety. The cast is also extraordinary - lead by Powell as Marlowe. Arguably, Humphrey Bogart was a more forceful Marlowe two years later in "The Big Sleep." However, Powell is convincing as the straight-shooting but somewhat desperate detective. Furthermore, he's joined by femme fatale Claire Trevor, who is always terrific in this type of hard-bitten role. Screenwriter John Paxton adapted Chandler's novel - managing to save some of the best bits, such as Marlowe's encounter with Mrs. Florian ("She was a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud"). All of the elements really come together for one of the finest noirs ever made, and this DVD transfer is solid.
DVD extras: The original theatrical trailer and an informational, but somewhat boring commentary by Alain Silver, who is a film producer and has written several books on film noir.
Movie Review: Classic Noir
Summary: 5 Stars
This one of my favorite movies. Years ago I rented a VHS of it and made a dupe at home. The quality was lousy but I liked it and played it often, but I learned my lession about making unauthorized copies. My daughter's puppy urinated all over the tape. This movie is so good it even survived that.
This is classic noir, with Phillip Marlowe. The plot is about stolen jade, hidden identities, blackmail, love, treachery and murder. The story is complicated, the casting is great, the photography and voice-over narration carry things along. It has style. The ending is satisfying. And the dialogue is some of the best ever written.
Powell broke through into serious roles with this film. Even in all the singing roles he had up to this movie he exuded cocky confidence, and that aspect of his personality is perfect here. As an aside, if you enjoy his singing movies, and I do, watch how he can smile naturally while singing; that's hard.
Claire Trevor, it seems to me, almost always played bruised roses (Stagecoach, Key Largo) or rotting orchids. You cared about her because she was one of life's losers, or you wanted to go to bed with her even knowing you might not wake up in the morning. The scene when we (and Marlowe) first meet her is just as good as the scene when MacMurray first meets Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.
Mike Mazurki as Moose Malloy is great, probably the best role he ever had. He was no actor, but he is effective and sympathetic as a slight pyscho who genuinely is in love; he's starring in his own version of Romeo and Velma.
One of the key ingredients in making this movie work is the dialogue. Quantities of it must have been lifted verbatim from Farewell, My Lovely. When Moose talks about Velma being "cute as lace panties" the imagery is vivid. Raymond Chandler, in my view, is the best author of private eye mysteries yet. If you haven't read him, dive in. Ross Macdonald and Hammett come close, but it's no three-way tie.
See the movie. Read the book.
The DVD transfer is first rate. There's a commentary by a fellow named Alain Silver which is adequate, and not essential to enjoying the film.