Murder, My Sweet (1944)
After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
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Film noir is generally seen as a post-war innovation, mirroring the more jaded, cynical outlook that the world possessed after the cataclysmic conflict. Mr Raymond Chandler would have every right to disagree. In 1944, not only did he co-script what for me is one of the finest (and noirest) films ever made, Double Indemnity, but he also provided the source material (the novel Farewell, My Lovely) for this marvellous movie from the perennially underrated Edward Dmytryk.

Dick Powell transformed his frothy image in one fell swoop by personifying private detective Philip Marlowe so well and delivering Chandler's hard-boiled lines (via John Paxton's sharp script) as though born to them. We are introduced to him blindfold and under interrogation for multiple…

Moose is a wonderful character. Almost comical, but wholly tragic, a man of few words, but a lot of muscles. I have mentioned my feelings on the femme fatale trope before, The fact that this big dumb lug is played by a woman falls into so many awful stereotypes, but there's just something likable about the hulking murderer. He, like certain goons from Blazing Saddles, is a mere pawn, and maybe that's why I have sympathy for him.

This is a great Philip Marlowe story. A twisty plot that's not too twisted. A lot of quippy dialogue that doesn't feel forced or out-of-character for anyone. And a seediness to it that isn't quite as seedy as it should be, unfortunately,…

If the human condition is to suffer with a smile, Phillip Marlowe throws his own tipped hat into the ring as the one who could lace his downfall with cracks so wise in their purple-tongued self-flagellation, that they would accidentally expose harsh truths born in the recesses of society no-one else would dare stick their nose into.

The choice to maintain Marlowe’s inner monologue throughout is an ingenious one if not entirely indispensable to the murky depths to plug at the fore, with Chandler’s sly manifestation of the loneliness of everyone’s favourite gumshoe arriving more crystal clear than ever; depicting the job of the lowly PI as one of ugly necessity for the man who can see but no other…

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is a poet. He’s a sardonic dreamer, a man out of time who falls in love at the drop of a hat, shaping characters from the people he meets and attaching himself to them — however briefly — as a sort of indulgence; as a way of standing up to the harsh, brutal reality of the world in which he lives.

In Edward Dmytryk’s hands, Marlowe’s poetry morphs into surrealism, and there’s a doubling back of POVs, as we see Marlowe through his own eyes. In Dmytryk’s hands, Marlowe’s fog becomes our fog; Marlowe’s looping, questing dreams becomes our dreams.

Murder, My Sweet is a fascinating translation of Chandler, one that proved enormously effective as a…

Full of fast-talking detectives and sure-of-themselves dames, noir is the peak cool of genre film. So, it’s a surprise and a delight when slow-motion train-wreck of a genius private eye Philip Marlowe shows up to read to filth (and eventually to Miranda rights) all the evil doers.

Played in various eras with crusty memorability by icons Humphrey Bogart, Elliot Gould and Robert Mitchum, you have to ask while watching Marlowe movies... has this guy always been such a legendary mess? Dick Powell, cinema’s original Marlowe, gives a resounding, “Obviously.”

Director Edward Dmytryk makes “Murder, My Sweet,” an adaption of the novel “Farewell My Lovely,” into a fever dream of quips and criminality.

When he goes from getting the tar…

Thoroughly satisfying film noir based on a novel by the great Raymond Chandler. The film is a trimmed down version of the book (if memory serves) but it's still plenty complicated enough - luckily there's a hard boiled voice-over that kicks in every now and again to keep you abreast of the latest developments. The plot focuses on gumshoe Philip Marlowe, who finds himself on the trail of a broad and a stolen necklace. The plot moves quickly and is plenty of fun - always just slightly the right side of weird and thoroughly charming with it. Dick Powell might not be exactly what you would imagine wisecracking detective Marlowe to be after reading the books, but he certainly makes…

Dick Powell made for a better Philip Marlowe than expected; he wasn’t the best I’ve seen, but Powell was the first to play that iconic character on screen. As I needed more variety & it’s been months since a film noir has been experienced, the DVR was used from a TCM recording made last month. People will know this story as Farewell, My Lovely (and the famed Robert Mitchum movie from the 70’s), which I haven’t seen so a compare & contrast can’t be done. The name was changed-at least in the United States-as… RKO thought people would think of this as another Dick Powell musical like the Busby Berkeley musicals from the 30’s I know him best from. No, really.

It's…

Together with being the first film adaptation of one of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels, Murder, My Sweet additionally provided Dick Powell with a fresh screen image after decades of playing the romantic leading man.

The narrative finds the hardboiled detective assimilated into interconnected elements of dishonesty and contradiction after being hired to locate a one-time girlfriend of a former criminal. Marlowe's investigation becomes gradually revealed in flashback; framed where the police are cross-examining him while he is blindfolded and in custody.

A rich complement of well-drawn supporting characters inhabit the film, and Marlowe's voice-over narration purposefully communicates the attitude of Chandler's original style. From the opening scene, there's some extraordinary wielding of lighting, and together with Harry J. Wild's…