Murder, My Sweet (1944) Classic Movie Review 246
John Cornelison
A terrific Film Noir with the second-best Det. Philip Marlowe. Powell, Trevor, and Shirley are amazing in Murder, My Sweet (1944)
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Hello to all of the classic people that are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors. As a technical note, references and citations are listed for each show on the site at classicmovierev.com. Today on Classic Movie Rev, we are taking on Murder, My Sweet (1944)

I’m going to shout out to David R. for the email about Zero Hour (1957). “The fog is getting thicker- and Leo’s getting larrrger.” Keep those emails coming.

Murder, My Sweet (1944) is a fantastic Film Noir for many reasons, including Dick Powell’s transition from crooner to the second-best Phillip Marlowe, only paled by Humphrey Bogart as that character, to the direction of Edward Dmytryk, and the shooting techniques that I will discuss in the Summary.

After much cogitation and gnashing of teeth, I have moved Murder, My Sweet (1944) to number thirteen on my list of All Film Noirs, which includes 919 Film Noirs and Pre-Noirs. Murder, My Sweet (1944) is not in Eddie Muller’s Top 25 Noirs.

Murder, My Sweet (1944) has a pretty good 7.6 rating[1] on iMDB.com, but it should be higher. On rottentomatoes.com, this film has a much more appropriate 94 percent on the Tomatometer and 87 percent audience approval[2].

New York Times film critic A.H. Weiler said in an April 29, 1945 article titled “If at First, Etc.”

…a very respectable piece of tough melodrama, stemming from the Raymond Chandler novel, “Fare, Well, My Lovely.” The critics duly noted the latter fact and some even commented on how passages of the film’s dialogue had been lifted right out of the book. But the thing which escaped the critics’ attention is that “Farewell, My Lovely” had served RKO previously as the basis of a “Falcon” adventure – not a very exciting adventure-made in 1942 under the title “The Falcon Takes Over” and starring George Sanders. In fact, in reviewing the picture this newspaper noted, “For a man of Mr. Sanders’ cool talents, ‘The Falcon Takes Over’ is a distinct waste of time.” RKO did much better by Dick Powell, and moviegoers, too, on its second stab at filming Mr. Chandler’s story. All of which would seem to bear out that old adage that “if at first you don’t succeed * * *.”[3]

Before we get going, I want to remind you to follow the link in the show notes or from the site to visit our store.

Actors – Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Returning

Dick Powell took the lead as private detective Philip Marlowe. Powell was first covered in another great Film Noir, Cry Danger (1951).

The amazingly talented Claire Trevor played the role of Helen Grayle. Trevor was first covered during the great film Key Largo (1948).

Ex-wrestler turned actor Mike Mazurki played the size-appropriate Joe ‘Moose’ Malloy. Mazurki was first covered in a solid Film Noir, The Shanghai Gesture (1941).

Esther Howard masterfully played the role of the besotted Jessie Florian. Howard was first covered in another Film Noir, Born to Kill (1947), where she played virtually the same character.

Otto Kruger played Jules Amthor. Kruger was first covered in a terrific classic horror film, Dracula’s Daughter (1936).

New

Anne Shirley was in the role of Ann Grayle but is she good or bad. Shirley was born in New York City in 1918. While Shirley was still an infant, her father died. To make ends meet, her mother began working the 16-month-old baby as a model.

Her mother took the next step and sought movie roles for her 4-year-old child. Her first film was The Hidden Woman (1922). After Anne’s second film, she and her mother moved to Hollywood. The mother-daughter team was able to find film work, and eventually, Shirley was working with some very popular star in films like Mother Knows Best (1928), Sins of the Fathers (1928), 4 Devils (1928), Rich Man’s Folly (1931), Liliom (1930), and So Big! (1932).

In her early teens, Shirley earned even more prominent roles in films such as Rasputin and the Empress (1932) and The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933). Finally, she won the role of Anne in Anne of Green Gables (1934). When she was 16, she had her name changed to Anne Shirley.

Shirley was a big teen star through the late 30s and early 40s. Her films during this period include Steamboat Round the Bend (1935), M’Liss (1936), Chasing Yesterday (1935), Too Many Wives (1937), Meet the Missus (1937), and Stella Dallas (1937). For this last film, both her and co-star Barbara Stanwyck were nominated for Oscars. Neither woman won.

Shirley was given a good film and then a stinker or two. This pattern was similar to what was done to Evelyn Keyes. It has got me wondering if it was a strategy to keep female stars from becoming too powerful. If I find a third instance, I will know it is true. Movies that represent this back and forth include Career (1939), Vigil in the Night (1940), Anne of Windy Poplars (1940), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and West Point Widow (1941). Shirley did a fantastic job on Murder, My Sweet (1944) before walking away from Hollywood.

On the personal side, Shirley had three marriages, and two are of note. The first was to actor John Payne. Her second husband was Adrian Scott, a communist and one of the “Hollywood 10” who served time in prison. After divorcing this communist, she married a Republican next.

Shirley never returned to acting, and following her third husband’s death, she had problems with alcohol. She recovered by never returned to Hollywood society. She died at 75 in 1993.

Story- Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Like most really great Film Noirs, this movie is told out of sequence, being told in flashbacks. It begins with private detective Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) being interrogated by the Bay City Police.

They have the light on Marlowe sweating him, but he is wearing patches over his eyes. Lt. Randall (Donald Douglas) comes into the room to question Marlowe about a couple of murders. Marlowe agrees to put everything on the record.

Marlowe begins his tale, and the scene fades back to his office. He was in his office after dark and was using his black book to find a date. Marlowe gazes out the window waiting for a callback. Suddenly, he sees a reflection of a very large man. Marlowe turns, and the hulk is right behind him. The man leans over Marlowe and says he wants him to look for somebody.

The large man throws some money on the desk as the phone rings from Marlowe’s date. He chooses to follow the money and goes to a place where the dame the colossus wants to find used to work.

The joint is a low-end place named Florian’s. The big man says that it has been eight years since he last saw the woman and six years since he heard from her. They all go quiet when the big guy comes in. The new owner says he doesn’t know Velma Valento. The big guy scares the customers. He pitches the manager into some chairs. The giant finally introduces himself as Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki). Moose takes a couple of bottles, and he and Marlowe leave.

Moose tells the story of going away to prison for eight years and losing touch with Velma. Moose gives more money to Marlowe and says he will be in touch.

Marlowe finds out that the owner Mike Florian ran the bar until 1939 and died in 1940. Mike’s wife Jessie (Esther Howard) took over the drinking at least. Marlowe finds her address and goes for a visit. Marlowe says she was a middle-aged gal with a face like a bucket of mud. She was a girl that would take a drink if she had to knock the guy down to get at it.

Jessie drinks with Marlowe but says she doesn’t know of a woman named Velma. Jessie goes to her room to retrieve a box. Marlowe secretly watches, and he sees Jessie hid a photograph. Marlowe goes into the room and retrieves the hidden picture of Velma. He roughs Jessie up, and she says Velma is dead and she doesn’t know Moose. Marlowe takes the bottle with him. From outside, Marlowe sees the now speciously sober Jessie calling someone on the phone.

The following morning Marlowe goes to work, and someone is waiting for him. He thinks it is Moose, but it is a dandy named Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton). Marlowe catches Lindsay snooping on his desk. Lindsay says he found Marlowe in the book. On a side note, who recommend the PI was a great concern to Harry Angel in Angel Heart (1987) also.

Lindsay says the job is to be a bodyguard when he pays some men – some money – after midnight. Marlowe is rude, but Lindsay says the job will pay $100. Marlowe finds out that Lindsay is the middleman that is buying backs some stolen jewels. Marlowe doesn’t like the secluded location and goes through everything that could go wrong. Marlowe can’t help taking the money.

That night Marlowe drives out to the beach, but he thinks they are being watched. Marlowe goes ahead to scout, and Lindsay hides in the back of the car. Marlowe is scared by a deer, and then he goes back to the car. Marlowe is knocked unconscious by the strike of a blackjack.

He wakes later with a flashlight shining in his eyes. A woman asks if he is all right and what happened. When she sees it is Marlowe and not Lindsay, she flees. Marlowe tries to follow, but he is too hurt. He has also been revealed of the money. They left behind his gun, which is probably a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless semi-automatic in .32-cal. Marlowe then finds Lindsay dead in the backseat, having been beaten excessively with a blackjack. He thinks it is an amateur or someone trying to look amateur.

Marlowe goes to the police station and reports the murder to Lt. Randall. Randall doesn’t believe Marlowe’s story. Lt. Randall tells Marlowe his story is very weak. Randall releases Marlowe and tells him to stay away from Jules Amthor and not interfere with the case he is making.

Marlowe returns to work in the morning. Waiting for him is Ann Grayle (Anne Shirley), using a fake name and posing as a reporter. Ann refers to the jewelry as jade, and Marlowe realizes she is a fake. Ann tries to get information about the case. Marlowe dumps her purse and sees her real name. He asks her if she knows Velma Valento.

Marlowe has Ann locked in his office, and he finds out that the jade belongs to her rich and elderly father. However, her father has a new younger wife. Ann says she is working for herself. Marlowe says he won’t turn Ann over to the police if she introduces him to her father and stepmother.

Marlowe rides with Ann to the lavish mansion. After a short wait, Marlowe is brought in to meet Leuwen Grayle (Miles Mander). Grayle introduces his wife, Helen (Claire Trevor), to Marlowe. She looks at Marlowe like he is a dog fart. Marlowe is looking at the blonde Helen and studying her legs when Grayle begins giving the history of jade.

Grayle said the missing necklace might be worth $100,000. Grayle leaves, and Helen tells that she wore the necklace dancing and that Lindsay was her date. The money that Lindsay had when he was killed was $8,000. Helen doesn’t give out many details of the robbery, but she does say they gave her back one of her rings. Marlowe asks if she knows Jules Amthor (Otto Kruger). Helen knows him. Helen says Amthor is a psychic consultant. Helen is about to kiss Marlowe when Ann opens the door.

Helen retains Marlowe to search for the jade. Marlowe asks how to find Amthor, and Helen says she will try and find him. Just then, the butler comes in and announces Amthor. Helen says she hasn’t seen him in months. Amthor and Marlowe meet. Marlowe tells Amthor what the police said about him and then leaves. Ann, who has been listening at the door, runs away.

Back at his house, Marlowe is sending out his laundry when Helen shows up. Helen gives Marlowe a large retainer. Helen wants to take Marlowe out for a drink.

Helen and Marlowe go to a swanky joint with an Asian dance show. Helen goes to the bathroom. When Marlowe gets to the booth, Ann is there. Ann says Marlowe is being sent on a wild goose chase, and Helen is already gone. She offers to pay him to stay away from her stepmother. Marlowe sees Moose walking through the crowd.

Moose gives Marlowe the node to go outside. Moose tells him to ditch Ann. He says he is taking Marlowe to meet a guy. Ann is gone, but she has left a message saying the offer is still open.

Moose takes Marlowe to an apartment building. In the service elevator, Moose pulls a gun, and the chauffeur takes Marlowe’s gun away. Marlowe is cool, and then Amthor comes in. It looks like he doesn’t have a friend in the room. Moose wants to ask Marlowe a question, but Amthor delays him.

Amthor questions Marlowe about what the police know. Marlowe tells Amthor that Lindsay courted the women to be robbed, but someone was pulling the strings on the robberies. Marlowe feeds a story that he might have the necklace and would be willing to sell it. Amthor says he will buy the jade.

Just then, Moose burst in and says Amthor told him that Marlowe had found Velma and was hiding her away. Marlowe and Moose start fighting, and the truth is choked out of Marlowe. Marlowe smacks Amthor, and for his troubles, he gets knocked out again. This guy needs a CAT scan.

Marlowe has a drug-induced falling scene of faces and doors. This dream includes getting injections from Dr. Sonderborg (Ralf Harolde). When Marlowe wakes up, he has several days of bread growth. He yells. In a second, an orderly and Moose come into the room. Marlowe is talking crazy drug-induced stuff.

Marlowe has been held for three days at Sonderberg’s sanatorium while they were attempting to find out where the jade neckless is located. Marlowe forces himself to stay awake so he can escape. Marlowe pulls a thick spring out of the bed frame. He calls for help, and the orderly enters. Marlowe clubs him good.

Marlowe makes it to the front door but is too high to get out. He goes into Dr. Sonderborg’s office. Sonderborg tries to pull a gun, and Marlowe smacks his hand with the spring. Marlowe almost passes out and almost surrenders. He forces Sonderborg to give him the key to the door.

Marlowe wanders around for a while. Suddenly Moose shows up and wants Marlowe to start looking for Velma again. Moose knows that Amthor had tricked him about knowing where Velma was.

Moose convinces a taxi driver to give Marlowe a ride by ripping the meter box off the mount. Marlowe arrives at Ann’s place. He has to force his way inside as she is not happy to see him. Marlowe tells her that Helen set him up with Amthor. He suddenly realizes Ann was the girl from the night Lindsay was killed. Ann says she was trying to protect her father. Ann had found Marlowe’s number in Lindsay’s pocket.

Detective Randall shows up at Ann’s door. Marlowe says he would like to help catch Amthor. Marlowe tells the entire story, including about Dr. Sonderborg. They decide not to arrest Marlowe this time. Before Randall leaves, he asks Ann how long it has been since she has been to her father’s home in Brentwood. Ann feeds him before they head to her father’s home.

At the house, Ann finds her father in his office. Grayle had been visited by the police and is loading a revolver. Helen hasn’t been around for a few days. The police had asked him about the beach house that Lindsay was renting from Grayle. Grayle is most concerned with losing his wife. Marlowe tells Grayle that he will not go further on the case.

Outside, Marlowe tells Ann that they are going to the beach house, and he is not stopping his investigation because no one else is stopping. Finally, he tells her he is doing it for her.

When they arrive at the beach house, they find that Randall has searched it. Marlowe smells expensive perfume, and he doesn’t know how he became connected with the thief. At last, he and Ann kiss. Ann gets mad when she finds that Marlowe had suspected her. Helen starts laughing and walks into the light. Ann rages on Helen about being a gold digger. Ann leaves to tell her father where Helen is hiding.

Marlowe rages on Helen, but she uses doe eyes on him. Helen gives Marlow her backstory. She says Amthor is blackmailing her about going out with other men. She said Amthor digs into your past as part of his healing. Then he finds something that can be used for blackmail. That is why she had to give the neckless to him during the robbery. Lindsay knew that Amthor was stealing, and he double-crossed him. Amthor killed Lindsay, and Marlowe was to take the rap. Ann was around looking out for her father.

Marlowe sees Helen turn out a lamp and thinks it is a signal. Helen blurts out that she wants Marlowe to help her kill Amthor. Marlowe is shocked but seems to go along with the plan. Helen throws herself at Marlowe. He tells her to get everything set up. Helen tries to convince Marlowe to stay, but he leaves to work.

Marlowe goes to Amthor place using the service entrance he was brought up in before. Amthor’s house has been wrecked, and Marlowe finds Amthor dead. He knows Moose killed the man.

Marlowe returns to his office and studies the picture of Velma. Moose appears right behind him. Moose starts attacking Marlowe, but he stops him and shows him the picture. The woman in the picture is not of Velma. Marlowe tells Moose that he has found Velma. Marlowe says he will take Moose to Velma tomorrow night.

Marlowe tells Moose to wait on the beach until he opens the curtains. Inside the beach house, Helen is waiting in the dark. She hands over the neckless to Marlowe and says there was never any holdup. Helen is the one that set up the whole deal. She was supporting Jessie and some others. When Amthor tried to blackmail her, she enlisted Lindsay to help kill Marlowe to make sure Velma was never found because she is Velma.

Marlowe accuses Helen/Velma of killing Lindsay. She planned to kill Marlowe, Lindsay, and Amthor. She throws herself at Marlow again, but he doesn’t bite. Velma pulls a gun on Marlowe. Ann and her father have been in the shadows and have heard a lot of the conversation. Grayle tells Helen to go ahead and kill Marlowe.

Suddenly, Grayle shoots and kills Helen. Marlowe begins to call the police, but Ann begs him to stop. Moose comes through the side door. When Moose sees Velma dead on the floor, he goes crazy. Moose starts heading for Grayle. Grayle fires a shot directly in front of Marlowe’s face blinding him. The bullet hits Moose.

We return to the integration room with Marlowe wearing patches on his eyes. Randall returns with Marlowe’s gun and detective badge. Randall says that Moose made it to Grayle, and the third shot killed Grayle.

Marlowe asked if Ann was okay and if she had spoken to the police in support of him. He asks if she is in the room, and Ann shakes her head not to let Marlowe know she is there. Marlowe talks about Ann as she follows behind, listening.

The cop puts Marlowe in the cab, and Ann gets in with him. He smells her perfume and knows it is her. He makes a joke and kisses Ann.

I’ll be back with the Conclusions and World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.

Summary- Murder, My Sweet (1944)

As mentioned in the quote, an earlier film was based on the book “Fare, Well, My Lovely,” titled The Falcon Takes Over (1942). There is also a later version titled Farewell, My Lovely (1975). Although this later film features Robert Mitchum, it is not as good as it should be.

Some of the homosexuality and drug use was toned down to avoid problems with the Hayes Code. Most of Esther Howard’s bar scenes were cut from the script because it was originally an African American club, which couldn’t be played in the southern US.[4]

This movie was shot in 44 days under Edward Dmytryk’s director, and they used some pretty nifty tricks. When Moose first arrived at Marlowe’s office, his face was reflected in the glass. To make the face seem large enough, they placed a piece of glass in the middle of the room closer to Marlowe and photographed Moose’s image on the glass.

Moose was made to look more intimating and larger by Dmytryk having the sets built with slanting roofs, making the actor seem larger as he got close. Mazurki, at 6’ 4-½” tall, was only slightly taller than the 6’ 2” Powell. For many scenes, Powell had to stand in a trench.

Dmytryk had the camera pull back from Powell’s face for the drug-induced falling and accelerate as it got further away. This technique obtained the desired result of falling into a drug haze.

Near the end of the film, when Marlowe divers for Grayle’s gun, they had to protect actor Powell from the gun blast. The crew again used a piece of glass and had the actor fire into the glass. The actor had to hold the gun in his left hand to be reflected in the right hand.[5]

World-Famous Short Summary – Dames are soft, but bullets are hard.

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