Friday, June 3, 2022

The Big Sleep (1946)

Private investigator, Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood to help resolve a gambling debt and blackmailing of his daughter, Carmen. Marlowe agrees to the case but finds himself getting deeper into a web of love triangles, blackmail, murder, gambling and organised crime. With the assistance of Vivian, (Sternwood's older daughter) she implies that the situation is more complex, and also involves the casino owner and a recently disappeared family friend. As people who are linked to the Sternwoods end up getting killed, Marlowe gets more tangled in the web. But with more help from Vivian, he hopes to hatch the plot and free the family from this ever-growing web, trapping the true culprit. This 1940's classic captures that film-noir feel in its tone and setting throughout. There are scenes where that presence is felt (and seen) very prominently. However, for me and many others, the plot of this film feels very complicated and hard to follow. There are a lot of plot threads going around and as we learn more as the film goes on, it's very easy to get lost. I know I did. However, I found a plot summary on IMDb where they put all the plot threads, characters and events in order. I found it much easier to follow and understood the film much more clearly. The reason for it being unusual to understand at times is due to having many scenes cut out that would have kept the story and mini-plot threads together. This is why it has moments that occur with little reasoning or little explanation that could have made things more connected and would have followed the book more clearly. Despite its difficult-to-follow plot, there is still a lot to take and enjoy from this classic film. The acting is great from Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the leading roles of Marlowe and Vivian, especially their chemistry and sprouting affection for one another. The two of them did a few films together and the fact that they were married is really cool. Being able to do films together must have been such fun and it's so nice to know they were together in real life. They both starred in the film To Have and Not Have (1944) before this one and went on to work together afterwards on Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948). There is a great deal of clever dialogue scattered throughout with some great quips from our leading P.I., Marlowe. Like, for example, General Sternwood - "How do you like your brandy, sir?" Marlowe - "In a glass." Also in a later scene [in a bookstore] Marlowe - "You do sell books, hmm?" Agnes - "What do those look like, grapefruit?" Marlowe - "Well, from here they look like books." There are plenty of ones like that throughout, which always get a smirk from me and felt very in line with a film-noir P.I. which I liked. It is certainly worth watching some clips of the witty quips as they do not disappoint in entertaining. My favourite character had to be Marlowe thanks to those lines and how smart he is in his deductions. I enjoyed the setting of the film, especially when it came to the weather. Scenes of a rainy 1940s setting in a film-noir private investigator film just look fitting and are used in almost all films of this period and genre, which I will always enjoy. It makes for some great-looking scenes and adds to the air of mystery. The film focuses more on a tonal depiction rather than a visual cinematic one. Overall, this is a good film but the plot can be hard to follow, especially if you try and focus on it. I found it much easier to read the summary after to get a better understanding. However, the dialogue, atmosphere and chemistry between the leading roles are the highlights of this classic film, making it ideal viewing.

Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: Howard Hawks

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