Murder, My Sweet (1944) - Updated

Ann Grayle: You know, I think you're nuts. You go barging around without a very clear idea of what you're doing. Everybody bats you down, smacks you over the head, fills you full of stuff...and you keep right on hitting between tackle and end. I don't think you even know which side you're on.

Phillip Marlowe: I don't know which side anybody's on. I don't even know who's playing today.



Now after seeing the original Dick Powell as a crooner in light song and dance flicks, his re-imagined image as Chandler's Phillip Marlowe is that much more surprising. This film quickly dropped being the potential musical Farewell my Lovely and ultimately became a hard-boiled Noir called Murder, My Sweet. To Powell's credit, his new alter ego works and he brings his own spin to the role. Perhaps he has a little more humor than Bogart but there is still enough of the tough guy in his role to make it work. He's also deliciously cheeky which is perfectly illustrated by a scene where he lights his match on the butt of a statue. It's great.

Edward Dmytryk gave us a film that has often been credited as helping to define the film-noir style of the 1940s. It makes perfect sense since his film brims with many of the major hallmarks of the genre. The powder-burned Marlowe's initial narration carried through a flashback lends a wry and cynical commentary to the entire story. The screen itself is cloaked in shadows, filled with billows of cigarette smoke and is often superimposed with disorienting images.

Early on one man named Marriot is dead, Marlowe gets clocked over the head, roughed up several times, not to mention drugged up. He gets hired, used, thrown off and seduced more than once. All because of an expensive jade necklace. As Anne (Anne Shirley) notes, Marlowe goes charging into his case not quite knowing what is going on or who he is dealing with. That ambiguity is one of the strengths of this film, because we are never allowed the comfort of knowing who to side with.

By default we begin the film from the point of view of Marlowe and so he is our anti-hero who we track with the entire film. He gets the giant thug Moose (Mike Mazurki) tossed his way first. Marlowe meets the pretty Anne who hides her true intentions, introducing him to her wealthy father (Miles Mander) and seductive step-mother (Claire Trevor). Next up is quack doctor Jules Amthor (Otto Kruger) who appears to be our most clear cut villain and yet nothing is for sure.

It takes a late night confrontation at a beach house for things to straighten themselves out. Yet even up until that point we do not know Marlowe's true intentions and he does not find out the resolution of the case until well after thanks to the powder burns to the face.

Aside from Dick Powell's anchoring performance, Claire Trevor is a tantalizing femme fatale while Anne Shirley plays the guardian angel rather well. The juxtaposition of a morally questionable woman and an innocent girl develops the tension, not to mention that they are step-daughter and step-mother. When it's all said and done Marlowe got a sweet deal; he didn't even need the jade necklace.

4/5 Stars

Cry Danger (1951)

Here is yet another Noir gem which would never get made today, much less in a mere 22 days! This directorial debut of Robert Parrish is boosted by an often witty script from William Bowers.

Rocky Mulloy (Dick Powell) is fresh out of prison after a former marine (Richard Erdman) testifies on his behalf after Mulloy spends five years rotting away in prison. He went in right around the end of the war because of a robbery that he was assumed to be a part of.

Regis Toomey (The Big Sleep, Raw Deal) is Lt. Cobb and he is still skeptical when he is assigned to monitor the newly released man. Richard Erdman is the peg-legged alcoholic marine who has a penchant for booze and dames. Also, he never actually knew Mulloy before. He just wants some of the loot.

So the two new found chums set up camp in a beat down trailer park of all places with a music playing proprietor (Jay Adler). It's not exactly the Ritz but Delong finds some female company and it just so happens that Mulloy's former flame lives there too. Nancy (Rhonda Fleming) is married to Rocky's pal Danny who is still in the clink. His mission is to prove his innocence but could it be more harm than good?

Rocky goes to a local mobster named Castro (William Conrad) who left him holding the bag five years ago and he wants reimbursement for his time. He gets some of it in the form of a horse race which leads to a big payoff.

But as it turns out the money is hot and Lt. Cobb wants to know where it came from. Rocky obliges but it becomes all too obvious he's being set up. There was one slip up though proving Rocky is telling the truth for once amidst all the lies swirling around. That does not help Delong much and his girl Darlene gets blown sky high. The bullets were obviously meant for Rocky and  Nancy.

Rocky confronts Castro and they play a little game he likes to call Russian Roulette although its very one-sided favoring Rocky. The fearful mobster spills the truth revealing Danny was actually apart of the plan 5 years ago all the time. Since he took a lighter rap someone else is holding his share of the payoff. The missing $50,000. Who is keeping it warm for him? You guessed it.

Rocky goes back to the trailer park where Nancy spills all her beautiful guts to him. What she gives is a tempting offer and Mulloy lets her believe it will happen. Off he walks with Lt. Cobb ready to swoop in. Rocky may have gone straight but it doesn't mean it makes it any easier. He had to turn on one of the most beautiful girls in the world courtesy of Rhonda Fleming.

Dick Powell has another laconic performance which nearly matches his turn as Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet. I always love seeing Richard Erdman as a young jokester, because he has gained a following more recently for his work in the television show Community as Leonard. William Conrad will always be the narrator in Rocky and Bullwinkle as well as Cannon. However, his big frame and mustache make for a good criminal type. What can I say about Rhonda Fleming except that she looks stunning in black and white, much less technicolor.

Lt. Gus Cobb: Now, just get it through your heads that the pressure's on. 
(To Nancy)
Lt. Gus Cobb: I wouldn't give a nickel for your husband's chances before that parole board with all this going on.
(To Rocky)
Lt. Gus Cobb: And I wouldn't give a nickel for your chances with those two apes running around looking for you.
(To Castro)
Lt. Gus Cobb: For you, I just wouldn't give a nickel.

3.5/5 Stars

Pitfall (1948)

In Italy Pitfall's title was translated to Tragedy in Santa Monica. And that it is, but it plays out as a typical, everyday tragedy, it is far from Shakespearian. John Forbes (Dick Powell) is sorely tired of the monotony of his life: A wheel within a wheel within a wheel so to speak. And he is tired of being the so-called "backbone of the country" employed at Olympic Mutual Insurance Company.

He has a steady job and all, a beautiful, loving wife (Jane Wyatt) and a cute little son Tommy. He's your prototypical middle class man from your typical middle class family. That's what's wrong with his wife. To put it plainly he's in a rut and desperately wants to get out.

Pitfall is a  bit of a riff off of Double Indemnity. There is some of the same framework but very different variables and outcomes, but that's enough comparison.

Things get interesting when Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott) comes into the picture. She is a model with a boyfriend who was just recently put into prison for embezzlement. Now Forbe's company is charged with getting back some valuables from Stevens and she gives them up willingly. Along the way hired private investigator named Mac (Raymond Burr) takes a liking for her, but the feelings are not reciprocated. That's before she meets Forbes.

When they meet Forbes is immediately struck by her and she takes a liking to his goodwill. Everything would be great in another world. Except in the real world Forbes is married and Mac is jealous. After he gets accosted by Mac, Mona finds out about her fling's home life. Surprisingly she lets him off the hook, but Mac won't let her off.

Forbe's overall demeanor changes and he feels reinvigorated even back at home and in the office. But it's never that simple and things begin to get messy as Smiley finally gets his ticket out of the clink. Mac has been his constant visitor filling the paranoid brute with ideas. He thinks Mona has been unfaithful and he wants to get the guy she was with.

The ending of Pitfall is far more painful than a multitude of meaningless deaths in a monster movie. The reason being these characters actually have some importance. There is a sense that human life is sacred and if anyone dies it is a big deal whether they were "good" or "bad."

Furthermore, there are hardly words to describe the look on Jane Wyatt's face when she finds out the truth. This is one instance when father did not know best and their marriage was shook to the core. It feels very real. However, this film's denouement is not quite as fatalistic as Double Indemnity. There still is a tinge of hope that these two individuals can salvage something out of a very difficult situation.

This is yet another feather in the cap of Film-Noir. So simple and yet so potently effective. I cannot wait for more with Dick Powell or otherwise.

3.5/5 Stars

Murder, My Sweet (1944) - Film-Noir

This film-noir adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel stars Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley. It opens with a blinded Philip Marlowe being interrogated and so he agrees to spill everything he knows. 

It all started one evening in his office when a big thug named Moose came in to get his help in finding a girl. Marlowe agrees to take the case and he questions a drunken bar owner but all is not right. He returns to his office where a man named Marriot wants his protection during a ransom drop off. However, at the location Marlowe is knocked out and the man is left dead. Through a series of events he meets Helen Grayle and her significantly older husband, who are both involved with a necklace. Also involved is the shady psychic adviser Jules Anthor, not to mention Mr. Grayle’s protective daughter Anne. Marlowe is forced to meet with Anthor and he eventually finds himself locked up in a facility. He gets away and after a meeting with Anne they head down to the Grayle’s beach house. There they have a confrontation with Helen. Now Anther is dead and Marlowe agrees to show Moose his girl Velma. They head down to the beach house and Marlowe puts all the pieces of the case together in front of Helen. Then Ann, Mr. Grayle, and finally Moose all burst onto the scene in a final chaotic finale.  Despite this bleak conclusion, there is also a hint of a happy ending. Much like the Big Sleep this film at times becomes incomprehensible but it just means your brain must work fast to catch up. Dick Powell I felt was a great Marlowe and Anne Shirley was a strong heroine. This is a quintessential film noir to say the least.

4/5 Stars