The High Window (1947)
"The Brasher Doubloon" (original title)

Philip Marlowe gets involved when limp-wristed and snidely Leslie Murdock steals a rare doubloon from his mother to give to a newsreel photographer in exchange for film that is being used ... See full summary »

Director:

John Brahm

Writers:

Dorothy Bennett (screenplay), Leonard Praskins (adaptation),

Stars:

George Montgomery, Nancy Guild, Conrad Janis

Cast

Complete credited cast:
George Montgomery	...	Philip Marlowe
Nancy Guild	...	Merle Davis
Conrad Janis	...	Leslie Murdock
Roy Roberts	...	Police Lt. Breeze
Fritz Kortner	...	Rudolph Vannier
Florence Bates	...	Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock
Marvin Miller	...	Vince Blair

Storyline

Philip Marlowe gets involved when limp-wristed and snidely Leslie Murdock steals a rare doubloon from his mother to give to a newsreel photographer in exchange for film that is being used for blackmail purposes. Marlowe's involvement has him encounter a girl who goes into hysterics when touched by a man; a husband-killing woman; three corpses; a couple of scuffles in which he gets his clock cleaned; a secretary who thinks she has killed her boss, which is the reason Raymond Chandler called his story "The High Window", and a son (who qualifies as a S.O.B. by two definitions) who blackmails his widowed mother. So, what's not to like.

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Plot Keywords:

lieutenant | sergeant | coroner | based on novel

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Taglines:

RAREST -- and most dangerous of coins! ONE man murdered to keep it! ONE woman found love when she lost it! ONE man gambled his life to possess it!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 February 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Moeda Maldita

Filming Locations:

Gladden Apartments - 100 S. Olive Street, Bunker Hill, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The flop house location for this film was the Gladden Apartments in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. Raymond Chandler, who wrote the novel on which this is based, lived in the building 30 years before the film was shot.

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Connections

Version of Time to Kill (1942)

User Reviews

George Montgomery doesn't cut mustard as Philip Marlowe

In the mid-1940s Hollywood discovered Raymond Chandler: Murder, My Sweet (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) and The Lady in the Lake (1947). Also from '47, John Brahm's The Brasher Dubloon is a version of Chandler's The High Window and, unfortunately, the most disappointing of this crop. Troubles start with the running time; at 72 minutes, that's not enough time for Chandler's baroque structures to start to unfurl, unless you reduce them to mere plot (and plot is not Chandler's long suit). Second, there's George Montgomery trying to fill the shoes of Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart and the other Montgomery, Robert. He doesn't. While he's pleasant enough -- as a light leading man -- he swallows line after line of the script smoothly where a more nuanced actor would have found a whole ham sandwich to sink his teeth into. Still, there are good points here, especially in Brahm's directing. The big old mansion with its twin, massive turrets is especially ominous with the Santa Ana winds whistling outside; Florence Bates, as its owner, knows how to grande-dame it with the best; and a striking series of sinister characters take us down meaner and ever meaner streets. With a better star and a more leisurely pace, this private-eye flick could have been a contender.