After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
- Awards
- 1 win
Donald Douglas
- Police Lt. Randall
- (as Don Douglas)
Ernie Adams
- Bartender at 'Florian's'
- (uncredited)
Bernice Ahi
- Dancer at the 'Cocoanut Beach Club'
- (uncredited)
George Anderson
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Edward Biby
- Club Patron
- (uncredited)
Jack Carr
- Dr. Sonderborg's Assistant
- (uncredited)
Tom Coleman
- Police Clerk
- (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Sam Finn
- Headwaiter
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFor the scene in which Marlowe is drugged, Edward Dmytryk showed Dick Powell falling through a sea of faces. He borrowed a trick from Saboteur (1942) by having the camera pull back from the actor to make it seem like he was falling. He also had the camera accelerate as it pulled back, to intensify the horror.
- GoofsWhen Marlowe leaves the car to look for the person for the payoff, he draws his gun from his left pocket with his left hand and then replaces it in his left pocket. After he is sapped and wakes up, he draws it from his right pocket with his right hand. Later, when the police interrogation ends, he cleans up and he has an empty shoulder holster on his left shoulder and then puts his pistol in the holster as he leaves.
- Quotes
Philip Marlowe: She was a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud. I gave her a drink. She was a gal who'd take a drink, if she had to knock you down to get the bottle.
- Alternate versionsExists in color-computerized version.
- ConnectionsEdited into American Cinema: Film Noir (1995)
Featured review
This is the movie that hooked me on "Film Noir." I first saw this on the late show while suffering a killer flu. Even through local TV editing and enough medicine to tranquilize a circus tent, it had me sitting at attention from start to finish. It wasn't until several years later that I got to see it uncut on cable that I got the full effect. Having grown up with Bogart's hard-boiled private eye archetype, Dick Powell was a complete revelation to me. If you double-bill this with Bogart's "Big Sleep," you see at once that Powell truly IS Phillip Marlowe (even Raymond Chandler thought so), and Bogart is much better suited to portray Hammet's colder, meaner Sam Spade. Powell gives Marlowe a vulnerable cynicism as well as a touch of the "everyman," that Bogart wouldn't be able to pull off until later in his career. Powell's background in romantic musicals gives him access to a far deeper emotional range, needed to play the complex and conflicted Marlowe; his cynicism, his humour, his loyalty to his code...it's all there. Powell manages to give extra resonance to some of Chandler's throw-away similes! No wonder he claimed this as his favorite role!
The direction by Edward Dmytryk and cinematography by Harry Wild are perfect, giving the film a tight, economical yet alluring vintage "feel". Working on a tight budget, they manage to infuse it with all the seedy, chaotic topography that would serve as the touchstones for every film of this type from "Night of the Hunter" to "Blade Runner." While this isn't the first Noir film, it may well be the best.
The direction by Edward Dmytryk and cinematography by Harry Wild are perfect, giving the film a tight, economical yet alluring vintage "feel". Working on a tight budget, they manage to infuse it with all the seedy, chaotic topography that would serve as the touchstones for every film of this type from "Night of the Hunter" to "Blade Runner." While this isn't the first Noir film, it may well be the best.
- subzero6006
- Apr 3, 2004
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- El enigma del collar
- Filming locations
- Sunset Tower Hotel - 8358 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, California, USA(apartment of Jules Amthor)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $400,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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