Murder, My Sweet (1944)

After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

John Paxton (screenplay), Raymond Chandler (novel)

Stars:

Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dick Powell	...	Philip Marlowe
Claire Trevor	...	Helen Grayle / Velma Valento
Anne Shirley	...	Ann Grayle
Otto Kruger	...	Jules Amthor
Mike Mazurki	...	Joe 'Moose' Malloy
Miles Mander	...	Leuwen Grayle
Douglas Walton	...	Lindsay Marriott
Donald Douglas	...	Police Lieutenant Randall (as Don Douglas)
Ralf Harolde	...	Dr. Sonderborg
Esther Howard	...	Jessie Florian

Storyline

This adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel 'Farewell, My Lovely', renamed for the American market to prevent audiences mistaking it for a musical (for which Powell was already famous) has private eye Philip Marlowe hired by Moose Malloy, a petty crook just out of prison after a eight year stretch, to look for his former girlfriend, Velma, who has not been seen for the last six years. The case is tougher than Marlowe expected as his initially promising inquiries lead to a complex web of deceit involving bribery, perjury and theft, and where no one's motivation is obvious, least of all Marlowe's.

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Plot Keywords:

jade necklace | stolen jewelry | man in undershirt | investigator | stepmother | 

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Taglines:

MEET the year's biggest movie surprise...Dick Powell playing a new kind of role...in a murder-mystery that packs as big a punch as the NEW Dick Powell!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Farewell, My Lovely

Filming Locations:

RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In order to make Mike Mazurki more threatening, Edward Dmytryk had the sets built with slanted ceilings to force the perspective. As Mazurki walked closer to the camera, he seemed almost to grow.

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Goofs

When Marlowe is interrogated by the police, the view through the window would have the building in the middle of the street blocking the street.

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Quotes

Philip Marlowe: Skip the water. Make that one with scotch. It'll save time.

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Alternate Versions

Exists in color-computerized version.

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Connections

Referenced in Vision Éternel: Pièce No. Trois (2017)

User Reviews

"I Don't Know Which Side Anybody's On!"

Private dick Phil Marlowe is hired by a "paltry, foppish man" to accompany him on a midnight assignation. What follows is a glorious piece of Chandleriana, a ganglion of a plot involving a jade necklace, a jailbird who carries a torch for a showgirl, a "big-league blonde" with a rich old husband and an eye for private eyes, and more narrative twists and turns than a Restoration comedy on acid.

Will Moose be reunited with Velma? Who's the brunette in the gulch? What is Anthor's precise relationship with Marriott? How many more times can Marlowe get slugged from behind without having his skull disintegrate?

Golden tenor Dick Powell may not be the obvious choice to play Marlowe, but in fact he turns in THE definitive performance. Chandler once defined the ideal hero in one of his essays as a special man, but at the same time a man of the people. Not amazingly bright, subject to bouts of confusion and wrong-headed wilfulness, but for all that a tough, decent, dry-humoured guy who just happens to be as sexy as hell. Powell delivers.

Watch out for a remarkable dream sequence after Marlowe is forcibly injected with heroin (yes, heroin). Expressionist cinema was never as evocative as here!

All in all, the film is an example of a genre captured at its apex - "like lighting a stick of dynamite, and telling it not to go off"!