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Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Big Sleep (1946 film)





The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir[1][2] directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version ofRaymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart as detectivePhilip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its results."[3] William FaulknerLeigh Brackett, and Jules Furthman co-wrote the screenplay.
In 1997, the U.S. Library of Congress deemed this film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and added it to the National Film Registry.

Plot

Private detective Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) calls on new client General Sternwood (Charles Waldron) at his Los Angeles mansion. The wealthy general wants to resolve gambling debts his daughter, Carmen (Martha Vickers), owes to bookseller Arthur Gwynn Geiger. As Marlowe is leaving, General Sternwood's older daughter, Mrs. Vivian Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), stops him. She suspects her father's true motive for calling in a detective is to find his friend and right-hand man Sean Regan, who had mysteriously disappeared a month earlier, supposedly having run off with the wife of a local casino owner, Eddie Mars.
Marlowe goes to Geiger's "rare book shop." Agnes Lowzier (Sonia Darrin), Geiger's assistant, minds the shop, but doesn't seem to know anything about rare books. After taking shelter in a bookshop across the street during a rainstorm and getting a description of Geiger, Marlowe follows Geiger to his house and hears a gunshot while a woman screams. Breaking into the house, Marlowe finds Geiger's dead body and Carmen, high on drugs and dressed in a silk robe, as well as a hidden camera with an empty cartridge. After snooping around and discovering a book written in code but with "Sternwood" across the top of one page, Marlowe brings Carmen home and tells the butler to stick with a story of how Carmen had been at home all evening. Returning to Geiger's house to get his car, he goes into the house again and finds that Geiger's body has been removed, though there's still a blood stain on the carpet.
At 2am Marlowe is in his office, trying to decipher Geiger's notebook. He's visited by his friend in the police, Chief Inspector Bernie Ohls, who is on his way to the pier, where the Sternwoods' car has gone over the side and is being fished out of the bay, with the body of Owen Taylor, the Sternwoods' chauffeur, inside. Marlowe and Ohls go look at the crime scene, and are told by the coroner that Taylor had internal bleeding from a blow to his temple before the car went into the water.
Vivian comes to Marlowe's office the next day with scandalous pictures of Carmen she received with a blackmail demand for the negatives. Marlowe returns to Geiger's bookshop, and discovers that his staff are packing up the store. Marlowe follows a car with trunks from Geiger's store to the apartment of Joe Brody (Louis Jean Heydt), a gambler who previously blackmailed General Sternwood. Returning to Geiger's house he finds Carmen lurking outside because she doesn't have a key. They go in and Carmen initially claims ignorance about the murder but under pressure from Marlowe insists Brody killed Geiger. They are interrupted by the owner of the home, casino owner Eddie Mars (John Ridgely), who claims to be looking for Geiger; Marlowe claims the same thing.
Later, Marlowe follows Vivian to Joe Brody's apartment, where they join Brody and Agnes. Brody pulls a gun but Marlowe gets it away from him. There's a knock at the door; Carmen appears with a gun, demanding her photos, but Marlowe easily takes the gun away from her, and sends her home with Vivian, along with the incriminating photos and negatives. Under duress and without help from Agnes, who is disgusted with his bungling of the blackmail, Brody admits he was arriving at Geiger's house just as Geiger was murdered. Owen Taylor, who had been in love with Carmen and angry with Geiger for his blackmail and the pornographic pictures he was taking of Carmen, was fleeing the house. Brody followed, and tells Marlowe (without being able to look him in the eye) that he pretended to be a cop and pulled Taylor over for speeding, then hit him on the head and stole the negatives of the pictures from him, but had nothing to do with Taylor's death. There's another knock at the door; Brody answers it and is suddenly shot and killed. Marlowe pursues and apprehends Carol Lundgren, an employee from Geiger's bookstore, who has killed Brody in misdirected revenge for Geiger's death.
The next day Marlowe meets Vivian at a restaurant, where they flirt playfully and she pays him, ostensibly at her father's directive, who has, she says, decided the matter is closed since Geiger is dead and his murderer, Taylor, is dead and Taylor's murderer, Brody, is dead and Brody's murderer, Lundgren, has been caught, while Carmen's pictures have been recovered and the Sternwood name has been kept out of the whole affair. Marlowe, though clearly enjoying flirting with Vivian and interested in making their relationship more personal, is suspicious, and tells her he just may start looking for Sean Regan after all, starting with which visibly unnerves her.
Marlowe rings up Mars and asks to visit him at his casino; Mars agrees. Arriving there, Marlowe sees Vivian singing with a piano player and others in one of the lounges. When Marlowe is brought in to see Mars, he asks about Regan and Mars' wife. Mars is evasive and tells Marlowe that Vivian is leaving bad IOUs in his casino. On leaving Mars' office, Marlowe sees Vivian at the roulette wheel, having already won a sizeable amount of money. She wants to put the entire amount on one more spin, but the croupier doesn't have enough to cover the bet. Mars is called over and tells the table that the casino will cover the bet, as long as Vivian is the only one playing that turn of the wheel. Vivian wins, and asks Marlowe to take her home. He goes to his car while she gets her coat; realizing that one of Mars' men is about to hold up Vivian at gunpoint to take back the money, he gets the drop on the thug and the two leave. Marlowe unsuccessfully presses Vivian on her association with Mars, though their conversation makes it clear they are falling for each other. After dropping Vivian off, Marlowe returns to his apartment to find Carmen waiting for him. She admits she didn't like Regan and mentions that Mars calls Vivian frequently, then tries to seduce Marlowe, who kicks her out.
The next morning, Harry Jones (Elisha Cook, Jr.), an associate of Agnes, conveys an offer from her to reveal the location of Mars' wife for $200. However, when Marlowe goes to meet Jones, he hears raised voices and proceeds cautiously. Canino, a hired killer, demands to know where Agnes is; Jones gives him an address, and Canino poisons him. Marlowe calls the address Jones had said but Agnes isn't there; Jones has lied to Canino. Figuring out where Agnes is, Marlowe arranges to meet with her; Agnes reveals that she's seen Mona Mars outside the town of Realito, near the Mexican border, by an auto repair shop. Marlowe pays her and leaves, as Agnes tells him that between Geiger, Brody and Jones she's gotten a raw deal and is clearing out.
Arriving at the auto shop, Marlowe lets the air out of his tire and feigns a flat, but doesn't fool the shop owner and Canino, who attack him. Marlowe wakes up to find himself bound and handcuffed, and locked in the house behind the auto shop with Vivian and Mars' wife, Mona. Mona admits Mars sent her into hiding when Regan disappeared so people wouldn't believe Mars had killed him. She herself doesn't believe Mars is anything more than a casino owner, but gets angry and storms out when Marlowe tells her about Jones' death at Canino's hands and under Mars' instructions. Vivian fears for Marlowe's life and frees him; together they trick Canino to give Marlowe time to get back to his car, where there's a spare gun. After Canino takes Vivian as a hostage, Marlowe kills Canino and he and Vivian leave quickly. As they drive, Vivian tries to claim she killed Sean Regan, but Marlowe is unconvinced.
They arrive at Geiger's house. Marlowe calls Eddie Mars and says Canino is dead, and that he's still in Realito at the payphone. They arrange to meet at Geiger's house, giving Marlowe time to prepare before Mars arrives. When Mars walks in and is about to cut the phone line, Marlowe holds him at gunpoint, and guesses the final piece of the puzzle: Mars has been blackmailing Vivian, having told her that Carmen killed Regan. Demanding to know what Mars' proof is of this, Marlowe realizes Mars has nothing at all. So Mars had been the one who ordered Regan's death, likely at the hands of Canino, and Marlowe starts shooting up the house, knowing that Mars has men waiting outside to kill him in case Mars isn't able to do it. Knowing the gunshots will make Mars' men realize that Marlowe was already inside the house, Marlowe threatens to turn his fire on Mars, and wounds him in the hand, to make him run out of the house first. Screaming for his men not to shoot, Mars bolts out the front door and is gunned down by his men. Marlowe calls Bernie Ohls, telling him that Mars killed Regan and Mars is dead, with Mars' thugs still possibly outside if they haven't fled. Ohls agrees to come over with the police and as they wait, Vivian remarks that Marlowe has sewn up the case tightly, except "you've forgotten one thing - me." Marlowe looks at her and playfully asks "What's wrong with you?" She replies, "Nothing you can't fix."[4][5][6]

[edit]Cast

[edit]Production and release

The Big Sleep is known for its convoluted plot. During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew whether chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or had killed himself. They sent a cable to Chandler, who told a friend in a later letter: "They sent me a wire ... asking me, and dammit I didn't know either".[7]
After its completion, Warner Bros. did not release The Big Sleep until they had turned out a backlog of war-related films. Because the war was ending, the studio feared the public might lose interest in the films, while The Big Sleep's subject was not time-sensitive. Attentive observers will note indications of the film's wartime production, such as ration stamps (including references to dead bodies as "red points," referring to wartime meat rationing), period dialogue, pictures of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a woman taxi driver who says to Bogart: "I'm your girl."
The "Bogie and Bacall" phenomenon, which had begun with To Have and Have Not and their marriage, was in full swing by the end of the war. Bacall's agent, Charles K. Feldman, asked that portions of the film be reshot to capitalize on their chemistry and counteract the negative press Bacall had received for her 1945 performance in Confidential Agent. Producer Jack Warner agreed, and new scenes, such as the sexually suggestive racehorse dialogue, were added.
The reshot ending featured Peggy Knudsen as "Mona Mars" because Pat Clark, the originally cast actress, was unavailable. Because of the two versions created by the reshooting, there is a substantial difference in content of some twenty minutes between them, although the difference in running time is two minutes. The reshot, revised The Big Sleep was released on 23 August 1946.
The cinematic release of The Big Sleep is regarded as more successful than the pre-release version (see below), although some complain it is confusing and difficult to follow. This may be due in part to the omission of a long conversation between Marlowe and the Los Angeles District Attorney where facts of the case, thus far, are laid out. Yet movie-star aficionados prefer it to the film noir version because they consider the Bogart-Bacall appearances more important than a well-told story. For an example of this point of view, see Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" essay on the film.[3]
Novelist Raymond Chandler said Martha Vickers (Carmen) overshadowed Lauren Bacall (Vivian) in their scenes together, which led the producers to delete much of Vickers' performance to enhance Bacall's.[8]

[edit]Effects of the Hays Code

[edit]Killer's identity

There is some confusion as to the identity of the killer. In the novel Carmen is definitely the culprit, but that would have made Vivian, Marlowe's love interest, an accessory to murder, which would have run afoul of the Hollywood Production Code.[9] Hence, the film edits the original story, to imply that Mars killed Regan himself because Regan was romancing Mars's wife. He then convinced Vivian that her sister committed the crime during one of her mental blackouts so that he could blackmail the Sternwood family.

[edit]Sexuality

Another primary focus of the Hays Office censorship polices was restricting, if not prohibiting outright, sexual themes.[9] In the novel, Geiger is selling pornography, then illegal and associated with organized crime, and is also a homosexual having a relationship with Lundgren. Likewise, Carmen is described as being nude in Marlowe's apartment. To ensure the film would be approved by the Hays Office, some changes had to be made.
Carmen had to be fully dressed, and the pornographic elements could only be alluded to with cryptic references to photographs of Carmen wearing a "Chinese dress" and sitting in a "Chinese chair". The sexual orientation of Geiger and Lundgren goes unmentioned in the film because homosexuality was prohibited.[9]

[edit]Reception

[edit]1946 version

At the time of its 1946 release, Bosley Crowther said the film leaves the viewer "confused and dissatisfied", points out that Bacall is a "dangerous looking female" ..."who still hasn't learned to act" and notes:[10]
The Big Sleep is one of those pictures in which so many cryptic things occur amid so much involved and devious plotting that the mind becomes utterly confused. And, to make it more aggravating, the brilliant detective in the case is continuously making shrewd deductions which he stubbornly keeps to himself. What with two interlocking mysteries and a great many characters involved, the complex of blackmail and murder soon becomes a web of utter bafflement. Unfortunately, the cunning script-writers have done little to clear it at the end.
Time called the film "wakeful fare for folks who don't care what is going on, or why, so long as the talk is hard and the action harder" but insists that "the plot's crazily mystifying, nightmare blur is an asset, and only one of many"; it calls Bogart "by far the strongest" of its assets and says Hawks, "even on the chaste screen...manages to get down a good deal of the glamorous tawdriness of big-city low life, discreetly laced with hints of dope addiction, voyeurism and fornication."[11]

[edit]1997 release of the 1945 original cut

Film critic Roger Ebert, who included the film in his list of "Great Movies",[12] praises the film's writing:[3]
Working from Chandler's original words and adding spins of their own, the writers (William Faulkner, Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett) wrote one of the most quotable of screenplays: it's unusual to find yourself laughing in a movie not because something is funny but because it's so wickedly clever.
Note that the above quote is not specific to the 1945 version but, rather, is in reference to both films. In fact, Ebert preferred the 1946 version. He stated:
The new scenes [of the 1946 version] add a charge to the film that was missing in the 1945 version; this is a case where "studio interference" was exactly the right thing. The only reason to see the earlier version is to go behind the scenes, to learn how the tone and impact of a movie can be altered with just a few scenes... As for the 1946 version that we have been watching all of these years, it is one of the great film noirs, a black-and-white symphony that exactly reproduces Chandler's ability, on the page, to find a tone of voice that keeps its distance, and yet is wry and humorous and cares.[3]
In a 1997 review, Eric Brace of The Washington Post wrote that the 1945 original had a "sightly slower pace than the one released a year later, and a touch less zingy interplay between Bogart and Bacall, but it’s still an unqualified masterpiece."[13]

[edit]Colorization

The Big Sleep was colorized, but the colorized version is no longer available.[citation needed]

[edit]Awards and honors

In 2003, AFI named protagonist Philip Marlowe the 32nd greatest hero in filmEmpire magazine added The Big Sleep to their Masterpiececollection in the October 2007 issue.[citation needed]

[edit]Re-release

In the late 1990s, a pre-release version — director Hawks's original cut — was found in the UCLA Film and Television Archive. That version had been released to the military to play to troops in the South Pacific. Benefactors, led by American magazine publisher Hugh Hefner, raised the money to pay for its restoration, and the original version of The Big Sleep was released in art-house cinemas in 1997 for a short exhibition run, along with a comparative documentary about the cinematic and content differences between Hawks's film noir and the Warner Brothers "movie star" version.[13]

[edit]DVD

The authorized DVD is a double-sided, single-layer disc; with the 1946 movie star version on side-A, and the 1945 film noir version on side-B, with an edited version of the 1997 comparative documentary.

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