The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep was my first Raymond Chandler book and it’s a pretty amazing one at that. Chandler has a voice that captivates you and I can understand why his first novel was made into a film with none other than the enigmatic Humphrey Bogart playing Marlowe.

While I knew The Big Sleep was going to be a difficult adaptation because of the time in which it was made, I do have to say that the film was slightly dampened for me because I felt like I could see the censorship board all over it. Bogart was great as Marlowe, and Bacall was ravishing as his clients daughter, but there was too much changed from the book and the bite was taken out. An audience in 1946 may not have known the difference as very few hard hitting films were around in that day, but I can tell you that I’ve seen enough hard edged noirs in my time that I wanted the edge there.

One of the biggest changes script to screen was in Bacall’s character, Vivian Rutledge. In the book Vivian flirts with Marlowe, but is a scandalous spoiled woman, several times divorced and married to the man Marlowe is helping to hunt down. In the film Vivian is single and shares much screen time with Marlowe – not that I could blame the studio for making Bogey and Bacall an onscreen pair, the duo had so much onscreen chemistry a blind man could see it.

All in all, The Big Sleep is an enjoyable noir, but very ripe for a faithful-to-the-book remake.



Director: Howard Hawks


Vivian: You go too far, Marlowe.
Marlowe: Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom.

To Have and Have Not

If you at all have an affinity for screen writing or classic cinema you know the line “You know how to whistle don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow.” Lauren Bacall uttered these words in To Have and Have Not and the popularity of this line is why I had to finally see the film.

To Have and Have Not is a World War II film, but it’s a peculiar one at that. The closest film to it would be another Bogart classic, Casablanca. On the French island of Martinique the Germans have arrived and there is the beginnings of tension between the French resistance and the foreign power. Harry Morgan is a small fishing boat captain that rents his boat and skills to tourists with extra spending money. The first thing that blows into his life is another American runaway in the form of Marie Browning, a young, attractive woman who happens to be a pick-pocket. However, what really turns the tables on Harry is his landlord, who gets Harry and Marie pulled into business with the resistance. When the Germans catch wind everyone is under suspicion and it’s only a matter of time before the two American’s have to choose sides.

As good as Bogart is in this film, the standout is Lauren Bacall. This is her first film role and she sizzles on screen as the sultry young American that isn’t as naive as she seems. It’s obvious from her first lines why and how this woman went on to be one of our industry’s biggest stars. However, what’s so formidable is how she could hold her own against Bogart – a man with whom she would share the screen many times, and eventually marry.

To Have and Have Not is another example of an incredibly well written film. There is a verve and zest in the dialogue that too many films do not have today and that makes the film come alive even when the style of shooting may not fit what a modern audience is used to. The pace never ceases, and to the very end you are left wondering where times that like have gone.

Director: Howard hawks
Writers: Jules Furthman & William Faulkner
Harry “Steve” Morgan: Humphrey Bogart
Eddie: Walter Brennan
Marie “Slim” Browning: Lauren Bacall

Slim: Who was the girl, Steve?
Steve: Who was what girl?
Slim: The one who left you with such a high opinion of women.

His Girl Friday

Rosalind Russell
Originally uploaded by Music2MyEars

Walter Burns runs a newspaper and is a shady newsman through and through – he’ll do anything to keep the stories coming. Hildy Johnson is Walter’s ex-wife and ex-journalist who comes to Walter with the news that she’s getting remarried. To try to turn Hildy back into a newsman and get rid of her fiancée Walter convinces Hildy to do one last story on a local cop killer. When Hildy pursues the story her personal and professional life get confused again as the newman in her comes to the surface and she remembers her feelings for Walter.

His Girl Friday is a film I had to see because it’s a classic that is referenced by everyone and I have a love for classic Hollywood cinema. While His Girl Friday did not disappoint it was a different film than I expected.

Having seen films like Bringing Up Baby I expected His Girl Friday to be a screw-ball comedy through and through, but it’s not. His Girl Friday is almost indefinable as it has many tonal shifts during the film; it is at once a romantic comedy, mystery, thriller and slapstick film and without Carey Grant and Rosalind Russell this film would be badly disjointed. However, His Girl Friday has such great, classic actors that watching their films makes it obvious why they are still remembered today.

What I do really love about His Girl Friday is that at it’s core this is a film about a women who has shattered the glass ceiling – and the man that is chasing her down because he doesn’t want her to ignore that fact. Hildy is the only female journalist around and she’s been trapped by thinking that to be happy and :human” she has to settle down, ditch the job and have the babies. Her fiancée Bruce supports this, but her ex Walter knows her well enough to know this will make her miserable. This is downright groundbreaking for the era this movie was made and I love this film for it.

I really did enjoy His Girl Friday, but it is a very dense, scattered film and I think it will require multiple viewings to really catch it all.

Director: Howard Hawks
Writer: Charles Lederer
Walter Burns: Cary Grant
Hildy Johnson: Rosalind Russell
Bruce Baldwin: Ralph Bellamy

Bruce Baldwin: I like him; he's got a lot of charm.
Hildy Johnson: Well he comes by it naturally his grandfather was a snake.