Depicting a nightmarish landscape of big city nights, with a mix of brightly flashing neon signs and foggy, shadowy landscapes, the classic 1944 film noir Murder, My Sweet, directed by Edward Dmytryk (The Caine Mutiny), is a feast for the eyes.
Our reflective narrator is Philip Marlowe (played by Dick Powell in this one), his eyes bandaged in ominous fashion as he recounts the strange tale of his most recent mysterious cases to the circling sharks that are the police – especially lieutenant Randall (Don Douglas). The iconic private detective is, as he says, “just a small businessman in a very messy business”.
Dmytryk’s canvas oozes a certain visual panache, a perfect example being the way in which Marlowe meets a new client. Gazing out at the flashing neon signs from his office, in certain lights, he sees a face no one could forget (though at first it feels like some sort of vision or premonition). Soon, he realizes that there is a behemoth of a man standing behind him, named ‘Moose’ Malloy (Mike Mazurki) – he is a tough, thuggish giant who lacks brains, but makes up for it with brawn and a stick-to-it-iveness that is difficult to ignore. Marlowe soon realizes that the confused man won’t take no for an answer, so he accepts the money being offered to him and decides to hear him out.
The private eye learns that his new client is looking for an elusive dame named Velma Valento. His former gal, he lost touch with her after doing close to a decade in the slammer. . . and he desperately wants to see her again. Marlowe starts to work the case, but receives more questions than answers from the former widow of the nightclub owner where the girl worked.
With a revolving door that is always open – often against his will, Marlowe soon finds another gentleman on his doorstep, one Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton), a seemingly more refined individual than the last (arriving during the day, Dmytryk introduces us to him by way of having Marlowe’s name shadowed on his chest, thanks to the etching found on the exterior window of his office). Needing help with a ‘cash for jewellery’ trade (the jade necklace was stolen from an associate of his and he has been given the task of paying the ransom), Marlowe is flashed a hundred smackeroos to be his heavy.
Heading out with the man into a dark, eerie and very foggy canyon late that night, he is knocked out from behind. When he groggily awakes, a woman flees after shining a flashlight on him, and he soon discovers the dead body of his financier.
Reporting the murder to the cops, they don’t take kindly to his snooping ways. They hassle him, wondering if he knows anything of Jules Amthor – warning him that he better not interfere with their case. This piques the detective’s interest as he has never heard of the man, adding another complex layer to his ever growing case.
While away from his office, another new someone has found their way in, though this time it a striking young woman claiming to be a reporter. Sensing that something is off, he promptly discovers that she is nothing of the kind. The snooping gal is Ann Grayle (Anne Shirley), and it is her father who was the owner of the stolen jewellery.
He forces her to take him to their manor home, where he meets the exceedingly wealthy old man (Miles Mander) and his much younger, buxom blonde trophy wife Helen (Claire Trevor). Questioning the couple, he learns that they are connected to Amthor (Otto Kruger), a psychic healer who is difficult to find, but just happens to walk into the room soon after his name is mentioned.
With the cops watching his every move, and an array of unreliable clients, Marlowe must trudge through the murky tide of this seedy underworld. Finding himself drugged, beaten unconscious, bribed (to both investigate and forget about the case) and at gunpoint (more than once), he is unsure of who to trust. It seems as though each case, and person, is in some way connected. Will the detective be able to evade the coppers and the criminals, or will he fail in this most dangerous conundrum of a case?
Having a kaleidoscopic sense, Dmytryk develops a moody atmosphere filled with striking chiaroscuro (the contrast of shadow and light). With unreliable characters that are as shady as the black and white motion picture, Marlowe is in tough as he investigates a case where no one seems to be on the level. Featuring a solid performance from Powell (he had previously been known for lighter fare), his utterance of razor-sharp, hard boiled dialogue and his often dishevelled look (with a five o’clock shadow) captures the gritty underworld that he must continuously delve into. His performance and voice over is a tad lighter than others who took on the Marlowe character (Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, George Montgomery . . .), but he does a fine job at mixing the grit with that slightly softer touch. Shirley, in her last screen role (she retired at age 26), is perfect, channelling a rather sweet young woman who despises her step-mother – though she feels like she cannot do anything, as her father is smitten with her. Similarly, Trevor is wonderful as the tough to read dame. She seems to be mischievous and may have a wandering eye, but is she a fitting femme fatale? Other smaller parts are equally as entertaining, with Mazurki and Kruger especially standing out. To make Mazurki’s character even more imposing, Dmytryk had the ceilings slanted for perspective, making it feel as though he is becoming larger as he approaches the screen.
Featuring excellent dialogue (love the line “you’re not a detective, you’re a slot machine. You’d slit your own throat for 6 bits plus tax”, or when Randall asks Marlowe how he feels, the detective explains “Like a duck in a shooting gallery”), beautiful direction, striking cinematography and sharp performances, Murder, My Sweet is a film noir well worth tracking down. Interestingly, Raymond Chandler (who wrote the original novel, titled Farewell, My Lovely) loved Powell’s performance, citing it as his favourite Marlowe. So, don’t turn a blind eye, or even take your sweet time in watching this classic crime picture, as ‘Noirvember’ is the perfect moment to screen this twisty tale.