The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep.  Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall star in this 1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s crime novel. Bogart plays Chandler’s famous private eye Philip Marlowe on the trail of killers, pornographers, gamblers, and a bevy of beautiful young women. 

In this film and in the earlier Maltese Falcon Bogart created the private eye. No one else ever came close. This was the second film pairing of Bogie and Bacall and director Howard Hawks really brought out the chemistry between the famous couple. The plot is convoluted but the writing is superb. 114 minutes. CC.

The stars are supported by a fine cast that includes Martha Vickers as Bacall's nymphomaniac sister, former cowboy star Bob Steele as a sadistic killer, and Elisha Cook Jr. as his victim. A special shout out should go to a young Dorothy Malone who plays a sexy book store clerk in what is perhaps the best scene in the film. ###

Bogart and Bacall

###

 

Dark Passage

 

Dark Passage: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall star in this 1947 film about a man who breaks out of prison after being falsely convicted of murdering his wife, and has to undergo plastic surgery to escape the law. Perhaps the least well-known of the four films that starred the famous couple, it ranks with their best. Agnes Morehead is especially effective in a supporting role. 106 minutes. CC. The DVD includes an informative commentary.

Delmer Daves directed this film that is based on a novel by famed crime writer David Goodis. For almost the first third of this film we do not see Humphrey Bogart's face. Instead, in a very unusual filmmaking technique, the director lets us see things only through Bogart's eyes. Only after the bandages are removed after a back alley plastic surgery do we see that the convict has been transformed into Bogart. The scene with the plastic surgeon, played over the top by Houseley Stevenson, is perhaps the most memorable one in the film. I also like the tacked on happy ending.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.