Re: RARA-AVIS: that damn chauffeur

From: Rene Ribic ( rribic@optusnet.com.au)
Date: 11 Mar 2002


>
> Actually, it's the chauffeur, whose name I forget, whose murder is
> unexplained. And without spoiling anything (I couldn't do it anyway
as I
> don't remember anybody's name), it's fairly apparent who killed him.
> Marlowe hypothesizes it and the perp's reaction seems to confirm it
though
> subsequent events get in the way of a confession or arrest. The issue
gets
> confused later when Marlowe tells a different story to the cops and
DA;
> however, Marlowe has deliberately changed the story in order to keep
the
> Sternwoods out of it. The issue gets further confused in the film,
because
> the scene where Marlowe discusses the case with the DA was cut.
>
> The anecdote about Chandler not remembering the killer's identity is
funny,
> but even if it's true it's told in the context of a screenwriter
(maybe
> Faulkner?) calling him up several years after he wrote the book. That
> doesn't mean he didn't know what happened when he wrote it. I didn't
know
> that TBS was based on several shorts but if so that seems to make it
more
> rather than less likely that Chandler knew the killer's identity.
It's one
> thing to finesse what ends up being a minor plot point in the course
of an
> entire novel and another to write a mystery short without a solution.
>
> Carrie
>
>
Another case of "When the facts contradict the legend, print the legend". In this case, I think the legend will stick in peoples' minds at the expense of the facts, as it has done for more than half a century already.

Rene

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