-Dave
On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, Ted White wrote:
> Although I have James Ellroy books on my To Be Read
shelf, I've never
> actually read one, and can contribute nothing to the
discussion of the
> man or his works. But I'm prompted to de-lurk here by
Thomas Jones'
> question concerning the differences in the endings of
the movie and
> the book of "The Big Sleep."
>
> When I read the book (and it was the first book by
Chandler I'd read)
> it confused me at first precisely because it did not
follow the
> cliched pattern I was then used to: crime/mystery
occurs in chapter
> one, most of novel is spent vamping and padding (I'd
read a lot of
> John Dickson Carr by then) -- hopefully in an
entertaining fashion --
> and crime/mystery is solved in the final chapter. In
TBS the initial
> mystery is solved by chapter four, and the book is
just starting to
> pick up steam. I enjoyed the book a great deal and
immediately
> sought out more by Chandler. (I've reread his entire
opus at least
> twice since then, as I have Hammett's.) Eventually I
saw the movie
> (as part of a Bogart Festival, along with maybe
thirty others,
> including "The Maltese Falcon," which I'd seen
earlier anyway). What
> a letdown! The ending was missing! I didn't think it
"happier," I
> thought it an example of directorial confusion.
Bogart was a good
> Sam Spade, but he didn't fit my image of Phillip
Marlowe. And while
> "The Maltese Falcon" is possibly the most faithful
adaptation of a
> book to screen in the history of movies, "The Big
Sleep" surely is
> not.
>
> Over the years my admiration for Chandler has been
tempered by such
> failures as "Playback" and the "Poodle Springs"
fragment (I refuse to
> read Parker's arrogant "collaboration"), while my
admiration for
> Hammett has increased. Such perfect lean prose, and
such knowing
> characterisations! Hammett's characters came off the
streets, while
> Chandler's mostly came from an imaginary demimonde of
his own
> devising. But I can't knock one to boost the other:
each had
> extraordinary strengths.
>
> And speaking of such things, have you all read Larry
Block's "The
> Burglar in the Library"? A delightful sendup of the
British
> country-estate drawing room murder mysteries, with
some telling
> commentary on both Chandler and Hammett thrown in.
Since he revived
> the Burglar series Block has been having fun with
inside
> mystery-lovers' jokes, doing some wicked takes on
putative Sue Grafton
> book titles, among other things.
>
> --Ted White
>
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