--- Shannon Clute <
clute@noircast.net> wrote:
> I agree entirely with your summary of Powell's
vs.
> Bogart's portrayal
> of Marlowe. I had this debate with my
podcasting
> partner, Richard
> Edwards, in our episode on "Murder My Sweet,"
and
> made, grosso modo,
> the points you made above (though you make them
more
> clearly and
> concisely). Rich, on the other hand, found
Powell
> to be the perfect
> Marlowe. I just can't stomach a
Marlowe--arguably
> the most morally
> weighty of all literary PI's--tap dancing his
way
> glibly through a film
> adaptation. But Rich found those comic touches
to
> be the proof of a
> man with a nuanced sense of morality. Which
I
> suppose proves one
> thing: it's a memorable performance, no matter
how
> you cut it.
****************************************************** Hi
Shannon,
I can't say I didn't enjoy MURDER, MY SWEET. I just prefer
Hawk's THE BIG SLEEP and Bogart's Marlowe. There's a great
deal of humor in the script Hawk worked from, especially the
reparte between Marlowe & Vivian. Bogart and Becall had
great chemistry and they put it to good use in those clever
scenes.
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, on which MURDER, MY SWEET is based, is a
much different story. First, we meet Marlowe when he is
literally picked up by Moose Malloy. Unilke General Sternwood
in SLEEP, Marlowe is never in control of Malloy because of
the latter's strength and penchent for violence. Powell uses
patronage in his tone of voice in a partially successful
attempt to control Malloy, and this technique puts Marlowe
one step down on an emotional level for the viewer. In this
story, Marlowe never fully recovers from this position in
either the book or the movie. I think the characters in
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY are much more complicated than those in
the earlier story. The tough-guy, fast gun Marlowe of SLEEP
has to adjust his behavior for Malloy, Grayles, Anne Riorden,
Velma, and the fake psychic whose name escapes me. These
characters don't respond the same way the Sternwoods, Brody
& Eddie Mars do. Marlowe's clever patter, and the
dialogue is arguably Chandler's best in this story, doesn't
put him one step ahead the way it does in THE BIG
SLEEP.
It would be interesting to see how Bogart might have played
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY. It's too bad no one in Hollywood saw
Phillip Marlowe as a franchise opportunity. Its one of the
frustrating aspects of this best of the original hard boiled
detectives.
Patrick King
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