I was looking forward to a "Sam Spade" film noir, complete with narration and fainting damsels in distress, but this wasn't quite that and wasn't quite as good as I hoped. It was a 6 (I'll watch it again but only to fully enjoy the plot).
Private detective Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) has been hired by a wealthy general to investigate a blackmail attempt on one of his daughters, Carmen. His other daughter, Vivian (Lauren Bacall, suspects that he has been hired to look into the disappearance of a previous detective. The blackmailer is soon found dead in a house where Carmen can't remember a thing because she is high, and a film from a secret camera is missing. Then the generals chauffeur, who was involved with Carmen, is murdered - maybe he killed the blackmailer? Then Vivian received a blackmail demand for Carmen's photos. It seems that the previous detective, as well as a local mobster and his wife, are all involved in a complex plot of lies and cover-ups.
While the complex story was fun to keep track of - everyone is lying or covering something up - the filming is nothing spectacular, the acting is so-so and the music often too loud for the speech. And I still just simply don't understand how two people who are so cold to each other and utter in a matter of fact manner, can suddenly claim that they love each other!?! Maybe it's a Bogart thing. The most outstanding feature was Lauren Bacall - stunning beautiful and some very well filmed portraits. Another thing was the convoluted and complex plot involving many characters - you'll need your thinking hat on to follow it! This is very much a film about characters - for one of a similar style but much better, I'd say see The Third Man (which I've now got queued up, woohoo!).
Private detective Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) has been hired by a wealthy general to investigate a blackmail attempt on one of his daughters, Carmen. His other daughter, Vivian (Lauren Bacall, suspects that he has been hired to look into the disappearance of a previous detective. The blackmailer is soon found dead in a house where Carmen can't remember a thing because she is high, and a film from a secret camera is missing. Then the generals chauffeur, who was involved with Carmen, is murdered - maybe he killed the blackmailer? Then Vivian received a blackmail demand for Carmen's photos. It seems that the previous detective, as well as a local mobster and his wife, are all involved in a complex plot of lies and cover-ups.
While the complex story was fun to keep track of - everyone is lying or covering something up - the filming is nothing spectacular, the acting is so-so and the music often too loud for the speech. And I still just simply don't understand how two people who are so cold to each other and utter in a matter of fact manner, can suddenly claim that they love each other!?! Maybe it's a Bogart thing. The most outstanding feature was Lauren Bacall - stunning beautiful and some very well filmed portraits. Another thing was the convoluted and complex plot involving many characters - you'll need your thinking hat on to follow it! This is very much a film about characters - for one of a similar style but much better, I'd say see The Third Man (which I've now got queued up, woohoo!).
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