REVIEW: Murder, My Sweet

Apparently I am not the only one who’s a big fan of Farewell, My Lovely, as this novel has, I believe, the most adaptations, though only the Mitchum version sticks to most of the book, while others take the basic elements and play around with them.

In the case of Murder, My Sweet, the film adapts much of the original premise while leaving out other things or changing them, I guess due to the time of its release, small little things such as changing the original bar owners from Black to White. Also, no one dies, nor is their life threatened in the first five minutes.

Dick Powell makes for a solid Marlowe. The actor does a great job capturing the essence of the character, although personally, he felt less sarcastic or like a wisecrack or wise guy, leaning more towards the smooth side. The movie was released two years before The Big Sleep and, along with Double Indemnity, is recognized as one of the first film noirs and a key influence in the genre. I say this because I wonder if Bogart took Dick Powell as an influence for his version (which I still think is superior) for the PI, though probably not as Humphrey’s, like I said, feels more aligned with the actor’s whole persona.

Knowing that this is one of the first films to help define what we know as film noir, it becomes more obvious why they chose this novel instead of The Big Sleep, as I mentioned in my previous review for the film starring Robert Mitchum, Farewell, My Lovely leans more into the genre’s camp with many of the archetypes and stereotypes both narratively and visually, with a great use of shadows to heighten, hide, and create a great atmosphere of suspense. The story itself, thanks to a script with a very interesting and intriguing plot, managed to capture my attention for most of its runtime; unfortunately, the film lacks the excitement of the novel and Mitchum’s version. Several of the memorable characters, like Florian or Malloy, have little to no presence, or at least their performances here left much to be desired. The same goes for Trevor as Helen Grayle. Unlike Becall or Rampling, she misses a lot of the allure and sex appeal. I also didn’t feel the chemistry between the two.

All in all, by no means a boring film and it has its moments. Powell again does a good job as Marlowe, but he didn’t get to capture much of the character’s essence and while Double Indemnity did a phenomenal job setting up the landmarks of the film noir as a genre of its own, this one still plays more like any (good) crime drama. That being said, I recommend it.