Murder, My Sweet (1944) Facts

Drama, Thriller, Crime

Edward Dmytryk

Director Edward Dmytryk put himself on the map with this impressionistic adaptation of Raymond Chandler's detective novel FAREWELL, MY LOVELY. It was also a big turning point in the career of Dick Powell, who before this film was known only as a young male lead in countless musicals opposite Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell. Here he shows grittiness and snap as the hard-boiled detective Phillip Marlowe, who finds himself ensnared in an elaborate net of murder and deceit. At the center of the mystery is a missing jade necklace and a dim-witted but dangerous thug named Moose (Mike Mazurki) who's hired Marlowe to find his lost girlfriend, Velma. In one memorable sequence, Marlowe finds himself vividly hallucinating after waking from a drug-induced stupor. He also gets beaten up and later seduced by a mysterious hard-as-nails blonde (Claire Trevor). Otto Kruger, Miles Mander, Anne Shirley, and Ralf Harolde are but a few of the interesting faces in the cast. Film noir doesn't get much blacker or more enjoyable than this moody classic.

95 minutes