Murder, My Sweet. Farewell, My Lovely Details

You shouldn't kiss a girl when you're wearing that gun.

Released in America as Murder My Sweet but originally screened as Farewell My Lovely; this a good adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel. Dick Powell's transisiton from light comedy crooner to Marlowe produces a version which is too clean cut and not as caustic as Bogart's (who would in appear in The Big Sleep two years later) but one that does honour the cynical but soft-hearted detective of the original stories. The tangled plot can be confusing but the film stands up thanks to an intelligent and taut script, loaded with one liners, terrific performances and dark and moody camerawork which intensifies the sordid environment of blackmail, deception and murder. A fine example of film noir: when films were made against a backdrop of fog, night and shadows which reflected post WWII pessimism.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Farewell, My Lovely (1944)

Perhaps the quintessential '40s noir detective movie, with musical star Dick Powell surprisingly good in the Philip Marlowe role, not as tough guy as Bogart or Mitchum, but just right as the mug who gets caught in the middle of a crazy, incoherent plot. The dialogue is marvellous, as are the performances and cinematography especially in great hallucinatory sequence. I wouldn't worry about keeping up with the plot, even if it is simpler than The Big Sleep!