The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep; crime, USA, 1946; D: Howard Hawks, S: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Charles Waldron, John Ridgley, Martha Vickers

Private detective Philip Marlowe enters the mansion by General Sternwood, now in a wheelchair, who contacted him to help him solve a ransom aimed against him from some bookseller Geiger, while even his daughter's Carmen and Vivian are in debt. Soon Geiger is found dead with drunk Carmen in a house, so Marlowe brings her back to her home. Owen, the family's driver, is also found dead in the car while some anonymous person begins blackmailing Carmen because he has her photo with Geiger before death. Marlowe discovers it's Brody, but he gets killed by some criminal. Geiger was the tenant of Mars, whom Carmen owes some money. Mars captures Marlowe, but he frees himself. Mars gets shoot by his own people when he opens the door.

Even though it is considered to be a classic of crime and film noir genre, "The Big Sleep" is in reality a little bit overrated, mostly due to its only big flaw that can be found in its confusing and chaotic story that constantly brings new plot twists up to the rather vague and incomprehensible ending. That's probably because the novel of the same title, written by Raymond Chandler, was very daring, and the Hays Code of the film industry didn't allow too much "controversial" elements back then, which is why it is never explicitly mentioned in the film that Geiger secretly loans pornography print in his book store, drugs Carmen to make nude photos of her and then blackmails her, so this is just left to harmless vagueness and "hints" that can't get detected by most of the viewers, which can get frustrating. Certainly, this lack of clarity as to what is going on inhibits a part of the enjoyment value, which is why "The Maltese Falcon" is still the better private detective movie.

When Howard Hawks placed his signature on the project, many didn't expect he would make such a skillful job, but the main star is the excellent Humphrey Bogart who is simply perfect as the charismatic, cynical detective Marlowe: he played him only once, but Marlowe remained forever remembered in Bogart's appearance. In the opening act, Carmen, the daughter of the General, throws herself into Marlowe's arms just a few moments after she met him, hinting at being a nymphomaniac, and when Marlowe is asked: "How would you like your whisky?", he replies with: "In a glass". The film is filled with tricky lines, whether from Marlowe ("She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up!") or from General Sternwood ("I assume they have all the usual vices, besides those they've invented for themselves"), but the most memorable moment might be when he spies in the suspicious book store and disguises himself as a geek with a shrill voice, asking the shop assistant if she has the book "Ben Hur" 1860 edition (even though the novel was written in 1880) with a duplicated line on page 160, which shows that Bogart actually had a very comic side to him. Some situations are bizarre, but that's precisely why they stand out today. In a way, Bogart is so good that the viewers will simply forget about the obfuscated plot halfway in and just enjoy his interactions—it says a lot about his great acting talent, but also says a lot about the deficiency of the screenplay and studio interference.

Grade:+++