Murder, My Sweet - 1944

Murder, My Sweet - Released Dec 9, 1944. Directed by Edward Dmytryk

Girl: "You're being sidetracked"

Marlowe: "What do you mean sidetracked?"

Girl: "You'll find out"

The Maltese Falcon may have set up the standard for the tough-guy investigator out on a limb, and Murder, My Sweet takes the genre into similar waters, but without the bullet-proof Bogart attitude to shield the protagonist. Dick Powell's version of Philip Marlowe has the cagey private investigator pushed around, beaten-up, drugged (with heroin) and generally played with by everyone because no one can keep their story straight about the missing person of Velma, ex-con Moose Malloy's ex-girlfriend (she probably never was his 'girlfriend,' but he thick-headedly is convinced she was) and Marlowe is hired to find her.

Why is everyone dodging Marlowe's questions and making up soon-to-be-penetrated lies? Raymond Chandler's book hits the screen with veteran screen-crooner Powell playing Marlowe as a mostly-average guy with a special knack for untying knots, though he has to first get it wrong several times.

Guy: "I don't think you even know which side you're on."

Marlowe: "I don't know which side anybody's on."

There is a high definition Bluray relase at Amazon - Murder, My Sweet - Blu-ray

See also Dick Powell's other noir masterpiece, Cry Danger - 1951

Original page May 2016 - Updated April 2018