Counting Down the Greatest Crime Films of All-Time: #31

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Murder, My Sweet (1944)

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TYPE OF FILM: Detective

STUDIO: RKO

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sid Rogell

PRODUCER: Adrian Scott

DIRECTOR: Edward Dmytryk

SCREENWRITER: John Paxton

SOURCE: Farewell, My Lovely, novel by Raymond Chandler

RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes

PRINCIPAL PLAYERS:

Dick Powell……………………………………………………….……………….Philip Marlowe

Claire Trevor……………………………………………………………………………Mrs. Grayle

Anne Shirley…………………………………………………………………………..Ann Riordan

Otto Kruger……………………………………………………………………………Jules Amthor

Mike Mazurki……………………………………………………………………….Moose Malloy

Miles Mander……………………………………………………………………..…….Mr. Grayle

Douglas Walton……………………………………………………………………..……..Marriott

Don Douglas…………………………………………………………………….Lieutenant Randall

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DID YOU KNOW?

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Moose Malloy, played by Mike Mazurki, had one overwhelming characteristic (apart from his devotion to his girlfriend, Velma): his huge size. Although Mazurki was six foot four, he failed to convey that gigantic presence, because Dick Powell was six two. To assure that Mazurki would tower over everyone else, Powell had to walk in a trench when paired with him in a scene, and he took off his shoes to stand barefoot while Mazurki stood on a box. Director Edward Dmytryk even created a ceiling slanted at an angle to the camera so that, as Mazurki moved closer to other cast members, he would appear to grow enormously as he approached.

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THE STORY

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Moose Malloy hires Marlowe to find Velma, the girlfriend he hasn’t seen in eight years because of a jail sentence. When asked to describe her, he helpfully says, “She was cute as lace pants.” Meanwhile, Marlowe is also hired to retrieve a stolen necklace, and when the detective and his client show up to make the transaction, Marlowe is knocked out and the client murdered. Ann Riordan discovers the body and tells Marlowe that the necklace was once owned by Mrs. Grayle, who claims that a psychic, Jules Amthor, uses his racket to blackmail people. Marlowe visits Amthor with Moose, who joins forces with the psychic to beat up and imprison the detective. Marlowe escapes to learn that Moose has killed Amthor, and is on a gambling ship run by gangsters. Mrs. Grayle—who actually was Velma—is killed, as is her husband and Moose.

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Murder, My Sweet was one of the first noir detective films in which decent people are few and far between. Marlowe is a cynical detective who nonetheless has an optimistic view of the world and believes it is his role to be a white knight, protecting and helping those unable to defend themselves. He is a loner, relentless in his pursuit of justice, and uninterested in playing by the rules.

Casting Dick Powell as Philip Marlowe was risky, because he had a well-established career in musicals and the change to a grizzled tough guy stretched his acting ability to the limit. Yet he was so successful that those became the roles he had for the rest of his career.

The film was initially released as Farewell, My Lovely, the title of Chandler’s novel, but audiences were small. It turned out that the few who came to the cinema were expecting to see another Powell musical. The film was immediately withdrawn and retitled, becoming a box-office smash.

The director, Edward Dmytryk, had made only B movies until given the opportunity to shoot this film on a very healthy budget of $400,000; with his B background, he had no trouble bringing the film in on time and within the budget.

This is actually the second screen version of the same story.  The first was The Falcon Takes Over (1942), made as part of the series about “The Falcon” and starred George Sanders. RKO had paid Chandler only $2,000 for the screen rights, and when it made the big-budget Powell version, it already owned the rights and paid Chandler nothing.

It was made yet again in 1974, as Farewell, My Lovely, starring Robert Mitchum; no one in the audience expected a musical this time.

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BEST LINE

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Marlowe (Powell) to a flirtatious Mrs. Grayle (Trevor); “Tell your husband I went home; tell him I got bored.”