Review of Lady in the Lake (1946) by Martin T — 06 May 2010

Thank God this stupid fucking gimmick never caught on. POV didn't work that well in Dark Passage either, but at least that was only half the movie. Here it's the entire thing, and it's absolutely terrible.

It never looks natural, it doesn't do a damn thing to "put you into the story" or whatever, it's just completely distracting and awful. And because it requires long takes, cuts are covered up very very poorly with abrupt camera movement.

If you thought the cuts in Rope were too obvious, you haven't seen nothing. Robert Montgomery (who also directed this mess) is perfectly dreadful as Phillip Marlowe, and none of the other actors are any good either.

But at least they have an excuse, they have to act while staring directly into the camera the whole time. The dialogue is also really bad, probably the worst I've heard since The Room, and certainly the worst of any Chandler adaptation.

And the plot is dull! Not as confusing as other Marlowe stories, but there's so little to it and almost no real tension. Just a painful experience all around. I groaned several times. Interesting as a cinematic curiosity only.