Review of The Big Sleep (1946) by Jacob O — 01 Jan 2011

In Hollywood classic "The Big Sleep", Humphrey Bogart plays Philip Marlowe, a private detective hired by a very wealthy family to look into difficulties surrounding one of its members, a boisterous young woman. As Marlowe discovers more behind the whole story, the body count begins to rise, as well as the sexual tension between him and Mrs. Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), another of the family members who seems to be hiding something.

The film has always been incredibly notorious for its legendary convoluted plot, filled to the brim with twisting sub-plots, love triangles and unresolved ends; one of which even the writer of the original source novel, Raymond Chandler, could not answer for. It's crafted with such subtlety and ambiguity that it's not too difficult to lose track early on.

Yet, despite its seemingly endless list of posed questions, it's one of the greatest films of all time. The complicated plot is easy to ignore in favour of its better elements; namely the on-screen chemistry between Bogart and Bacall, and the shadowy black-and-white photography which magnifies the dark, corrupted world our characters are in.

Now, to explore the former. The casting choices of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall mean that every witty line of dialogue is delivered with extreme precision - him with his low-key, nasal tone; her with her deep, sexy voice. It's almost as if William Faulkner wrote the screenplay with these two actors in mind - their performances are natural and it comes as no surprise the two were married for twelve years until Bogart's tragic death in 1957. It's the best screen pairing of anybody from that period.

Directed by Howard Hawks, the film is truly theatrical. The set design is wonderful, and coupled with some hilarious one-liners make this uniquely more than just the average film noir. Max Steiner's building score only heightens the suspense.

This pushes the boundaries of movie storytelling. "The Big Sleep" doesn't enforce stereotypes or cliches, the dialogue isn't cheesy; the whole film flows like it was real life.

It's a worthy contender for the greatest noir ever made.