Review of The Big Sleep (1946) by Rick R — 09 Dec 2008

"The Big Sleep" (1946).

This is one of the best Bogy & Bacall movies that you can get. This DVD is so sharp and clean that you can actually tell what brand of cigarettes the two smoke (Chesterfields). The Raymond Chandler story (with William Faulkner doing the screenplay) is very confusing, but Humphrey Bogart's character, Phillip Marlowe is so fun to watch that you don't really care. It could also be Howard Hawks' excellent direction too.

Basically, the gist of the movie is that private detective, Phillip Marlow is called to do a job for the Sternwood family who is being blackmailed/extorted "again" for gambling debts. Behind all of that is the mystery of what happened to Mr. Sternwood's protégé and friend, Shawn Reagan who has been missing.

Marlow is doing his best to cover for the Sternwood girls despite the crazy antics that these spoiled rich girls put themselves through. And then, there is all of the murderers, gangsters, and hustlers that seem to be involved in this. He's especially falling for the oldest Sternwood daughter, Vivian (Lauren Bacall) but she seems to be hiding something from him.

This film was made towards the end of the war but was filed away to release other war movies out of Warner Brothers. Parts of the movie were remade to improve the film. This 2-sided DVD has both parts with an explanation of the different versions. It's an excellent DVD for your library.