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The Big Sleep [1946]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made screen history together more than once, but they were never more popular than in this 1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel, directed by Howard Hawks (To Have and Have Not). Bogart plays private eye Philip Marlowe, who is hired by a wealthy socialite (Bacall) to look into troubles stirred up by her wild, young sister (Martha Vickers). Legendarily complicated (so much so that even Chandler had trouble following the plot), the film is nonetheless hugely entertaining and atmospheric, an electrifying plunge into the exotica of detective fiction. William Faulkner wrote the screenplay. --Tom Keogh

Editorial
Special Features

1.33 Full Screen
DVD 5
French\Italian
English\Italian
English
Region 2
Mono English French Italian
Mono
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Trailer
Arabic\Bulgarian\Dutch\English\French\German\Italian\Portuguese\Romanian\Spanish

Editorial
Synopsis

Chandler's first novel introduced private detective Philip Marlowe, and THE BIG SLEEP set the standard for private detective movies. Down-at-the-heels private eye Marlowe gets the assignment to clean up after the daughters of a dying millionaire, but dead people have a nasty habit of trailing in their wake. The famously tortuous story line (Hawks supposedly asked Chandler to clarify a plot point about the murder of the family chauffeur; the novelist hadn't a clue as to who did the deed) seems beside the point when Bogart and Bacall are onscreen. The final release was recut to include more of their scenes together. A must! Remade in 1978.

Bogart fans 5* (Film fans 4*) (Me 10*)
Review date: 2007-09-21 Rating: 10 out of 10

I enjoy all sorts of films and have this on both DVD and video and always try to catch it when it's on the TV as you can guess it is my most favourite film. It is flawed and can be confusing on the first few watches. It also suffers from having to deviate from the book (maybe to get it past the censors) which along with The Lady In The Lake is my favourite Chandler story.
For £5 you get a piece of cinematic folk law with both Bogart and Bacall paying off each other perfectly and some great one liners.
Bogart has been it better films but pound for pound I don't think he's been in a more enjoyable one. PS I know Casablanca fans will hate me for saying that!


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Reviews


Very good version
Review date: 2007-09-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

As a cinematic experience, this is very good. The original product itself, as always with Chandler is a bit of a Chinese puzzle. His plots were really no more than fashionably convoluted frameworks which he could dress up with his street wise poetry. The story itself is always subserviant to his trademark prose, and on the screen, his thrillers cannot possibly work as well as they do in a book. I don't think I've seen one Chandler film where I could tell you exactly what's going on, all the way through the movie on the first viewing. And this I find a bit tiresome. 4 stars because it's very entertaining and stylish, but it is so annoyingly inscrutable.

Wake up
Review date: 2007-04-13 Rating: 10 out of 10

Humphrey Bogart's most famous roles are as Sam Spade and Rick Blaine, a pair of callous wise-guys. But he played a softer-hearted tough guy in "The Big Sleep," adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel by the legendary Howard Hawks -- a fast, witty, tough-fisted thriller, with excellent acting and sizzling chemistry.

Private "shamus" Philip Marlowe (Bogart) is hired by the decrepit General Sternwood to hunt down a man who's blackmailing his creepy, childlike daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers). It seems like a straightforward case -- but when he manages to track down the blackmailer, he finds him shot dead in a porn studio -- and a drugged Carmen sitting nearby.

Marlowe drags her home, and orders her fiery sister Vivian (Lauren Bacall) to say nothing of where she's been. Now the investigation is more serious, and Marlowe finds himself walking a tightrope of blackmail, pornography, gambling, mobs and other charming illegalities -- and at the heart of it is the location of one of Sternwood's employees.

"The Big Sleep" was a confusing book -- even Raymond Chandler couldn't follow all the threads, and wasn't able to pin one of the murders on anyone. So it's not surprising that the movie adaptation is similarly befuddling, even with some plot elements smoothed out to simplify the story. It still takes three or four viewings to even start figuring it out.

But it is really enjoyable. Hawks captures the taut, slightly humorous tone of Chandler's writing. That's especially hard, considering everybody except Marlowe and the General are double or triple-crossing somebody else, and the plotlines are murky enough that even at the end, you can't tell what's going on.

But Hawks fills it with classic lines ("What's wrong with you?" "Nothing you can't fix.") and tight action scenes, such as when Bogart sends a man out the door to be shot by his own men. There are moments of humor too, such as when Vivian and Marlowe play a prank call to a policeman ("I can do what? Where? Oh, I wouldn't like that, and neither would my daughter!").

Marlowe's a more likable character than Rick or Spade -- he may be rough and wise-cracking, but he also has soft spots and a likable sense of humor ("I don't like [my manners] myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings"). And he has sparking chemistry with real-life wife Bacall, who plays a hardened rich girl who is desperate to protect her dad and sister, even to the point of framing herself.

"The Big Sleep" is a classic for good reasons -- it may be murky to the point of imcomprehensibility, but it's also wickedly funny, taut and tightly directed. Definitely a must-see.

Bogie and Bacall Light Up The Screen
Review date: 2007-01-04 Rating: 10 out of 10

The Big Sleep gives us one of cinema's great characters, a cynical detective named Philip Marlowe. He has been portrayed many times, but most people would agree that Humphrey Bogart's portrayal was superior to any that followed. It also is another film in which Bogie and Bacall light up the screen; their dialogue together is filled with innuendo and star quality. Bacall was never as great as when she shared the screen with hubbie Humphrey Bogart.

My trall through the IMDB 100, at number 99..
Review date: 2006-12-20 Rating: 8 out of 10

This is the first time I've ever seen 'Bogie' in lead role and what a star he is, Lauren Bacall is equally as mesmerising on screen.

The plot is a right old head scratcher as you try to keep track with what the hell is going on, but it's still highly entertaining stuff from the quirky one liners, "she tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up", the nymphomaniac character played by the beautiful Martha Vickers, to the directors obsession that every single female character would find Bogart a sex symbol on first sight, something which he himself thought was amusing.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
John Ridgely
Dorothy Malone
Martha Vickers
Lauren Bacall
Humphrey Bogart

Creators:
Humphrey Bogart (Primary Contributor)
Lauren Bacall (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900650267
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, Dubbed, Full Screen, PAL,
Release date: 2006-06-01
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1946-08-31
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Romanian (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)

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