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Not rated. () |
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323 |
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Plot: Based on a novel by Raymond Chandler, the story focuses on private eye Philip Marlowe as he searches for a missing wife and discovers a different woman's corpse in a mountain lake.
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Lady in the Lake Recent Reviews
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:January 5, 2007want to see it.
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MCT:October 28, 2007I spent the first 45 minutes annoyed by the crabbiness with which Robert Montgomery played Phillip Marlowe, but I eventually warmed up to Lady in the Lake. The whole 1st person POV was really gimmicky kind of annoying for a little while (especially with the crappy editing between shots) but you eventually go numb to it. The segues with Marlowe in his office bugged me and tipped me off to the fact that Montgomery was clueless in the director's chair. As with any Chandler, the dialogue's as great as the story is. Audrey Totter turns in a performance that's sultry as all hell when she's not giving the stink eye or overly dramatic expressions. If you ever check it out you've got to stick with it and not dismiss it before the first act is up. The ending's worth it.
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MCT:September 6, 2007If ever there were a movie that cried out for a remake, this is it. Not because the film is bad, exactly--it's rather frustratingly average--but because the central concept is great but is failed by the available technology. Director and star Robert Montgomery tries to tell us the tale of Philip Marlowe's bizarre case by framing the film entirely through Marlowe's point-of-view, as if we the audience are seeing through Marlowe's eyes. This is indeed a delightful concept, but sadly a camera on a track and a crane is not believable as a human stand-in and the many "hidden" cuts to allow the camera to be repositioned are way too obvious. Also, while the many scenes showing Marlowe in mirrors are a nice touch, they are all clearly at the wrong angle. Today's steadicams would have been a Godsend to the filmmakers. The film is also hampered by the apparent belief that the audience just wouldn't "get it," as multiple times we cut to Marlowe in his office facing us in order to explain to us something that is happening. This wouldn't be so bad except the second time it's followed by the scene where we actually see everything happen that he was just explaining to us! It's certainly an interesting film to look at, and historically important for its inventive use of the POV shot, but it really just plays out like all those Nancy Drew computer games, but without the ability to interact with any of it.
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MCT:June 29, 2007
Extra props for filming it (almost entirely) in the first-person. This technique was well done for it's time, but the story didn't pull me in.
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MCT:October 20, 2006This was actually quite a bit better than I had expected. None of the reviews were really scathing, but they were for the most part less than enthousiastic. I actually quite enjoyed it, it's ambitious in that it's shot from the first point of view. It's not entirely successful, but overall I think it works. Phillip Marlowe is hired to find a publisher's wife who was supposed to have run off to Mexico.
The excellent irony of this film is that Raymond Chandler thought this to be an incredibly stupid idea. What works on the page, will not work on the screen. To a greater degree, this is true. It's an incredibly unsettling concept, and in one way it must have been worst for the audiences in the 1940s who did not even have newscasters who would be addressing them. This idea although having been used before in bits and pieces before, was comepletely new to these audiences. It explains in a why this film has for the most part dissapeared into obscurity. It's a technique that relies greatly on the other actors, and unfortunately... it's hard to act to a camera. The supporting players are by no means bad, although they are overtly theatrical in a distancing way. I think they do a great job considering. The best moments come in the silence, and when Marlowe is not directly addressing someone. One scene he listens in on a conversation at a semi-open door, it's beautifully composed and one of my favourite shots of the film. The best sequence though has to be a car accident. The musical score, which is actually a chorus (all in the christmas spirit!), is just mindblowing. Using focus and fading, to demonstrate his level of consciousness. And then this figure standing above him, spilling liquor onto him... there is no music, just the sound of alcohol falling. And then as he stumbles on the ground, trying to figure out what has happened and the growing sound of an approaching siren. The entire scene goes on, and it just gets better and better.
I think the biggest shock to post war audiences had to be not seeing the star. We see mirror shots, and some narration we don't see Montgomery at all. However, I'm going to make an ambitious statement in saying that despite this Montgomery is the best Phillip Marlowe I've seen. I have to admit though that I'm only comparing to Dick Powell and Humphrey Bogart, not having yet seen any other interpretations. First, when reading the novel, Montgomery just has the face and manneurisms of how I personally envision him. From the bits and snippets we see of him, and his dialogue it just comes together for me. He is much more cynical than both Bogart and Powell, and there is a lot more cruelty in his performance. I think again, another point why the audience wasn't keen on this one. Marlowe is callous, and at his most cynical despite the fact that he is still romanticized for the screen. The literary Marlowe has a very deep resentment of women, he's quite violent with them and condescending. They keep up with Marlowe's stubborness, and his unwillingness to trust and love a woman... but then again he does turn around on the other hand. Still, an interesting portrayal of my personal favourite detective.
A little ambitious film worth checking out. It may be offputting but then again I think it's well done and extremely enjoyable.
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