Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  Slightly uneven but pretty damn good. Dick Powell is not quite a revelation but he's certainly no slouch either as Marlowe.

• First L

  
  A hard-nosed private detective named Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) gets hired for a pair of seemingly disparate simple jobs only to find himself in the middle of murder and intrigue. One case involve finding the missing girlfriend of a big, giant gorilla named Moose (Mike Mazurki),… More
  A hard-nosed private detective named Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) gets hired for a pair of seemingly disparate simple jobs only to find himself in the middle of murder and intrigue. One case involve finding the missing girlfriend of a big, giant gorilla named Moose (Mike Mazurki), who's been away in the joint only to come back and find her gone without a trace. Marlowe doubts the veracity of this relationship but tracks down the girl's former boss anyway (well, former boss' wife). The second job comes from a guy named Mariott (Douglas Walton) and involves accompanying him to a drop-off location with some money, in order to pick up a jade necklace that had been stolen from Mariott's lady friend. But who stole the necklace? For that matter, who owns it? Marlowe gets it from all sides, including a quack psychiatrist who administers hypodermic needles full of who-knows-what. Dick Powell may have been a strange choice for Philip Marlowe: most of his films up until that point had been song-and-dance numbers, and he was known more for romantic comedies than tough and grizzled detectives. Perhaps that's why his performance has an air of comedy behind the tough guy persona. Whatever the case, it's the John Paxton script and Edard Dmytryk direction that wring the pulp from the original Raymond Chandler novel. The plot is thick and complex, and I'm not even really sure if all the loose ends get wrapped up in the end, but I don't think that's the point. It's the strange case, the journey, the style that all add up to something dynamic and amazing.

• xGary X

  
  A private eye is hired by an ex-con to find his old girlfriend but gets sidetracked when a man who hires him as a bodyguard is murdered for a precious jade necklace. Murder My Sweet is one of those Noirs that ticks ALL the boxes. I must admit that I prefer Bogart's more mercenary… More
  A private eye is hired by an ex-con to find his old girlfriend but gets sidetracked when a man who hires him as a bodyguard is murdered for a precious jade necklace. Murder My Sweet is one of those Noirs that ticks ALL the boxes. I must admit that I prefer Bogart's more mercenary and intense Marlowe but Dick Powell's more jaunty approach still works, especially when teamed up with Claire Trevor's deliciously amoral femme fatale. The script stays faithful to Chandler's hard boiled dialogue and there are also some really nice directorial touches in the vein of Hitchcock, notably during the scenes when a drug addled Marlowe escapes from the clutches of an insidious doctor and the cinematography pretty much wrote the book for every Noir that followed. It takes a little concentration to keep track of all the balls Marlowe has to keep in the air, but it's a satisfying mystery that oozes classic style. Not quite as good as The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep, but one of the essentials nevertheless.

• AJ V

  
  Who wouldn't want to see a film noir called Murder, My Sweet? That just sounds so cool. It really is a good movie, a bit confusing at first, but good in the end. If you like film noir, you'll like this movie.

• William S

  
  Not as great as I remembered it - they change far too much from the novel for my liking - including a morally tidier ending. But it's still pretty marvelous. Dick Powell is the best cine-incarnation of Marlow - even more so than Bogart. Whereas Bogart can seem sneering and a… More
  Not as great as I remembered it - they change far too much from the novel for my liking - including a morally tidier ending. But it's still pretty marvelous. Dick Powell is the best cine-incarnation of Marlow - even more so than Bogart. Whereas Bogart can seem sneering and a little aloof, Powell's jaded and world weary approach is more grounded - human. And perfectly capturing Chandler's sardonic humour how it should be - with his tongue jammed firmly in his cheek. The support is nothing to be sneered at either - Claire Trevor's femme-fatale is every inch the archetype. But she's still a little eclipsed by Anne Shirley's feisty ingenue. The part of the ingenue is a difficult one at the best of times (a part that Joan Fontaine, Theresa Wright and Sylvia Sydney excelled at). Played without care, it can render the character utterly forgettable - becoming more bland wilting wallflower (usually there as either a moral counterpoint or mere padding for the other 'more interesting' characters). But played right, it's a character of subtlety and quiet tragedy and can be quite moving. It's a very thin line for sure and Shirley tip-toes that line exquisitely - around Powell and Trevor as it happens. And Mike Mazurki IS Moose Malloy!

• Randy T

  
  One of the things I love most about classic noir films is the narrative. There's nothing quite like a private detective giving you the lay of the land as he stares down the barrel of a gun while taking what might be his last drag on his last cigarette. Murder, My Sweet is wrought… More
  One of the things I love most about classic noir films is the narrative. There's nothing quite like a private detective giving you the lay of the land as he stares down the barrel of a gun while taking what might be his last drag on his last cigarette. Murder, My Sweet is wrought with great lines that were destined to become cliché in the legend of the genre. "'Okay Marlowe,' I said to myself. 'You're a tough guy. You've been sapped twice, choked, beaten silly with a gun, shot in the arm until you're crazy as a couple of waltzing mice. Now let's see you do something really tough - like putting your pants on.'" They just don't write lines like that anymore. But that's okay. As I was watching this film I realized that it had caught me right between the ears. A black pool opened up at my feet and I dived in. It had no bottom. I felt pretty good. like an amputated leg...

• Ken S

  
  Solid Noir with great dialog

• Veronique K

  
  another tale of the legendary private eye philip marlowe under the whirling pen of raymond chandler, and this time our noir hero is not humprey bogart from "maltese falcon" but the comical dick powell. certainly the endearing noir queen claire trevor seems to be intertwined… More
  another tale of the legendary private eye philip marlowe under the whirling pen of raymond chandler, and this time our noir hero is not humprey bogart from "maltese falcon" but the comical dick powell. certainly the endearing noir queen claire trevor seems to be intertwined as the master manipulator behind the several mysterious crimes circling around the desoiled china jade necklace. around this turn, dick powell's marlowe doesn't appear so bright and he keeps being pushed around very often by the crooks. without the participation of bogart's grittiness, powell's marlowe lacks a certain macho grittiness but the witty tongue-in-cheek humor that truns out to be one of the merits in this flick. besides it demonstrates the human side of marlowe who is no longer bogart's tough guy who ditches mary astor to prison for the sake of his occupational enthicity. dick powell is more warmed up with liveliness but without the wild unpredicatibility of bogart's un-negotiated manhood. marlowe now is not aloof anymore, and he embraces beauties around his arms joyfully without the gender tension of possessiveness between bogart and astor. marlowe has been incarnated into flesh and blood, capable of bathing in romance, eventually powell's marlowe fondles the kind-hearted red-head over his yearning bossom, tossing his pistol aside just for a decently thorough smack of kiss. the nightmare sequence of marlowe being narcotically toxicated is visually engrossing as well as marlowe's self-encouraging voice-over: prove you're a tough guy, put on your pants. this apparently purposed "tough" lecture could even be mellowed into a farcial joke by dick powell, if it's said by bogart, it would be roughed with edginess. claire trevor is the blonde femme fatale this time to toy everyman into her sidekicks only with some confidently contrived smirks. maybe she should have grappled some cameos instead of just few scenes, but even limited with empheral time, she makes quite an impression as "the woman with snakes and pits lurked beneath her devilish smile"

• Stella D

  
  great noir with a lame title. the name of chandler's farewell my lovely was changed to distinguish it from powell's many musical comedies as he tried to segue into drama. he makes a great marlowe with pithy dialogue and wonderful sarcastic voice over too. and i just love… More
  great noir with a lame title. the name of chandler's farewell my lovely was changed to distinguish it from powell's many musical comedies as he tried to segue into drama. he makes a great marlowe with pithy dialogue and wonderful sarcastic voice over too. and i just love claire trevor

• Cindy I

  
  Dick Powell does a good job his first time up in a dramatic role as Philip Marlowe. Not quite Bogey, but good enough for this example of film noir.

• Michael G

  
  One of the quintissential noir films. This one's got it all.

• Buddy A

  
  An excellent foray into a noir world of darkness, obsession, betrayal, and (of course) murder. While Bogart may be the most famous Phillip Marlowe, Powell creates a remarkably captivating interpretation of the famous literary gumshoe. Highly recommended.

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