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TW3 Contents
Review It!
Daily Curmudgeon
New Voices
Virtual Ink
Reel Politik
Off The Rack
Virtual Light
The Bookstall
S E A R C H
L I T S P A C E
COLETTE'S LIST
Brief Reviews Writ Loud
by Colette Bancroft
Trouble Is My Business
So he died in 1959. He's still cooler than most anyone still walking around. In
his seven novels about quintessential hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe,
Chandler created a fictional paradigm that still pervades books, film,
television and other media with the power of myth. If you're a child of the
latter half of this century, you know his work -- whether you know it or not.Chandler's Marlowe has become the template for a thousand avatars of the
contemporary anti-hero: A wise-ass, gun-toting, risk-addicted tough guy with
a pure heart, trying to make sense of a world awash in violence, conspiracy
and corruption.Marlowe is the creation of a writer who never tailed a gangster down a
mean street in his life.Chandler was born in 1888 in Chicago, but when he was five his Anglo-Irish
mother took him to England, where he was an exemplary student in the British public school system. Later, he studied in Paris and Munich and worked for London newspapers before returning to the U.S. During World War I he joined the
Canadian Army and returned to his home in Los Angeles the only survivor in his outfit of a German artillery barrage.Back in L.A., Chandler embarked on a career as an oil company executive that lasted until
he was 45, when the Depression and his own drinking combined to
get him sacked. Desperate for a new way to earn a living, he published his
first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot," in 1933 in Black Mask magazine.From then on, he was a writer.Chandler's first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939 and established
both him and Marlowe. It also debuts the essential elements of
Chandler's subsequent novels and the hard-boiled school they inspired.One
of those is his masterful, complex use of Los Angeles as a setting. Another is the convoluted plot that turns upon itself in unexpected ways,
emphasizing the inescapable consequences of its characters' actions. In The
Big Sleep, it's no accident that the key to the mystery Marlowe must
untangle literally falls into his arms in the first chapter. But mysteries are
only superficially solved in this world, while deeper ones remain enigmatic.
(Sound like a William Gibson novel?)The two most important elements in Chandler's enduring stature as an
American writer are his hero, Marlowe, and his mastery of style. This is the
writer who described a dangerously beautiful woman as "a blonde to make a
bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window" and made his detective's most
potent weapon his wit, not his gun.Author Margaret Atwood published an essay a few years back in which she wrote that his images of
furniture and clothing were so sensual and exact that she'd always wished she
could go shopping with him. There's no higher compliment a woman can
pay to a man's sense of style.And Marlowe? He's this century's American hero, a descendant of the
lonesome, brave cowboy at work on the urban frontier, trying to sort out the
bad guys from the good ones where no one wears a white hat -- and they're
not all guys. He risks his neck to protect the innocent, but his most profound
struggle is for his own soul.Chandler himself wrote, "The real-life private eye is a sleazy little drudge
from the Burns Agency, a strong-arm guy with no more personality than a
blackjack. He has about as much moral stature as a stop-and-go sign . . . .
[Marlowe] does not and could not exist. He is the personification of an
attitude, the exaggeration of a possibility."In other words, Marlowe is Fox Mulder with a fedora.If you haven't yet made the original's acquaintance, let's begin at the
beginning.The Big Sleep (1939)
In Chandler's first novel, Marlowe springs fully to life from the opening paragraphs, all wisecracks and lyricism. He's "calling on four million dollars," hired by the wealthy, wheelchair-bound and fiercely proud General Sternwood to investigate a blackmail threat against his wild younger daughter, Carmen. It looks like a minor problem. Fat chance.
Soon Marlowe is up to his ears in a plot that involves illegal pornography,
professional gamblers, a lovelorn chauffeur, a missing ex-bootlegger and, of
course, murder. At the center of it all are Sternwood's two spoiled daughters,
reckless Carmen and lovely Vivian, who uses sarcasm and sexual aggression
as cover for some desperate secrets.Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
This is one of my two picks for Chandler's best novel (I've never quite been able to decide between it and The Long Goodbye). Its dark vision of human beings caught between the power of money and the power of love will linger in your mind far longer than your standard whodunit.
Marlowe seems initially to be involved in two separate cases. He gets drawn
into the first when he witnesses a senseless murder and goes searching for the
man who committed it, a huge ex-con named Moose Malloy. Then he's
hired to investigate a jewel theft and blackmail attempt. The victim in that
case is the drop-dead (and we do mean drop-dead) gorgeous Helen Grayle, the
mysterious young wife of aging millionaire Lewin Lockridge Grayle.In short order, Marlowe is wrapped around Helen's little finger -- or is he?
And who else is under her spell? It proves to be a deadly one, and Marlowe's
escape is narrow. Farewell, My Lovely boasts some of Chandler's best
writing and a stellar supporting cast.The High Window (1942)
This is a minor Chandler novel, but even minor Chandler beats most other detective fiction. Marlowe is hired by the formidable Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock, a wealthy widow, to disentangle her only son, Leslie, from what she considers an inappropriate (not to mention tacky) marriage to nightclub singer Linda Conquest.
As usual, there's a lot more to the situation -- like counterfeit gold coins, ill-mannered gigolos and Mrs. Murdock's assistant, an odd little number named
Merle. When Mrs. Murdock isn't screaming at her, she's stroking her like a
kitten, apparently unaware that Merle's nursing a crush on ne'er-do-well
Leslie. Marlowe gets to give his contempt for the rich a good workout in this
one.The Lady in the Lake (1943)
Executive Derace Kingsley is missing his wife. Actually, he's not missing her -- Crystal Kingsley is a bitch on wheels -- but he wants Marlowe to find her anyway. So our hero heads for the mountains, where Crystal was last seen at a vacation cabin on Little Fawn Lake.
Marlowe finds evidence that suggests Crystal has run off with her lover. He
also finds another missing woman, Muriel Chess, who may have been the
last person at Little Fawn Lake to talk to Crystal. Unfortunately, Muriel's been
in the lake for a month and isn't looking much like her old self.Maybe Muriel's hard-drinking husband did her in. Maybe not. Marlowe's
search for Crystal entangles him with a very tough cop named Al Degarmo
whose interest in the whole mess is more than professional.The Little Sister (1949)
Chandler has a blast in this one -- it's his Hollywood novel. Having worked as a screenwriter (with, among others, Alfred Hitchcock), he had plenty to say about the movie capital, none of it pretty.
Marlowe's first client is Orfamay Quest, a prim and stingy piece of work from
Manhattan, Kansas, who wants him to find her missing brother. Following a
fairly short trail of corpses leads him to Orrin Quest, but he also encounters
starlet Mavis Weld, who has problems of her own.Mavis is being blackmailed because of her relationship with a man named
Steelgrave, who may or may not be a mob hit man from Cleveland with an
elegant new identity. Mavis' roommate is another starlet, hyper-sexy Dolores
Gonzalez, whose case of the hots for Marlowe might not just be a reaction to
his charm.This wonderfully twisted little roman a clef also features some of Chandler's
most hilarious minor characters, like agent Sheridan Ballou, studio mogul
Jules Oppenheimer, and cops Maglashan and French.The Long Goodbye (1953)
Perhaps Chandler's finest novel and certainly his most complex, this elegaic story is the only one which turns upon genuine friendship between Marlowe and another person.
Chandler's detective had always been a classic loner, with professional
connections and brief affairs but no lasting relationships. In The Long
Goodbye, the action revolves around his unlikely but deepening friendship
with Terry Lennox, a war-scarred alcoholic. Terry's wife, Sylvia, is a ruthless
sexual adventuress and the daughter of reclusive, fabulously rich Harlan
Potter.Terry turns up at Marlowe's door one dawn to ask for help leaving the
country. Marlowe does it, then finds out Sylvia has been brutally murdered
and Terry is the chief suspect. He doesn't believe his friend killed her, but
he's soon distracted by another case. He's hired to tend another drunk, best-
selling writer Roger Wade, whose wife Eileen is another one of those
dangerous blondes -- perhaps the most dangerous yet.Beautifully written, The Long Goodbye is Chandler's darkest and most
haunting work.Playback (1958)
This is the least of Chandler's novels, written after his wife's death in 1954. Its plot and characters are lightweight, its ending sentimental. But it has some of the master's touches nevertheless.
Marlowe is hired to tail a classy redhead named Betty Mayfield. The job is so
easy it seems like a joke, until a lounge lizard named Larry Mitchell paws
Betty in a nightclub -- then happens to turn up dead outside her hotel room
not long afterwards.Not much happens in Playback, but it does boast some snappy repartee,
more sex than Marlowe's ever gotten before, and a stark scene describing a
junkie's suicide that is vintage Chandler.Trouble Is My Business (1939)
The Simple Art of Murder (1939)
Besides the seven novels, Chandler also published 33 short stories and novellas, which are collected in these two volumes.
Most are hard-boiled detective stories, many featuring characters who are
prototypes for Marlowe, like Sam Delaguerra in "Spanish Blood" and John
Evans in "No Crime in the Mountains." Others are experiments in other
forms, notably "Pearls Are a Nuisance," a neat little satire of the Lord Peter
Wimsey school of detective stories.The Simple Art of Murder also includes Chandler's wonderful essay of that
title, a manifesto of hard-boiled detective fiction.A Marlowe Filmography
All but one of Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels have been made into movies, some of them
more than once.
The Falcon Takes Over (1946): Based on Farewell, My Lovely. Directed by Irving Reis. Starring George Sanders as "The Falcon" (the Marlowe role).
Time to Kill (1942): Based on The High Window. Directed by Herbert Leeds. Starring Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne (the Marlowe role).
Murder, My Sweet (1944): Based on Farewell, My Lovely. Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Starring Dick Powell as Marlowe.
The Big Sleep (1946): Directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe.
Lady in the Lake (1947): Directed by and starring Robert Montgomery as Marlowe.
The Brasher Doubloon (1947): Based on The High Window. Directed by John Brahm. Starring George Montgomery as Marlowe.
Marlowe (1969): Based on The Little Sister. Directed by Paul Bogart. starring James Garner as Marlowe.
The Long Goodbye (1973): Directed by Robert Altman. Starring Elliott Gould as Marlowe.
Farewell, My Lovely (1975): Directed by Dick Richards. Starring Robert Mitchum as Marlowe.
The Big Sleep (1978): Directed by Michael Winner. Starring Robert Mitchum as Marlowe.
Books discussed in Colette's List
may be purchased at a discount from The Bookstall.
Colette's Archive
Colette's List 1: Hiaasen: Murder Under The Palms
Colette's List 2: Hall, MacDonald & More Murder
Colette's List 3: Crews: The Artist As Scar Lover
Colette's List 4: Mosley: Easy In The City Of Angels
Colette's List 5: Chandler: Trouble Is My Business
Colette's List 6: Mango, Mortal Sin & Margaritaville
Colette's List 7: A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Colette's List 8: The Inferno: James Ellroy's L.A.
Colette's List 9: Spenser Is Parker, Only Taller
Colette Bancroft, a writer known at various times in her career to date as The Goddess of the Classroom, The Empress of Haute Cuisine and The Spitball Queen, is at work on a mystery novel of her own. She is an editor on the Metro Desk at the St. Petersburg Times.
A Not Entirely Disinterested Service of
Bancroft & Associates: Digital Publishers.
