Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers,
John Ridgely, Elisha Cook Jr, Sonia Darrin, Dorothy Malone
Written by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthmann based on the novel by Raymond Chandler
Certification UK PG
Runtime 116 minutes
Directed by Howard Hawks
The success of The Maltese Falcon (1941) starring Humphrey Bogart and Hawks’ own To Have and Have Not (1944) in which Bogart and Bacall showed some genuine chemistry, provided the perfect platform for The Big Sleep (1946). Raymond Chandler’s successful novel of the same name was a ‘hard-boiled’ detective thriller in which private dick Philip Marlowe investigates a blackmail plot for the ageing General Sternwood. From there, things get a whole lot more complicated, and sensibly Hawks and his writers simplify the plot for their big screen adaptation while retaining most of the general themes.
Even though the term ‘film noir’ wasn’t in regular use until the 1960s, the 1940s provided what was to become a golden age for a golden genre. Blackmail, murder, flashback story structure, dark, smoky scenes, an uncertain hero figure, a femme fatale, voice over narration, a downbeat ending. All of these elements are present in the films of possibly the most atmospheric genre of them all. So what’s interesting is that Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep has almost none of these facets and yet is invariably described as a film noir.
Sure, it’s dark and smoky, rainy and full of murder, but there is no voice over, no femme fatale – for all her sharp wits, Bacall is no more than a little feisty – no flashback structure and no downbeat ending. This is a linear case of detection for Marlowe and although it’s by no means simple, he is almost always in control of the situations in which he finds himself. None of this is a failing of The Big Sleep; it simply means that by the ‘rules’ of film noir it doesn’t add up to a classic example of the genre.
It is, however, a classic film. The ‘whodunit’ (and to whom and why) is intriguing and ensures interest is maintained throughout the unusually long running time for the era. While the action is now more than a little archaic (at least one of the shooting victims literally goes down in instalments), it doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the film though is the script. Taking great chunks of dialogue from the source material means this is a laugh-out-loud funny film. Marlowe is acerbic, assured and at times downright hilarious – “She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up” – and his exchanges with Bacall’s Vivian fairly sizzle, the horse racing banter as racy as the Hays Code would allow back then.
Humphrey Bogart is in prime form; casual, tough, witty and as Carmen Sternwood constantly tells him, “cute”. In fact, his cuteness is one of the more amusing aspects of the film from a modern perspective, as virtually every woman he meets either flirts with him or throws herself at him. It’s not subtle but it is entertaining, even if it further undermines the idea that The Big Sleep is a film noir. But genre pigeonholing be damned – this is a cracking thriller and one to be savoured.
Check the BFI website to see where you can catch The Big Sleep in the UK this year