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The "Lady" and the Story Seem A little Wet, Jun 2 2004
The 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film "Rear Window" showed us a murder through the eyes of Jimmy Stewart. Throughout the entire movie we only saw what Stewart saw, this added to the suspense the film tried to create. I personally liked the gimmick, but it seems Robert Montgomery (who does double duty as the film's director) beat him to the punch. Only I'm not sure it was a device that needed to be used. "The Lady in the Lake" has Robert Montgomery playing Raymond Chandler's famous detective Philip Marlowe, and we go through over all the steps Marlowe has as the story is told in flashback form. First of all I don't think Montgomery was correct for the role, or maybe he was but I dislike his interpretation. I find he did comedy quite well watch Noel Coward's "Private Lives" and "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" though here he seems a little stiff. Not exactly comfortable with the role. As I said the main problem I have with the film is the gimmick used of us basically playing the character ourselves. It's clever but it doesn't really add anything to the film. It could have been told in a conventional manner and still worked. And who knows, it could have been a better film. Robert Montgomery directed 6 films, one of them he went uncredited for, and it just so happens that one is probably his most famous film as director, John Ford's "They Were Expendable". I haven't seen any other film he's directed, but I wasn't terribly impressed. What makes this film memorable, if it is memorable, is not the directing, the acting, the script, or anything else, its mainly the camera device used. "The Lady in the Lake" is an OK film. I don't think it's one of the great detective stories of Hollywood's Golden Age, and I don't think Montgomery made a great Marlowe. This film made me watch to watch Bogart in "The Big Sleep" I film I prefer over this one. Bottom-line: Decent detective story based on Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe character. The movie's gimmick gets in the way though and prevents it from becoming a better movie. Some of the acting, especially the performances by Audrey Totter and Montgomery seem stiff and in the case of Totter she seems to be over acting at moments. Not one of my favorites.
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YOU Share the Viewpoint of the Crankiest Marlowe in Cinema!, Mar 23 2004
Drawing on his life of crimefighting to write a short story, Raymond Chandler's tough but noble P.I. Philip Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) submits his work to Kingsby Publications, home of such pulp fiction mags as LURID DETECTIVE and MURDER MASTERPIECES. Before he can say "byline," editor Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter) has Marlowe up to his neck in murder, missing dames, and crooked cops -- and you can see things Marlowe's way, literally! Before all those slasher movies came along during the last couple of decades, LADY IN THE LAKE used the subjective camera treatment -- hell, the camera was practically a character in the flick! Throughout most of LADY..., we see everything exactly as Marlowe sees it; the only times we see Marlowe/Montgomery's face is when he looks in a mirror, as well as in a brief prologue, an entrè-acte segment, and an epilogue. MGM's publicity department did its best to push it as the first interactive movie experience: "MGM presents a Revolutionary motion picture; the most amazing since Talkies began! YOU and ROBERT MONTGOMERY solve a murder mystery together! YOU accept an invitation to a blonde's apartment! YOU get socked in the jaw by a murder suspect!" YOU occasionally start snickering in spite of yourself when the subjective camera gimmick teeters dangerously close to parodying itself, like when Totter moves in for a smooch with Our Hero The Camera. Some of Totter's facial expressions in the first half of the film as she spars verbally with Montgomery are pretty funny, too, though I'm not sure all of them were meant to be (she uses the arched eyebrow technique done so much more effectively later by CQ's Angela Lindvall, Eunice Gayson of DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, The Rock, et al... :-). Having said that, the subjective camera technique works more often than not; in particular, I thought the fight scenes and a harrowing sequence where an injured Marlowe crawls out of his wrecked car worked beautifully. It helps that Steve Fisher provided a good solid screenplay for Raymond Chandler's novel, though Chandler purists were annoyed that the novel's pivotal Little Fawn Lake sequence was relegated to a speech in the recap scene in the middle (apparently they tried to film that scene on location, but the subjective camera treatment proved harder to do in the great outdoors, so they gave up). The performances are quite good overall, including Lloyd Nolan as a dirty cop and an intense dramatic turn by young Jayne Meadows. Montgomery's sardonic snap mostly works well for cynical Marlowe, though he sometimes forgets to tone it down during tender dialogue, making him sound simply cranky. Totter eventually tones down her mugging and becomes genuinely affecting as her Adrienne lets down her guard and begins falling for Marlowe. You may love or hate this LADY..., but if you enjoy mysteries and you're intrigued by offbeat moviemaking techniques, give her a try!
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Must to Avoid, Mar 11 2004
I'm giving this film one star because I can't give it fewer -- the Amazon servers won't let me. This is possibly the worst detective film ever. My big fear is that someone unfamiliar with Film Noir and/or Raymond Chandler will see this and think that this is what it's all about. The objective camera "experiment" is fun for about 30 seconds -- long enough to realize Robert Montgomery dosen't have what it takes to play Phillip Marlowe. From there it's downhill. "The Lady in the Lake" is my favorite Chandler novel...it deserved so much better than this.If you happen to have this film and 1945's brilliant Dick Powell film "Murder My Sweet," I'd advise you to watch "Murder" twice instead of watching them both.
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