The Big Sleep (1946)

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

William Faulkner (screenplay) &
Leigh Brackett (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

31 August 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The type of man she hated . . . was the type she wanted !

Plot:

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.

Plot Keywords:

Traffic | Stylized | Sexual Attraction | Betrayal | Book

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Philip Marlowe
Lauren Bacall	...	Vivian Sternwood Rutledge
John Ridgely	...	Eddie Mars
Martha Vickers	...	Carmen Sternwood
Dorothy Malone	...	Acme Bookstore proprietress
Peggy Knudsen	...	Mona Mars
Regis Toomey	...	Chief Insp. Bernie Ohls (District Attorney's Office)
Charles Waldron	...	Gen. Sternwood
Charles D. Brown	...	Norris (Sternwood's butler)
Bob Steele	...	Lash Canino
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Harry Jones
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Joe Brody
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pat Clark	...	Mona Mars (scenes deleted)
James Flavin	...	Capt. Cronjager (scenes deleted)
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Dist. Atty. White (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Grand sommeil, Le (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Tote schlafen fest (Austria) (Germany) [de]
À Beira do Abismo (Portugal) [pt]
Al borde del abismo (Argentina) [es]
Büyük uyku (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Birlesen kalpler (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Diepe slaap, De (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Djupa sömnen, Den (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Gran dormida, La (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Gran sueño, El (Mexico) [es]
Grande sonno, Il (Italy) [it]
Hluboký spánek (Czech Republic) (TV title) [cs]
Pathos kai aima (Greece) [el]
Sternwood mysteriet (Denmark) [da]
Sueño eterno, El (Spain) [es]
Syvä uni (Finland) [fi]
Tiefe Schlaf, Der (Austria) (TV title) [de]
Utpressning (Sweden) [sv]
Veliki san (Serbia) [sr]

Runtime:

114 min | 116 min (pre-release version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Canada:14A (video rating) | Chile:18 | Finland:(Banned) (1947-1949) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 (1961) | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #10625) | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The fussy persona that Marlowe adopts upon arriving in Geiger's bookstore has been a subject of argument for years; Lauren Bacall said that Humphrey Bogart came up with it while Howard Hawks claimed in interviews that it was his idea. What both of them failed to notice is that it was in the original book ("I had my horn-rimmed glasses on. I put my voice high and let a bird twitter in it."); all Bogart did was elaborate on it.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Marlowe returns to his apartment after taking Carmen home from Geiger's house, there is a tight shot of his (Marlowe's) front door, on which there is a bracket holding a card that reads "Philip Marlowe - Private Investigator" and "206" in large numbers. When he opens the door to the apartment and the shot changes to a wide one, the number has disappeared.

Quotes:

Carmen Sternwood: Is he as cute as you are?
Philip Marlowe: Nobody is.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Down by the Riverside (2007)

Soundtrack:

And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine

Classic Bogart-Bacall melodrama from Raymond Chandler novel...

I take exception to something that previous commentator David R. Baker of Missouri makes in reference to film music. He states: "The 1940s was not a great era for film music which makes Max Steiner's brooding score even more impressive." HE'S GOT TO BE KIDDING! Did he ever hear of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, Miklos Rozsa and Aaron Copland, all of whom did their best work in the 1940s? And Max Steiner himself was responsible for such outstanding scores as those for 'Casablanca', 'Now, Voyager', 'Johnny Belinda' and 'The Letter'. The others had a hand in 'The Song of Bernadette', 'The Sea Hawk', 'Citizen Kane', 'The Heiress', 'The Lost Weekend' and 'Spellbound', among many others. In fact, the 1940s is often referred to as The Golden Age of Film Composers. And another mistake, Bogey is Philip Marlowe--not Christopher Marlowe.

As for 'The Big Sleep', I agree, Max Steiner's score was an important ingredient. So are the quirky characters, including actresses Dorothy Malone (as an oversexed bookstore owner who seduces Bogey on a rainy day afternoon) and Martha Vickers as the thumb-sucking sister of Bacall, a nymphomaniac, whom Marlowe refers to as having tried to sit on his lap while he was standing up--just one of the punchy lines in the witty script. Confusion abounds everywhere in the plot that's as full of holes as swiss cheese--but who cares? It's all done in mock-serious style with the usual Warner Bros. finesse in black and white cinematography. Only jarring note is the script's insistence that every female in the cast sees Bogey as a sex symbol--something even Bogart would have found amusing since he never considered himself that much of a looker. He makes Philip Marlowe a believable enough character and the part fits him like a glove. After the preview, the studio added additional Bogart-Bacall scenes of hanky panky to give the film an added zing. It works!