Lady in the Lake (1947)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Robert Montgomery

Writers:

Steve Fisher (screenplay)
Raymond Chandler (novel)

Release Date:

14 April 1947 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

Another Sizzling Murder Mystery by RAYMOND CHANDLER!

Plot:

The camera shows Phillip Marlowe's view from the first-person in this adaptation of Raymond Chandler's book...

Plot Keywords:

Publisher | First Person | Detective | Automobile Chase | First Person Camera

Cast

Robert Montgomery	...	Phillip Marlowe
Audrey Totter	...	Adrienne Fromsett
Lloyd Nolan	...	Lt. DeGarmot
Tom Tully	...	Capt. Kane
Leon Ames	...	Derace Kingsby
Jayne Meadows	...	Mildred Haveland aka Muriel Chess
Dick Simmons	...	Chris Lavery
Morris Ankrum	...	Eugene Grayson
Lila Leeds	...	Receptionist
William Roberts	...	Artist
Kathleen Lockhart	...	Mrs. Grayson
Ellay Mort	...	Chrystal Kingsby

Also Known As:

A Dama do Lago (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
La dame du lac (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
De dame van het meer (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Die Dame im See (Germany) [de]
Kvinnan i sjön (Sweden) [sv]
La dama del lago (Spain) [es]
Nainen järvessä (Finland) [fi]
Una donna nel lago (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #11803)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The entire movie plot unfolds from lead Robert Montgomery's point of view, thus creating a rarity in film: the principal character is never seen on-screen except as a reflection in mirrors and windows.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Lieutenant DeGarmot is punched and he hits the floor, we can see the taped marks on the floor used for the actors.

Quotes:

Derris Kingsby: Mr. Marlowe, may I speak to you?
Philip Marlowe: Why not? Everybody's been speaking to me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hold Your Breath and Cross Your Fingers: The Story of 'Dark Passage' (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Teacher, a gimmick ate my movie!

The first-person perspective could be viewed as a brave experiment or a case-study of why nobody EVER makes movies this way. Three points:

1) In a movie, we like to see the main character reacting.

2) Actors look self-conscious when endlessly talking to a camera.

3) The lack of edits makes many scenes tedious.

Still, you can admire how hard all this was to stage and shoot, in a age when cameras weighed a ton, made too much noise and nobody owned a Steadicam. Reminds me of the kind of crazy gimmicks Hitchcock sometimes tried but Hitch would have never let the train go this far off the tracks.