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Review by C. O. DeRiemer for Farewell My Lovely [VHS] [1944]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
This one of my favorite movies. Years ago I rented a VHS of it and made a dupe at home. The quality was lousy but I liked it and played it often, but I learned my lession about making unauthorized copies. My daughter’s puppy urinated all over the tape. This movie is so good it even survived that.
This is classic noir, with Phillip Marlowe. The plot is about stolen jade, hidden identities, blackmail, love, treachery and murder. The story is complicated, the casting is great, the photography and voice-over narration carry things along. It has style. The ending is satisfying. And the dialogue is some of the best ever written.
Powell broke through into serious roles with this film. Even in all the singing roles he had up to this movie he exuded cocky confidence, and that aspect of his personality is perfect here. As an aside, if you enjoy his singing movies, and I do, watch how he can smile naturally while singing; that’s hard.
Claire Trevor, it seems to me, almost always played bruised roses (Stagecoach, Key Largo) or rotting orchids. You cared about her because she was one of life’s losers, or you wanted to go to bed with her even knowing you might not wake up in the morning. The scene when we (and Marlowe) first meet her is just as good as the scene when MacMurray first meets Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.
Mike Mazurki as Moose Malloy is great, probably the best role he ever had. He was no actor, but he is effective and sympathetic as a slight pyscho who genuinely is in love; he’s starring in his own version of Romeo and Velma.
One of the key ingredients in making this movie work is the dialogue. Quantities of it must have been lifted verbatim from Farewell, My Lovely. When Moose talks about Velma being “cute as lace panties” the imagery is vivid. Raymond Chandler, in my view, is the best author of private eye mysteries yet. If you haven’t read him, dive in. Ross Macdonald and Hammett come close, but it’s no three-way tie.
See the movie. Read the book.
Review by for Farewell My Lovely [VHS] [1944]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
The way this story unfolds will keep you engrossed from the outset. Raymond Chandler was at the apex of his craft when this was released. If you like a story with a double and a triple cross then just keeps going then, “Farewell My Lovely”, is for you. The story is told in flashback by our anti-hero Philip Marlowe; a down on his luck Private Dectective in Los Angeles. He takes the simplest of jobs which leads him further and further into trouble and it becomes more and more difficult to back out.A true classic movie of the Genre.
Review by C. O. DeRiemer for Farewell My Lovely [VHS] [1944]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
This one of my favorite movies. Years ago I rented a VHS of it and made a dupe at home. The quality was lousy but I liked it and played it often, but I learned my lession about making unauthorized copies. My daughter’s puppy urinated all over the tape. This movie is so good it even survived that.
This is classic noir, with Phillip Marlowe. The plot is about stolen jade, hidden identities, blackmail, love, treachery and murder. The story is complicated, the casting is great, the photography and voice-over narration carry things along. It has style. The ending is satisfying. And the dialogue is some of the best ever written.
Powell broke through into serious roles with this film. Even in all the singing roles he had up to this movie he exuded cocky confidence, and that aspect of his personality is perfect here. As an aside, if you enjoy his singing movies, and I do, watch how he can smile naturally while singing; that’s hard.
Claire Trevor, it seems to me, almost always played bruised roses (Stagecoach, Key Largo) or rotting orchids. You cared about her because she was one of life’s losers, or you wanted to go to bed with her even knowing you might not wake up in the morning. The scene when we (and Marlowe) first meet her is just as good as the scene when MacMurray first meets Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.
Mike Mazurki as Moose Malloy is great, probably the best role he ever had. He was no actor, but he is effective and sympathetic as a slight pyscho who genuinely is in love; he’s starring in his own version of Romeo and Velma.
One of the key ingredients in making this movie work is the dialogue. Quantities of it must have been lifted verbatim from Farewell, My Lovely. When Moose talks about Velma being “cute as lace panties” the imagery is vivid. Raymond Chandler, in my view, is the best author of private eye mysteries yet. If you haven’t read him, dive in. Ross Macdonald and Hammett come close, but it’s no three-way tie.
See the movie. Read the book.
The DVD transfer is first rate. There’s a commentary by a fellow named Alain Silver which is adequate, and not essential to enjoying the film.