After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
- Awards
- 1 win
Donald Douglas
- Police Lt. Randall
- (as Don Douglas)
Ernie Adams
- Bartender at 'Florian's'
- (uncredited)
Bernice Ahi
- Dancer at the 'Cocoanut Beach Club'
- (uncredited)
George Anderson
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Edward Biby
- Club Patron
- (uncredited)
Jack Carr
- Dr. Sonderborg's Assistant
- (uncredited)
Tom Coleman
- Police Clerk
- (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Sam Finn
- Headwaiter
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFor the scene in which Marlowe is drugged, Edward Dmytryk showed Dick Powell falling through a sea of faces. He borrowed a trick from Saboteur (1942) by having the camera pull back from the actor to make it seem like he was falling. He also had the camera accelerate as it pulled back, to intensify the horror.
- GoofsWhen Marlowe leaves the car to look for the person for the payoff, he draws his gun from his left pocket with his left hand and then replaces it in his left pocket. After he is sapped and wakes up, he draws it from his right pocket with his right hand. Later, when the police interrogation ends, he cleans up and he has an empty shoulder holster on his left shoulder and then puts his pistol in the holster as he leaves.
- Quotes
Philip Marlowe: She was a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud. I gave her a drink. She was a gal who'd take a drink, if she had to knock you down to get the bottle.
- Alternate versionsExists in color-computerized version.
- ConnectionsEdited into American Cinema: Film Noir (1995)
Featured review
Private dick Phil Marlowe is hired by a "paltry, foppish man" to accompany him on a midnight assignation. What follows is a glorious piece of Chandleriana, a ganglion of a plot involving a jade necklace, a jailbird who carries a torch for a showgirl, a "big-league blonde" with a rich old husband and an eye for private eyes, and more narrative twists and turns than a Restoration comedy on acid.
Will Moose be reunited with Velma? Who's the brunette in the gulch? What is Anthor's precise relationship with Marriott? How many more times can Marlowe get slugged from behind without having his skull disintegrate?
Golden tenor Dick Powell may not be the obvious choice to play Marlowe, but in fact he turns in THE definitive performance. Chandler once defined the ideal hero in one of his essays as a special man, but at the same time a man of the people. Not amazingly bright, subject to bouts of confusion and wrong-headed wilfulness, but for all that a tough, decent, dry-humoured guy who just happens to be as sexy as hell. Powell delivers.
Watch out for a remarkable dream sequence after Marlowe is forcibly injected with heroin (yes, heroin). Expressionist cinema was never as evocative as here!
All in all, the film is an example of a genre captured at its apex - "like lighting a stick of dynamite, and telling it not to go off"!
Will Moose be reunited with Velma? Who's the brunette in the gulch? What is Anthor's precise relationship with Marriott? How many more times can Marlowe get slugged from behind without having his skull disintegrate?
Golden tenor Dick Powell may not be the obvious choice to play Marlowe, but in fact he turns in THE definitive performance. Chandler once defined the ideal hero in one of his essays as a special man, but at the same time a man of the people. Not amazingly bright, subject to bouts of confusion and wrong-headed wilfulness, but for all that a tough, decent, dry-humoured guy who just happens to be as sexy as hell. Powell delivers.
Watch out for a remarkable dream sequence after Marlowe is forcibly injected with heroin (yes, heroin). Expressionist cinema was never as evocative as here!
All in all, the film is an example of a genre captured at its apex - "like lighting a stick of dynamite, and telling it not to go off"!
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- El enigma del collar
- Filming locations
- Sunset Tower Hotel - 8358 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, California, USA(apartment of Jules Amthor)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $400,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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