Murder
Cats: Thriller/Suspense|During the war, World War two that is, Dick Powell shed his Busby Berkley young male lead sheen and got butch and manly. The transformation seemed to happen overnight. Playing Philip Marlow certainly helped create his new image. No more shuffling off to Buffalo.
This is an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely. According to one story I read, the title was changed because the studio (RKO)thought the name sounded too much like a musical picture for which Mr. Powell was already known for. Very few musicals have “murder” in the title. In this picture Philip Marlowe is hired by a large two bit thug named Moose Malloy. His moniker aptly applies. Moose wants Marlowe to track down his girlfriend Velma who he hasn’t seen in 6 years, he was in the big house for 7. As Marlowe starts to put the pieces together people start dropping like flies. It seems that finding this Velma may be the kiss of death.
Great dialogue (they don’t write them like this anymore - or is it people don’t talk that way anymore), great direction from Edward Dmytryk (who would later go to jail as one of the infamous Hollywood Ten) and great acting. The always marvelous Claire Trevor and of course Dick Powell is tremendous in the role. Safe for the kids.
8:00 PM on Wednesday October 29th on Turner Classic Movies
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:40 pm
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