Murder, My Sweet (1944)
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, (more)
- Director(s):
- Edward Dmytryk
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR
- Format(s):
- DVD
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Synopsis of Murder, My Sweet
One-time movie crooner Dick Powell literally turned his career around in the 1944 film noir Murder My Sweet. Powell stars as Phillip Marlowe, the hard-boiled private detective antihero created by novelist Raymond Chandler. Hired by hulking, psychotic Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki) to locate Moose's old girl friend, Marlowe is pitched headlong into a morass of intrigue and deception. The participants include duplicitous glamour-girl Claire Trevor, sodden slattern Esther Howard, suave blackmailer Otto Kruger and dyspeptic doctor Ralf Harolde. At one point, Marlowe is railroaded into a lunatic asylum, where under the influence of drugs he experiences a surrealistic nightmare the like of which would not be seen on screen again until Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). So fascinating are the "bad" characters in Murder My Sweet that the two 100% "good" characters, heroine Anne Shirley and detective Don Douglas, seem wishy-washy wimps by comparison. After years of insipid golly-gee roles, Dick Powell startled his fans with his cynical, world-weary portrayal of Philip Marlowe. The part put him back on top of the box-office tallies and enabled him to extend his acting career into the 1950s, which led to an even more lucrative "third life" as a powerful TV-studio executive. Murder My Sweet was based on Chandler's Farewell My Lovely, previously filmed in 1942 as The Falcon Takes Over; a remake, Farewell, My Lovely, was produced in 1975, with Robert Mitchum as Marlowe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 95 mins
Complete Cast of Murder, My Sweet
- Dick Powell - Philip Marlowe
- Anne Shirley - Ann Grayle
- Mike Mazurki - Moose Malloy
- Douglas Walton - Marriott
- Ralf Harolde - Dr. Sonderborg
- Ernie S. Adams - Bartender
- Lawrence Wheat - Butler
- Dewey Robinson - The Boss
- George Anderson - Detective
- Paul Hilton - Boy
- John Indrisano - Chauffeur
- Jack Carr - Short Guy
- Claire Trevor - Mrs. Grayle
- Otto Kruger - Amthor
- Miles Mander - Mr. Grayle
- Donald Douglas - Lt. Randall
- Esther Howard - Mrs. Florian
- Sam Finn - Headwaiter
- Shimen Ruskin - Elevator Operator
- Paul Phillips - Detective Nulty
- Stanley Andrews
- Donald Kerr - Taxi Driver
- Ralph Dunn - Detective
- Director(s):
- Edward Dmytryk
- Writer(s):
- John Paxton
- Producer(s):
- Adrian Scott
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR(Not For Children, Violence)
- Categories:
- Mystery & Suspense
- 1945 - Edgar Allan Poe Awards - Best Screenplay
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