Never read him until this week for the stupid reason that I already knew Marlowe from the movies. Started with The Big Sleep, which is a helluva lot nastier than I remember it being on film; the gay bashing is startling but...understandable, I guess, given the milieu. Marlowe himself is quite the sadist, too.
Where to go next? There are far fewer novels than I would have expected.
― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Saturday, 1 June 2013 04:43 (ten years ago) link
All his novels are worth your time. Playback isn't quite as good as the others but the other five are all terrific. It doesn't make any real difference but you might as well read them consecutively with Farewell My Lovely next.
Get the novels out the way before starting the short stories, though, as he reused plots frequently and there are spoilers.
― хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Saturday, 1 June 2013 05:45 (ten years ago) link
i liked playback
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Saturday, 1 June 2013 07:26 (ten years ago) link
I liked Playback too. Reading consecutively is the way to go.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 1 June 2013 09:00 (ten years ago) link
saw murder, my sweet last night. dug drugged panicky Marlowe.
love that he lives at same place as in altmans
dream/knockout/doped sequences v cool
― dn/ac (darraghmac), Friday, 30 May 2014 10:03 (nine years ago) link
lol at the wikipedia rundown clearly not having comprehended at least half of the plot
― dn/ac (darraghmac), Friday, 30 May 2014 10:06 (nine years ago) link
"Farewell My Lovely" (1975 w Robert Mitchum) is a pretty good adaptation of the same book too
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Friday, 30 May 2014 14:40 (nine years ago) link
Mike Mazurki was the perfect Moose.
John Wayne was a big Chandler reader.
― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 May 2014 14:49 (nine years ago) link
Marlowe in the novels is a tough guy, not physically a Dick Powell type, but Powell gets the sarcasm across better than Bogart did.
― Brad C., Friday, 30 May 2014 15:49 (nine years ago) link
got vol 2 of his Library of America anthology -- read his essay on screenwriting in Hollywood, which is crisp and just weary enough.
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Monday, 21 July 2014 13:52 (nine years ago) link
oh, huh. what else is in there other than the obvious?
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Monday, 21 July 2014 15:12 (nine years ago) link
some letters
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Monday, 21 July 2014 15:13 (nine years ago) link
also an essay on mystery writing
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Monday, 21 July 2014 15:14 (nine years ago) link
And the screenplay to Double Indemnity, et al.
― You are exactly why people root for the apes (Eric H.), Monday, 21 July 2014 15:24 (nine years ago) link
https://slate.com/culture/2018/07/raymond-chandler-in-the-age-of-metoo.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_ru
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 9 July 2018 18:21 (five years ago) link
oo, megan abbott!
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Tuesday, 10 July 2018 03:31 (five years ago) link
i think i heard about megan abbott via some ILX thread, and I've really enjoyed her stuff so far!i just randomly watched the late 70s remake of the Big Sleep starring Mitchum (and a Jimmy Stewart cameo!) — thought at the very least I'd be getting some good late 70s Los Angeles vibes, but it was set (for no apparent reason) in London. Weird. Wouldn't say it was a lost classic by any means, but Mitchum is definitely a pleasure.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 14:59 (five years ago) link
The Mitchum Big Sleep was financed by Lew Grade's British production company ITC, and directed by Englishman Michael Winner, so I'm guessing the relocation to London was mainly for budgetary reasons.
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 15:30 (five years ago) link
never read a good word about that one
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 10 July 2018 15:36 (five years ago) link
really odd how three years before Mitchum played Marlowe in the 1941-set Farewell My Lovely (which is very good iirc) and then hops in a time machine and a plane to tackle a case in London.
― omar little, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 15:38 (five years ago) link
i saw The Big Sleep a long time ago, caught some of it on TV. It seemed extremely inessential, to say the least. Mitchum at least was comfortably solid in the role. Better in FML.
― omar little, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 15:39 (five years ago) link
it's funny, because they even try to retcon marlowe into London — he says he's been there since "the war" or something.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 15:48 (five years ago) link
I think Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes also wound up in the middle of WWII in his film series
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 10 July 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link
He was battling Nazis in at least one film, England recruited everyone in their darkest hour.
― omar little, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 16:33 (five years ago) link
His Encore
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link