Raymond Chandler and Film

232 Pages·1982·11.823 MB·English

by  William Luhr

William Luhr
Raymond Chandler
and Film
When in 1943 Chandler first entered
Billy Wilder’s office to begin collabor­
ation on the script for Double Indem­
nity (1944), he knew little about the
film industry and less about screen­
writing. His first draft was literally
hurled back at him: “This is s----, Mr.
Chandler.” He began again. The final
script was nominated for an Academy
Award.
Success came quickly to Chandler,
though during his turbulent years in
Hollywood he was to receive screen
credit for only five films— among them
The Blue Dahlia (1946) and Strangers
on a Train (1951). His screenplays, his
fiction, and the films based on that fic­
tion rapidly became associated with
a style that French critics were to bap­
tize film noir. Before the Forties were
over, there were six films based upon
his novels and they included such
now recognized classics as Edward
Dmytryk’s Murder, My Sweet (1944),
Howard Hawks’s The Big Sleep (1946)
— scripted in part by William Faulkner
— and Robert Montgomery’s Lady in
the Lake (1947).
In the years that followed, new film­
makers were drawn to Chandler’s
seven novels as source material. Now
in the Eighties it seems likely that we
will see new screen reinterpretations
of Chandler’s special and instantly
recognizable world.
continued on back flap

RAYMOND CHANDLER AND FILM
Ungar Film Library
Stanley Hochman, general editor
Academy Awards: An Ungar Reference Index
Edited by Richard Shale
American History/American Film: Interpreting the Hollywood Image
Edited by John E. O’Connor and Martin E. Jackson
America's Favorite Movies: Behind the Scenes/Rudy Bchlmcr
The Classic American Xovel and the Movies
Edited by Gerald Peary and Roger Shatzkin
Costume Design in the A/oi/es/Elizabeth Leese
The English Novel and the iY/ocies/Edited by Michael Klein and Gillian
Parker
Faulkner and Film/Bruce F. Kaxvin
Fellini the Artist/Edward Murray
Film Study Collections: A Guide to Their Development and Use
Nancy Allen
French Cinema of the Occupation and Resistance: The Birth of a Critical
Esthetic/Andre Bazin
From Quasimodo to Scarlett O’Hara: A National Board of Review
Anthology (1920-1940//Edited by Stanley Hochman
Hemingway and Film/Gene D. Phillips
Hitchcock/Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol
Hollywood’s Image of the Jew/Lester D. Friedman
The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival/David Stratton
Loser Take All: The Comic Art of Woody Allen!Maurice Yacowar
The Modern American Novel and the Movies
Edited by Gerald Peary and Roger Shatzkin
Modern European Filmmakers and the Art of Adaptation
Edited by Andrew Horton and Joan Magretta
On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties
Brandon French
Raymond Chandler and Fi/m/William Luhr
Saint Cinema: Writings on Film, 1929-1970/Herman G. Weinberg
Ten Film C/cmics/Edward Murray
Tennessee Williams and Fi/m/Maurice Yacowar
Other Film Books
The Age of the American Novel: The Film Aesthetic of Fiction between
the Two WVir.s/Claude-Edmonde Magny
The Cinematic Imagination: Writers and the Motion Pictures
Edward Murray
A Library of Film Criticism: American Film Director
Edited by Stanley Hockinan
Nine American Film Critics-/Edward Murray
RAYMOND CHANDLER
AND FILM
WILLIAM LIHR
With photographs
FREDERICK UNCAR FUBEISHINC CO.
New York
Copyright © 1982 by Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Luhr, William.
Raymond Chandler and film.
Filmography: p.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Chandler, Raymond, 1888-1959—Moving-picture
plays. 2. Chandler, Raymond, 1888-1959—Film adapta­
tions. 3. Detective and mystery films—History and criti­
cism. I. Title.
PS3505. H3224Z69 812'.52 81-70115
ISBN 0-8044-2556-6 AACR2
ISBN 0-8044-6447-2 (pbk.)
For Judy