Line #12 Film/MurderMySweet


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_04431.jpeg]]
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3	''Murder, My Sweet'' is a 1944 Creator/EdwardDmytryk-directed FilmNoir. It was adapted from the 1940 Literature/PhilipMarlowe novel, ''Literature/FarewellMyLovely''.
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5	Moose Malloy has just gotten out of jail, and hires detective Philip Marlowe (Creator/DickPowell) to track the {{love interest}} he lost touch with while serving time. Marlowe is also hired by a beautiful woman named Helen Grayle (Creator/ClaireTrevor) to find a stolen jade necklace. It becomes more obvious that their stories are connected as the film continues.
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7	The film was also a successful case of PlayingAgainstType for Powell, who had been known for musical comedies until this film (the film was even renamed to avoid confusion with being a musical). It allowed him to get more dramatic roles after this. He reprised the role a decade later in a television adaptation of ''Literature/TheLongGoodbye''. 31 years after this film, Chandler's novel was adapted again, as ''Film/FarewellMyLovely'' with Creator/RobertMitchum.
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10	!!Tropes used by the film:
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12	* ActorAllusion: For no other reason other than general cheerfulness, Marlowe dances a little jig when he's invited in to meet Mr. and Mrs. Grayle. This may or may not be a nod to Powell's past as a song-and-dance man.
13	* BettyAndVeronica: The classic dilemma between sexy, evil Helen and Mr. Grayle's innocent but also sexy daughter Anne (Anne Shirley, in her last role before retiring from acting at age 26).
14	* {{Chiaroscuro}}: The Grayle beach house where Marlowe meets Helen (and where the climax takes place) is lit this way.
15	* DeadpanSnarker: Powell does a great job (arguably even better than [[Film/TheBigSleep Bogart]]) in capturing how snarky Marlowe is.
16	* DistractedByTheSexy: Marlowe is too busy staring at Helen's legs to pay attention to Mr. Grayle.
17	* DoesntLikeGuns: "That's just part of my clothes. I hardly ever shoot anybody with it."
18	* DoesNotLikeMen: Anne.
19	-->"Sometimes I hate men. ALL men. Old men, young men... beautiful young men who use rosewater and... almost heels who are private detectives."
20	* FemmeFatale: Helen Grayle/[[spoiler:Velma Valento]], who seems to favor murder as the solution to all her problems.
21	* FilmNoir
22	* GoingByTheMatchBook
23	* HardboiledDetective: one of the classic examples.
24	* HeKnowsTooMuch: Helen decides this about Marlowe at the end.
25	* HowWeGotHere: The opening scene has Marlowe, who is blindfolded, being grilled by the police. He then tells the whole story in flashback.
26	* ImpairmentShot: Several elaborate ones as Marlowe is hit over the head, drugged, and otherwise roughly treated over the course of the movie. When he's knocked out he says "a black pool opened up under me", and a black outline covers up the screen in an irregular iris. When he's dazed and drugged up in the bad guy lair, a smoky filter is superimposed on the screen.
27	* InterrogationFlashback: The film is told by Philip Marlowe in flashback, as Marlowe, who has bandages over his eyes, is being interrogated by the cops. The flashbacks tell the whole story, including why Marlowe is wearing the bandages.
28	* LadyDrunk: The widow Florian, whose husband owned the club that Velma sang at, is this, severely intoxicated when Marlowe questions her. Except that he peers through the window after leaving her house, sees her on the phone, and realizes it was all an act.
29	* NothingPersonal: "It ain't personal if we don't like you, we've got a personal routine to follow after a killing."
30	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Philip only does his job for the money.
31	-->'''Philip''': Only reason I took the job was because my bank account was trying to crawl under a duck.
32	-->'''Lieutenant Randall''': You're not a detective, you're a slot machine. You'd slit your own throat for 6 bits plus tax!
33	* PhonyPsychic: Jules Amthor admits that he is this, scamming gullible society ladies.
34	* PrettyInMink: Ann wears a mink coat at the end.
35	* PrivateEyeMonologue
36	* ReallyGetsAround: Helen.
37	--> "I've gone out with other men. I find men very attractive."
38	* RecycledSoundtrack: Composer Roy Webb recycled his main theme from ''Stranger on the Third Floor''.
39	* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In the book, Ann Grayle was originally the daughter of an honest cop, but changing her to the step-daughter of Trevor's seductress helped to show the differences between the two types of women.
40	* SmokingIsCool
41	* TrophyWife: Sexy Helen Grayle, married to a much older man. Mr. Grayle later admits that he likes to pretend she would have married him even if he weren't rich.
42	* WeaponForIntimidation: Philip Marlowe carries a revolver but states that he rarely needs it.
43	-->"That's just part of my clothes. I hardly ever shoot anybody with it."

Context Film / MurderMySweet