Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 Edward Dmytryk-directed
Film Noir. It was adapted from the 1940
Philip Marlowe novel,
Farewell, My Lovely.
Moose Malloy has just gotten out of jail, and hires detective Philip Marlowe to track the
love interest he lost touch with while serving time. He is also hired by a beautiful woman named Clare Trevor to find a stolen jade necklace. It becomes more obvious that their stories are connected as the film continues.
Tropes used by the film:
- Deadpan Snarker: Powell does a great job (arguably even better than Bogart) in capturing how snarky Marlowe is.
- Doesn't Like Guns: "That's just part of my clothes. I hardly ever shoot anybody with it."
- Does Not Like Men: Anne.
"Sometimes I hate men. ALL men. Old men, young men... beautiful young men who use rosewater and... almost heels who are private detectives."
- Femme Fatale: Helen Grayle/Velma Valento
- Fiery Redhead: Helen Grayle/Velma Valento
- Film Noir
- Going By The Match Book
- Hardboiled Detective: one of the classic examples.
- Nothing Personal: "It ain't personal if we don't like you, we've got a personal routine to follow after a killing."
- Only in It for the Money: Philip only does his job for the money.
Philip: Only reason I took the job was because my bank account was trying to crawl under a duck.
Lieutenant Randall: You're not a detective, you're a slot machine. You'd slit your own throat for 6 bits plus tax!
- Pretty in Mink: Ann wears a mink coat at the end.
- Private Eye Monologue
- Smoking Is Cool
- Tom Hanks Syndrome: Prior to this movie, Dick Powell had only been in lighthearted musicals.
- Viewers Are Morons: The reason for the title change was on account of a belief that audiences would assume a film called Farewell My Lovely with Dick Powell was a musical. Including the word murder in the title was to clue audiences in that it was a mystery.
- Weapon For Intimidation: Philip Marlowe carries a revolver but states that he rarely needs it.
"That's just part of my clothes. I hardly ever shoot anybody with it."
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