Raymond Chandler's "The Lady in the Lake" is a fine novel. It also was made into a really interesting film.
The 1946 movie version, directed by and starring Robert Montgomery, was an interesting experiment: the film was shot from the narrator's point of view - that is, the camera itself played the role of detective Philip Marlowe; it was only when "he" looked into a mirror that you would see Montgomery's face. Audrey Totter played the female lead, and there were a lot of familiar faces in the cast - people like Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames and Jayne Meadows.
I haven't seen the movie in years, but I checked other reviews online and they assure me that my memory is correct: a lot of the dialogue is taken directly from the book, the cast is very good and the first person point-of-view really does work pretty well. If you like late-40s noir movies, you might want to try to get hold of a copy.
Loved this movie though I'm not a big Robert Montgomery fan. Liked him in this though and the whole camera gimmick thing. Audrey Totter. Was there ever a more hard-bitten dame? Well, maybe Gloria Graham.
Posted by: Yvette | November 10, 2010 at 07:03 PM