La pièce maudite

The late 1940's produced some of Hollywood's best film noir....Out of the Past, Murder my Sweet, The Blue Dahlia, Crossfire, The Dark Corner, Dark Passage, The Big Sleep....and the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, The Brasher Doubloon was not one of them! However, the 1947 film with George Montgomery as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, has gotten a bad rap! It has terrific atmosphere...that old mansion, the Santa Ana winds, terrific character actors and that exceptional personality - actress Florence Bates.

True, George Montgomery doesn't possess the world weariness of Humphrey Bogart or Dick Powell (both of whom played Marlowe previously), but there is a winsomeness about his character that keeps surviving the constantly battering given to him that works for the film. Nancy Guild as the young woman in distress possesses a femme fatale quality which was often found in noir films of the time...ie..Martha Vickers in 'Big Sleep', Mary Astor in 'Falcon' as well as Veronica Lake and June Duprez "Murder My Sweet".

Can't add much to what has already been said, but what this film has over some of the better known Marlowe films is some real Los Angeles location photography, which gives it a special atmosphere; the eerie Pasadena mansion with huge palm trees blowing in the wind, and a rambling old Craftsman house in the Hollywood Hills on a windy afternoon.

Among other films based on Raymond Chandler stories, "The Big Sleep," in particular, all filmed on indoor sets, has no feeling of Los Angeles at all. George Montgomery in "Brasher Doubloon" is a lightweight, but the film is fun and entertaining. Surprising that it is virtually NEVER shown on TV. I only saw it because a pal owns a 35mm print.

Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's trenchant private detective saw many incarnations on the screen big and small. Chandler like S.S. Van Dine the creator of Philo Vance sold his work to several studios and the studio cast whomever. Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep for Warner Brothers and Dick Powell in Murder My Sweet for RKO are the best known interpreters of Marlowe. George Montgomery in The Brasher Doubloon gets a short shrift from most film fans.

I don't think this is necessarily Montgomery's fault. The Brasher Doubloon was based on the Chandler story The High Window and unlike Warner Brothers and RKO this was meant to be a B film and was treated that way. I've never read the book, but I could tell a lot was left out in the treatment.

Montgomery is hired by the imperious Florence Bates to get back a valuable coin, The Brasher Doubloon which was the prize of her late husband's valuable coin collection. Upon arrival to her home, Montgomery is told in no uncertain terms that his services will not be needed by her son Conrad Janis. Janis plays this punk as well as Elisha Cook, Jr. ever did in this type of part.

Of course as he starts investigating bodies keep being strewn in his path and the police are blaming Montgomery for some if not all. The mother and son turn out to be some pieces of work.

The Brasher Doubloon has a good deal of its problems with the character Nancy Guild plays. She's Bates's secretary/companion who has issues and she really ought to be seeing a therapist rather than Philip Marlowe. Her character holds the key to the answers, but the character itself is ill defined in the script.

Maybe had The Brasher Doubloon gotten the A treatment it would be better received. As it is it's not a bad film, but not in the same league as the others mentioned.

Most reviews of this film that I have read described this film as poor. Actually it really isn't. Its just that the other 40's Phillip Marlowe films are better. George Montgomery tries hard as Marlowe, but he is a bit to young looking to be convincing as a hard boiled detective. Ideally,an actor in his thirties or forties should have been cast; old enough to have grown world weary but still young enough to woo the babes. Despite this films faults, its still worth a look and is not the dismal failure some critics have claimed it is.

In the mid-1940s Hollywood discovered Raymond Chandler: Murder, My Sweet (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) and The Lady in the Lake (1947). Also from '47, John Brahm's The Brasher Dubloon is a version of Chandler's The High Window and, unfortunately, the most disappointing of this crop. Troubles start with the running time; at 72 minutes, that's not enough time for Chandler's baroque structures to start to unfurl, unless you reduce them to mere plot (and plot is not Chandler's long suit). Second, there's George Montgomery trying to fill the shoes of Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart and the other Montgomery, Robert. He doesn't. While he's pleasant enough -- as a light leading man -- he swallows line after line of the script smoothly where a more nuanced actor would have found a whole ham sandwich to sink his teeth into. Still, there are good points here, especially in Brahm's directing. The big old mansion with its twin, massive turrets is especially ominous with the Santa Ana winds whistling outside; Florence Bates, as its owner, knows how to grande-dame it with the best; and a striking series of sinister characters take us down meaner and ever meaner streets. With a better star and a more leisurely pace, this private-eye flick could have been a contender.