It's all in subjective shot, seen through the eyes of Philip Marlowe as he tries to find a missing woman. We never see him except when he looks in a mirror. I suppose it made it hard for them to edit scenes since everything's a continuous shot, the camera moving slowly. Sometimes his hand comes into the frame. The gimmick just didn't work very well. It didn't make it realistic. Robert Montgomery's performance, mostly voice-over, was one-note.
A Christmas Noir on the Criterion Channel. The story begins a couple of days before the holiday and ends Xmas morning.
I liked the Southern gigolo. But the whole thing was people looking directly into the camera as they talk to the detective. In one scene, he stares at a closed door as he talks on the phone. The bits of violence don't work very well.
Robert Mongomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan.
An hour and forty-five minutes.
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