Philip Marlowe
in Film, Radio and Television
Back to PHILIP
MARLOWE
Back to RAYMOND CHANDLER
Powell was turned down for the lead in Double Indemnity (Paramount, 1944) because director, Billy Wilder thought the public would never buy Powell as anything but a lightweight song-and-dance man. But Powell nabbed the role of Marlowe in 1944's Murder,
My Sweet and never looked back. In fact, Powell's previous
image actually may have helped since nobody had great expectations.
William K. Everson, in his book, The Detective in Film, suggests that " Powell -- because the realistic conception of the private eye was relatively new, and because Powell was totally new to it -- became Marlowe far more easily than Bogart [in The Big Sleep (Warner Bros., 1946)], who had several other competing images working against him: the gangster image, Sam Spade, Rick from Casablanca. Powell tossed off the tired, contemptuous, yet biting Raymond Chandler wisecracks and insults with superbly underplayed style."
But after the wild success of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in Howard Hawks' To Have Or Have Not, Warner Bros. was hot for another hit featuring the dynamic duo. Hawks told Warners he would need $50,000 to buy a story he was sure would be anoither smash, something tough yet romantic enough to capitalize on ther obvious chemistry between the two stars. That story was Chandler's The Big Sleep.
But only $5,000 went to Chandler -- the rest went to Hawks.
Still, Hawks certainly earned his cut. By the time it was released,
after numerous rewrites (and even going back and re-shooting key
scenes almost a year later), Chandler's dark existential stroll
down the mean streets seen through the eyes of a world-weary detective
had turned into a cheeky, sexy romp through LA, following a P.I.
who spent most of his time flirting with man-hungry females.
After the one-two punch of Murder, My Sweet and The Big Sleep, films featuring Marlowe have been a decidedly mixed bag, ranging from the sublime (1975's Farewell, My Lovely) starring a decidedly too-old-but-powerful Robert Mitchum to the ridiculous (1947's Lady in the Lake, a pretentious piece of mangled film-making utilized subjective camera, directed by and starring Robert Montgomry, the worst Marlowe ever). By comparison, such creative re-interpretations as 1969's Marlowe, 1973's The Long Goodbye directed by Robert Altman and with Elliot Gould as a half-stoned slacker and 1978's huh? remake of The Big Sleep with a half-awake Mitchum fumbling around London, England don't seem so bad.
FILM
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RADIO
Dick Powell reprised his role as Marlowe in a radio adaptation
of Murder, My Sweet for Lux Radio Theatre in 1945.
It was a toned-down but nevertheless successful version of the
Chandler novel. This makes Powell the first radio Marlowe. He
later went on to become radio's Richard
Diamond.
Two years later, NBC produced PHILIP MARLOWE as a summer replacement series for the Bob Hope Show. It featured several adaptations of Chandler short stories, but was considered too talky and slow-moving. Erle Stanley Gardner, in a letter to Chandler, confided he found it all rather difficult to follow. But the CBS series, THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP MARLOWE, that followed the next year, really clicked.
After a three episode trial run on THE PEPSODENT PROGRAM in September of 1947 with Van Hefflin in the title role, THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP MARLOWE premiered as a weekly series on September 26, 1948. It was well-produced, less introspective than the books or the previous series on NBC, but it had a secret weapon. Gerald Mohr excelled as Marlowe, and his snappy delivery, coupled with well-written stories and intriguing characters makes for entertaining listening. By 1949 the show was pulling the biggest audience on American radio, with a rating of 10.3 million listeners.In 1950, Radio and Television Life Magazine named Gerald Mohr as the Best Male Actor on radio.
"And it had the best hard-boiled opening lines of any radio detectives series," according to faithful contributor and OTR fan Stewart Wright. "It has to be heard to be fully appreciated...
"Get this and get it straight! Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave. There's no other way, but they never learn."
I once used it as the voice mail message on my work phone and people called just to hear it. When I got back, I had lots of blank messages.".
Finally, in 1977, the BBC had a whack at Marlowe, producing several full-length adaptations that, from all reports, are very very good, indeed. Raymond would have been pleased...
- "Red Wind"
- "Trouble is My Busines"
- "The King in Yellow".....
- "The Red Wind" (September 26, 1948)
- "The Persian Slippers" (October 3, 1948)
- "The Panama Hat" (October 10, 1948)
- "Where There's a Will" (October 17, 1948)
- "The Heart of Gold" (October 24, 1948)
- "Unknown" (October 31, 1948)
- "Unknown" (November 7, 1948)
- "Unknown" (November 14, 1948)
- "Unknown" (November 21, 1948)
- "The Hard Way Out" (November 28, 1948)
- "Unknown" (December 5, 1948)
- "Unknown" (December 12, 1948)
- "Unknown" (December 19, 1948)
- "The Old Acquaintance" (December 26, 1948)
- "Unknown" (January 2, 1949)
- "The Restless Day" (January 9, 1949)
- "The Black Halo" (January 15, 1949)
- "The Orange Dog" (January 22, 1949)
- "Unknown" (January 29, 1949)
- "Unknown" (February 5, 1949)
- "The Lonesome Reunion" (February 12, 1949)
- "Unknown" (February 19, 1949)
- "Unknown" (February 26, 1949)
- "The Friend From Detroit" (March 5, 1949)
- "The Grim Hunters, The" (March 12, 1949)
- "The Dancing Hands" (March 19, 1949)
- "The Green Flame" (March 26, 1949)
- "The Last Laugh" (April 2, 1949)
- "The Name to Remember" (April 9, 1949)
- "The Heat Wave" (April 16, 1949)
- "The Cloak of Kamehameha" (April 23, 1949)
- "The Lady in Mink" (April 30, 1949)
- "The Feminine Touch" May 7, 1949)
- "The Promise to Pay" (May 14, 1949)
- "The Night Tide" (May 21, 1949)
- "The Ebony Link" (May 28, 1949)
- "The Unfair Lady" (June 4, 1949)
- "The Pigeon's Blood" (June 11, 1949)
- "The Busy Body" (June 18, 1949)
- "The Key Man" (June 25, 1949)
- "The Dude from Manhattan" (July 2, 1949)
- "Unknown" (July 9, 1949)
- "The Headless Peacock" (July 16, 1949)
- "Unknown" (July 23, 1949)
- "Unknown" (July 30, 1949)
- "The August Lion" (August 6, 1949)
- "The Indian Giver" (August 13, 1949)
- "The Lady Killer" (August 20, 1949)
- "The Eager Witness" (August 27, 1949)
- "The Bum's Rush" (September 3, 1949)
- "The Rustin Hickory" (September 10, 1949)
- "The Baton Sinister" (September 17, 1949)
- "The Fatted Calf" (September 24, 1949)
- "The Tale of the Mermaid" (October 1, 1949)
- "The Open Window" (October 8, 1949)
- "Unknown" (October 15, 1949)
- "Unknown" (October 22, 1949)
- "Unknown" (October 29, 1949)
- "Unknown" (November 5, 1949)
- "Unknown" (November 12, 1949)
- "Unknown" (November 19, 1949)
- "Birds on the Wing" (November 26, 1949)
- "Kid on the Corner" (December 3, 1949)
- "Unknown" (December 10, 1949)
- "Unknown" (December 17, 1949)
- "Unknown" (December 24, 1949)
- "Unknown" (December 31, 1949)
- "The Torch Carriers" (January 7, 1950)
- "The Covered Bridge" (January 14, 1950)
- "The Bid for Freedom" (January 21, 1950)
- "The Hair Pin Turn" (January 28, 1950)
- "The Long Arm" (February 7, 1950)
- "The Grim Echo" (February 14, 1950)
- "The Ladies Night" (February 21, 1950)
- "The Big Step" (February 28, 1950)
- "The Monkey's Uncle" (March 7, 1950)
- "The Vital Statistic" (March 14, 1950)
- "The Deep Shadow" (March 21, 1950)
- "The Sword of Cebu" (March 28, 1950)
- "The Man on the Roof" (April 4, 1950)
- "The Anniversary Gift" (April 11, 1950); William Conrad guests as Marlowe)
- "The Angry Eagle" (April 18, 1950)
- "The High Collared Cape" (April 25, 1950)
- "The Seahorse Jockey" (May 2, 1950)
- "The Hiding Place" (May 9, 1950)
- "The Cloak of Kamehameha" (May 16, 1950)
- "The Foxes Tail" (May 23, 1950)
- "The Bedside Manners" (May 30, 1950)
- "The Uneasy Head" (June 6, 1950)
- "The Face to Forget" (June 14, 1950)
- "The Gold Cobra" (June 21, 1950)
- "The Pelican's Roost" (June 28, 1950)
- "The Girl from Pitchfork Corners" (July 5, 1950)
- "The Iron Coffin" (July 12, 1950)
- "The Last Wish" (July 19, 1950)
- "The Glass Donkey" (July 28, 1950)
- "Unknown" (August 4, 1950)
- "The Quiet Magpie" (August 411, 1950)
- "The Dark Tunnel" (August 418, 1950)
- "The Collector's Item" (August 425, 1950)
- "The Soft Spot" (September 1, 1950)
- "The Fifth Mask" (September 8, 1950)
- "The Final Payment" (September 15, 1950)
- "The White Carnation" (September 22, 1950)
- "The Big Book" (September 29, 1950)
- "The Seaside Sabbatical" (July 7, 1951)
- "Dear Dead Days" (July 14, 1951) ...Listen to it free!
- "Life Can be Murder" (July 21, 1951)
- "The Good Neighbor Policy" (July 28, 1951)
- "The Long Way Home" (August 4, 1951)
- "Unknown" (August 11, 1951)
- "Young Man's Fancy" (August 18, 1951)
- "Unknown" (August 25, 1951)
- "Unknown" (September 1, 1951)
- "Unknown" (September 8, 1951)
- "The Sound and the Unsound" (September 15, 1951; Mohr gave signoff)..
- "The Big Sleep" (September26, 1977)....Buy this on CD
- "The High Window" (October 17, 1977)....Buy this on CD
- "The Lady in the Lake" (November 7, 1977)....Buy this on CD
- "The Little Sister" (January 16, 1978)....Buy this on CD
- "Farewell My Lovely" (July 23, 1988)....Buy this on CD
Some of the CD versions of this episode also include a 1958 conversation between Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming recorded for the BBC Home Service.
Marlowe made his
television debut, played by Dick Powell, in an adaptation of The
Long Goodbye, on the anthonology series Climax in the 1950's.
By most accounts, it was a very good production, and was even
featured on that week's TV Guide cover, with a close-up of Powell
as Marlowe in a clench with co-star Teresa Wright. But that's
about all I know about this one.
There's not a whole lot of available information, either, on the first video series featuring of Chandler's sleuth, PHILIP MARLOWE, which ran for 26 episodes from 1959-60 on ABC, and no memorable stories about it to make it stand out. Philip Carey, a big, tough and usually watchable actor, would seem to have been a decent choice to play Marlowe in 1959. Carey's Marlowe differed from the books in at least two (and probably more) ways in that he sported a scar on one cheek and apparently had a marina apartment and his own boat. The latter two changes prompted Time Magazine, in an article on the glut of TV detectives at the time, to question if Carey's Marlowe might be on the take from some "wrongos ". The series came out of the Goodson-Todman shop. These were the game show producers but they also made occasional forays into dramatic television (The Rebel, Branded). The line producer and frequent scripter was Gene Wang, a radio/television veteran who was also the first story editor on the Perry Mason television series. Frank MacShane's biography of Chandler indicates that E. Jack Neuman, a top-drawer radio-television writer who later developed such long-running series as Dr. Kildare and Joseph Wambaugh's Police Story, may have written for the series. Other writers included Charles Beaumont, best known for his work on The Twilight Zone, and James E. Moser, creator of Ben Casey and Medic. Obviously, some good talent behind the camera, but the show didn't distinguish itself and only twenty-six episodes were aired. With so few episodes, it may not have even been syndicated. To my knowledge, episodes haven't popped up on the video trading markets and it's a question of whether the prints even still exist. Which is too bad. Even if the show were indifferent, it would be interesting to see what it looked like and, given the time, what the score sounded like. (Contributed by Ted Fitzgerald)
Far superior to the 1959 series was a short (five episodes) series produced in England (and a second series, evidently a Canadian production, responsible for another six episodes), tailored for the American cable television market, starring Powers Boothe as Marlowe. A real plus was that the shows were all adapted from Chandler short stories, even if they weren't all originally Marlowe stories. A lot of people really liked this, but I thought it was all a bit overdone. Too much attention paid to detail, with not enough emphasis on how it all ties together makes it look like an overly-bright, sterile period piece. Los Angeles in the dirty thirties and forties comes off as a quaint little set with all the personality of an operating room. And the voice-over narration came off as overcooked Magnum. For me, Marlowe should carry a bit of world-weary introspection in his voice. And in this series, Marlowe had a girlfriend of sorts, in Annie Riordan, tucked away in, where else, Bay City. The shows ran on HBO and the CBC in north America.
In July 1998, HBO is taking another crack
at Marlowe, with the Bob Rafaelson-directed Poodle Springs,
starring James Caan as an aging Marlowe (it's set in 1963). It's
based, at least partially, on the Robert B. Parker-completed version
of Chandler's unfinished novel, and it should prove interesting,
at least. Caan is an intriguing choice, but some of the changes
seem rather suspect. Linda Loring is now Laura Parker, and she's
no longer a spoiled rich kid, but a working attorney, and Poodle
Springs is no longer Marlowe's (and Chandler's) derogative term
for Palm Springs, but a small town where Phil and Laura settle
down. Makes you wonder why they bothered paying for the rights
to Chandler's (or Parker's) book at all.
Mind you, not everyone was disappointed. Cy Silver of Berkeley wrote in to say that he thought "it went well. The actual setting of the desert community in the production was very much like Palm Springs. And its location in the desert not too distant from the Nevada border does fit a Palm-Springs-like ambience. And having James Caan play it as someone from another era gave it a time-warp quality, which I found intriguing and enjoyable. And not inconsistent with the inherent tension between Marlowe and Linda Loring."\ .
- "The Ugly Duckling" (October 6, 1959)
- "Prescription for Murder" (October 13, 1959)
- "Buddy Boy" (October 20, 1959)
- "Death in the Family" (October 27, 1959)
- "Mama's Boy" (November 3, 1959)
- "Child of Virtue" (November 10, 1959)
- "Bum Wrap" (November 17, 1959)
- "Temple of Love" (November 25, 1959)
- "The Mogul" (December 1, 1959)
- "Hit and Run" (December 8, 1959)
- "Mother Dear" (December 15, 1959)
- "The Hunger" (December 22, 1959)
- "Ricochet" (December 29, 1959)
- "The Scarlet A" (January 5, 1960)
- "A Standard for Murder" (January 12, 1960)
- "Poor Lilli, Sweet Lilli" (January 19, 1959)
- "Death Takes a Lover" (January 26, 1960)
- "One Ring for Murder" (February 2, 1960)
- "Gem of a Murder" (February 9, 1960)
- "Time to Kill" (February 16, 1960)
- "Murder in the Stars" (February 23, 1960)
- "Murder by the Book" (March 1, 1960)
- "Murder is a Grave Affair" (March 8, 1960)
- "Murder is Dead Wrong" (March 15, 1960)
- "Last Call for Murder" (March 22, 1960)
- "You Kill Me" (March 29, 1960)...
PHILIP MARLOWE, PRIVATE EYE . Buy all 11 episodes on DVD
- "The Pencil"
- "Nevada Gas"
- "Finger Man"
- "The King in Yellow"
- "Smart-Aleck Kill"..
SECOND SERIES
MARLOWE, PRIVATE EYE (1986, Canada) . Buy this series on DVD
(Also known as "Philip Marlowe, Private Eye")
6 60-minute episodes
Based on stories by Raymond Chandler
Writers: Jeremy Hole, Jesse Lasky Jr., Pat Silver
Directors: Allan King, Robert Iscove, Bryan Forbes
Filmed in Toronto
Produced by Jon Slan
A Paragon Motion Pictures Production
Starring Powers Boothe as PHILIP MARLOWE
Guest stars: Robin Givens, Kate Trotter, Christopher Newton, Ken Pogue, Gene Clark, Al Waxman, Roxanne Hart, Cec Linder, Mark Humphrey, Angelo Rizacos, John Ireland, Kate Reid, Jennifer Dale, Booth Savage, Paul Hecht, Helen Shaver, Ron Van Hart, Mavor Moore, Dixie Seatle, John Vernon, Melody Anderson, Allan Royal, Peter Dvorsky, Robert Morelli, J. Winston Carroll, August Schellenberg, Linda Griffiths, Maury Chaykin, Frank Pellegrino, R.H. Thompson
- "Pickup On Noon Street"
- "Guns At Cyranos"
- "Trouble Is My Business"
- "Spanish Blood"
- "Blackmailers Don't Shoot"
- "Red Wind" ..
GRAPHIC NOVELS and OTHER MEDIA
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AUDIO
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Ted Fitzgerald, Chris Mills, Henry Cabot Beck and Steven Ardron for their help with this page. And a special thanks to Rina Fox for the TV Guide cover.
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