The Big Sleep (1946) Review

When private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by a general from a wealthy family to try and find out why his daughter Carmen is being blackmailed and with the help of Vivian another of the generals daughters he is taken into a rather complex web of love triangles, murder, gambling and organised crime.

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The Big Sleep really does have a good and impressive flow to it all and that really does make for entertaining and good viewing. The plot contains plenty of twists and turns as we are taken on the journey with Marlowe in his efforts to work everything out and crack the rather complex case.

Carmen was not willing to tell the truth and her father did not seem aware that the debts were due to gambling and other issues that she was also having. It did make for some rather interesting viewing though as Marlowe had to try and uncover everything whilst also looking after himself.

The chemistry created between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall can only be seen as life coming across on screen, given they had been having an affair in the process of this film and he left his wife and then they married three months after it was finished. I certianly think that seems to have an impact on some scenes, given the reshoots after the couple were married as well.

Bogart is a fine actor and catching up with more of his films always makes me wonder just why men stopped wearing suits and hats, because quite frankly it works so very well and he is just an incredible presence on screen. Martha Vickers actually has some very good and impressive scenes as well which was very pleasing for the film on the whole.