I love Philip Marlowe movies. I especially love those from the 1940s when Raymond Chandler was still new and the Marlowe character was a hot property. Dick Powell got it started in 1944 for RKO with MURDER, MY SWEET (changed from FAREWELL MY LOVELY so his 1930s fans wouldn't think it was a musical). It's runaway success prompted the other studios to do their own Marlowe movies. Warner Brothers was next in 1946 with their iconic THE BIG SLEEP featuring Bogart & Bacall followed by MGM in 1947 with Robert Montgomery and THE LADY IN THE LAKE. Forgotten today, also from 1947, is Twentieth Century-Fox's THE BRASHER DOUBLOON with George Montgomery (no relation).
That's really too bad as THE BRASHER DOUBLOON (based on Chandler's THE HIGH WINDOW) is a first class B movie directed by John Brahm who did the atmospheric THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE for Fox a few years earlier. While George Montgomery is no Humphrey Bogart, he can hold his own with Powell or Robert M and delivers Marlowe's trademark narrative/dialogue in a brash and believable style. The sets are sumptuous for a B movie and are probably left over from some Fox A movie (possibly DRAGONWYCK) while the lighting, editing, and camerawork show Brahm's background in German cinema before the rise of the Nazis forced him to emigrate to America.
The rest of the cast, aside from the female lead Nancy Guild and a young Conrad Janis, consists of a solid group of character performers including Florence Bates as an eccentric rich widow, Fritz Kortner as a movie cameraman, and craggy faced Housley Stevenson as a jeweler. German actor Kortner played opposite Louise Brooks in PANDORA'S BOX in 1928. The plot is fairly straightforward. Marlowe is hired by a Mrs Murdock to recover a rare coin stolen from her late husband's collection. By the time he recovers it there have been 2 murders and there are plenty of suspects including the old woman's son and her secretary who suffers from blackouts. The final solution is highly satisfactory.
I suspect the reasons for my not knowing of THE BRASHER DOUBLOON had to do with the title change which makes it sound like a pirate movie and with the cast. There are no big names here although Conrad Janis would later gain fame on MORK & MINDY. Renaissance man George Montgomery (he painted, sculpted, and made high quality furniture) continued to act in television and B action movies until the 1970s. For years DOUBLOON was only available in public domain copies usually included as part of cheap multi-film sets. In 2012 Fox released it as part of their Cinema Archive Series. Although not restored, the print is good and the sound is pretty good. Too bad there are no subtitles...For More reviews visit The Capsule Critic.
That's really too bad as THE BRASHER DOUBLOON (based on Chandler's THE HIGH WINDOW) is a first class B movie directed by John Brahm who did the atmospheric THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE for Fox a few years earlier. While George Montgomery is no Humphrey Bogart, he can hold his own with Powell or Robert M and delivers Marlowe's trademark narrative/dialogue in a brash and believable style. The sets are sumptuous for a B movie and are probably left over from some Fox A movie (possibly DRAGONWYCK) while the lighting, editing, and camerawork show Brahm's background in German cinema before the rise of the Nazis forced him to emigrate to America.
The rest of the cast, aside from the female lead Nancy Guild and a young Conrad Janis, consists of a solid group of character performers including Florence Bates as an eccentric rich widow, Fritz Kortner as a movie cameraman, and craggy faced Housley Stevenson as a jeweler. German actor Kortner played opposite Louise Brooks in PANDORA'S BOX in 1928. The plot is fairly straightforward. Marlowe is hired by a Mrs Murdock to recover a rare coin stolen from her late husband's collection. By the time he recovers it there have been 2 murders and there are plenty of suspects including the old woman's son and her secretary who suffers from blackouts. The final solution is highly satisfactory.
I suspect the reasons for my not knowing of THE BRASHER DOUBLOON had to do with the title change which makes it sound like a pirate movie and with the cast. There are no big names here although Conrad Janis would later gain fame on MORK & MINDY. Renaissance man George Montgomery (he painted, sculpted, and made high quality furniture) continued to act in television and B action movies until the 1970s. For years DOUBLOON was only available in public domain copies usually included as part of cheap multi-film sets. In 2012 Fox released it as part of their Cinema Archive Series. Although not restored, the print is good and the sound is pretty good. Too bad there are no subtitles...For More reviews visit The Capsule Critic.