The Big Sleep

Buy This Item The Big Sleep by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $17.99  on 9-22-2008     L.A. private eye Phillip Marlowe takes on a blackmail caseand a trail peopled with murderers, porographers, nightclub rogues, the spoiled rich and more. Humphrey Boart plays Raymond Chandlers' legendary gumshoe and director Howard Hawkes serves up snappy character encounters (particularly involving Lauren Bacall), brisk pace and atmosphere galore in the certified classic. Reader Reviews As other reviewers have mentioned, this is a classic film that showcases Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's talents. It's worth watching if you haven't seen it in a while or just saw it last week. Although the storyline stays pretty close to the bestselling The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, the sleazy elements has been cleaned up by Hollywood censors: to such a degree that you might ask what the heck the blackmailing plot is all about. (The novel's plot had enough complexities without deleting the character's seamy motivations.) It seems that in the 1940s, what appears on the page could be deemed inappropriate for the silver screen. The movie was supposed to be released in 1945, but the war was drawing to a close and the Warner Brothers studio put The Big Sleep on the shelf in order to hurry their war movies into theaters. In 1946, Howard Hawks had an opportunity to re-shoot a few scenes in order to highlight Becall. The DVD includes both the 1945 and 1946 versions, and more important for film enthusiasts, the Special Features includes a short documentary that describes the differences and the reasons for the changes. Fascinating stuff. The Shopkeeper

The Big Sleep Available from Amazon Price: $17.99 Updated on 9-22-2008.

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