Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe, was born on this day in 1888. In his honour, here’s the trailer to Howard Hawks’ 1946 adaptation of Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Chandler enjoyed the movie, writing to a friend, “You will realize what can be done with this sort of story by a director with the gift of atmosphere and the requisite touch of hidden sadism… As we say here, Bogart can be tough without a gun.”
I wish movie trailers were still like this. The conceit of having Bogart (famous for his role as ‘tec Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, 1941) discover the book of The Big Sleep in a public library is marvellous, and very funny. And what a tagline: ‘That Man Bogart! And That Woman Bacall! Are That Way Again!’ Expect another fun trailer next Friday…
