MARLOWE

Ireland/Spain, 2022, 109 minutes, Colour.

Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Alan Cumming, Colm Meaney, François Arnaud, Ian Hart, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Patrick Muldoon.

Directed by Neil Jordan.

Raymond Chandler’s private eye, Philip Marlowe, has not been on screen since the 1970s. So, here is a 21^st-century version, care of the Irish director, Neil Jordan, cowriting with American, William Monahan (The Departed), an Irish production, filmed in Spain, with an Irish lead as Marlowe, and his being given an Irish background. Liam Neeson is Marlowe but, older, resembling the build that Chandler described, but rather world-weary, perhaps a bit too weary.

And the plot is taken, not from a Chandler novel, but by a thousand and 14 novel by Booker-Prize-winning novelist, John Banville, using his pen name for thrillers, Benjamin Black. Which means that the plot is very much Chandler-like as well as a tribute to Chandler’s writing.

A lot of attention has been given to the costumes, decor and sets for this film, quite elaborate. It is Hollywood, the Los Angeles area, 1939. We are taken into the film studios, sequences on set, action sequences. And we are taken into the background of management as well a to the prop rooms, the business offices.

We are also taken into some of the fashionable clubs in Los Angeles, affluent clientele, touches of luxury, but in the background, a cover for prostitution and in the studios as well, a venue for drug distribution.

In this context, a blonde sophisticate, Claire Cavendish, played by Diane Kruger with style, employs Marlowe to find a young man who works on the film sets but who has, allegedly, been killed in a hit run. She is obviously the traditional femme fatale – and, ultimately, lives up to that title. However, Marlowe is also introduced to her mother, a one-time popular actress, Dorothy Conannon – and some welcome scenes and repartee with Jessica Lange, taking charge of each one of them.

Which means and that this is an investigation, getting clues, Marlowe trudging around Los Angeles, contacts with the police, but their letting him go out on his own. There are the owners of the clubs, Danny Huston and Alan Cumming, each confident in their realm, but falling foul of Marlowe and his ingenuity with clues, covering himself, exposing the criminals. For 15 years Liam Neeson has become identified with action films. While he acquits himself adeptly with some tough moves, his Marlowe is not a man of action shows.

Which means also that there is plenty of plot, audiences having to pay attention – although, perhaps, the ending is dramatic but also anticlimactic.

In the past, there have been six actors who played Marlowe, Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, James Garner, Elliot Gould, Robert Mitchum. They all had a Hollywood cinema aura about them. Liam Neeson does not have this, with his Irish accent, delivering lines but not in the sharp way that his predecessors did.

For audiences with long memories and who enjoy a touch of exposure, there is a character here, the ambassador to England, his relationship with the actress, his owning the studio, dubious behaviour – in fact, Joseph Kennedy, JFK’s father, was ambassador in England from 1938, more sympathetic to the Nazi regime, not sympathetic to Roosevelt who appointed him. And, Kennedy had a relationship with actress Gloria Swanson. This is obviously not essential to responding to the film but it does indicate how the writers were thinking about Los Angeles and Hollywood at this time.

1. The popularity of Raymond Chandler’s books, Philip Marlowe, the many screen versions?
2. Los Angeles, 1939, Hollywood and the studios, film sets, prop rooms? Clubs, interiors, decadence? Private eye offices? Atmosphere of the 30s, talk of Roosevelt and World War II, Nazi themes in films?
3. Liam Neeson as Marlowe, corresponding to Chandler’s vision of him? Age, build, world-weary, the back story, Ireland, military, police, private eye, office, secretary, clients?
4. Clare, glamorous blonde, the visit to Marlowe, playing coy, leading him on? The marriage, brittle, the relationship with Nico, the hit run death, her mother, employing Marlowe, paying him? The various contacts, discussions in the restaurant, her saying she had seen Nico alive?
5. Dorothy, actress, relationship with the ambassador, her career, intrigue, relationship with her daughter, with Nico, the discussions with Marlowe? Her being glimpsed in context with the clubs? The final meeting of the three, Claire walking out, leaving Dorothy, but Dorothy furthering her career at the end?
6. Marlowe, his investigations, contacts, the police, the dead body, identification, lack of recognition? The discussions with Joe Green and his involvement in the case? The contact with Bernie Ohls, the police, working with Marlowe, letting him do the dirty work, getting the information afterwards?
7. The entry into the world of the clubs, meeting Floyd Hansen, his style, to-ing and fro-ing, the connection with Nico, his disappearance outside the club, the jurisdiction on the Road, the later revelation of the drug dealing, Nico bringing the drugs in the antiques, considered as cheap props for the movies? His drugging of Marlowe, Marlowe pretending, being carried by the thugs, finding all the bodies? Overcoming them?
8. Lou Hendricks, is chauffeur, drug dealing, the connection with Nico, the drugs from Mexico, distributed in the film studios? Taken by Hanson, tortured?
9. Milo getting close, the drugging episode, freeing the chauffeur, the guns, the killing of Hendricks, the killing of Hanson?
10. Peterson, alive, the fate his death, with a lookalike? The meeting with Marlowe at his house, the appointment with Claire? Marlowe giving the information, Claire going to the venue, the confrontation with Peterson, his having the documents of all the drug deals? Clare, despising him, shooting him, burning the documents? Marlowe watching?
11. Clare, in the office, running the studio, her intentions and ambitions? Marlowe and his acquiescence? His recommending centric for the security guard? His future work as private eye?