Private detective Humphrey Bogart trails a blackmailer who’s vexing socialite sisters Lauren Bacall and Martha Vickers. Director Howard Hawks’ prismatic adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s dystopian novel turns the tables repeatedly, constructing a universe where victims soon become suspects, and vice-versa. Sterling direction, crackling dialogue, and the fortuitous teaming of real-life lovers Bogart and Bacall, render the film an indispensable noir classic.
35mm, b/w, 116 min. Production: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. Distribution: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. Director: Howard Hawks. Based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Screenwriter: William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman. Cinematographer: Sid Hickox. Editor: Christian Nyby. Composer: Max Steiner. With: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone.