Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir [Hardcover]

Gene D. Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

More than any other writer, Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) is responsible for raising detective stories from the level of pulp fiction to literature. Philip Marlowe, his cynical, hard-boiled private eye, set the standard for rough, brooding heroes with a strong sense of honor despite living in an unfair world. Like Ian Fleming’s James Bond, Marlowe has lived beyond his creator’s works, appearing in radio and television shows and in numerous film adaptations.

Chandler’s seven novels, including The Big Sleep (1939) and The Long Goodbye (1953), with their pessimistic view of life and stark, grim realism, had a direct influence on the emergence of film noir. In addition to the novels, Chandler wrote short stories and penned the screenplays for several films, including Double Indemnity (1944) and Strangers on a Train (1951).

Gene Phillips has written the first major biocritical study of Chandler in twenty years. It is the only one to explore Chandler’s unpublished script for Lady in the Lake, examine the differences in the American and British releases of Strangers on a Train, discuss the merits of the unproduced screenplay for Playback, and compare Howard Hawks’s director’s cut of The Big Sleep with the version shown in theaters.

Phillips treats all of Chandler’s original scripts, his adaptations of others’ works, and screenplays based upon his own novels, providing insights into Chandler’s genius and the power of his vision to transcend the constraints of a single art form.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Welcome to the dark world of Raymond Chandler, film noir, and scholarship, where behind every corner lurks a plot synopsis blocking the organic growth of analysis.Once the obstacles of too much prefatory material (a Preface by Billy Wilder, a Prologue, an Introduction, and a brief biography of Chandler) have been overcome, the reader proceeds to Phillips's interpretations of the Chandler oeuvre in fiction, screenwriting, and film. Phillips proves his encyclopedic knowledge of noir as he analyzes, among many others, the three film versions of Farewell, My Lovely and the two film versions of The Big Sleep through extensive comparisons to Chandler's novels. Chandler despised Hollywood yet needed Tinseltown's lucre as a source of income, and Phillips is at his best as he describes how Chandler's screenplays, including Double Indemnity (directed by Billy Wilder) and Strangers on a Train (directed by Alfred Hitchcock), implicated him in torturous collaborations with the Hollywood elite. Such behind-the-scenes moments-for example, the different receptions Chandler found at MGM and Paramount, the drama of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Robert Montgomery's innovative camera technique in Lady in the Lake-are welcome and informative. Unfortunately, such moments can only be found after sifting through endless plot synopses in which Chandler's haunting tales are subjected to a sort of Cliff Notes summarizing. The analysis is also marred by a squeamishness on Phillips's part in dealing with the homoerotic subtones of many noir films. He goes to great lengths to exonerate Chandler and his characters from any such imputation, no matter that countless viewers see a little something more in some of the characters' relationships. The darkness of noir never fails to serve up a treacherous treat, so read or watch Chandler's originals rather than reading Phillips's summaries. (30 b&w photos) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

A comprehensive introduction to America’s foremost mystery writer.” -- Alain Silver, co-author of Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles

“An opulent repository of material on the premier American noirist.” -- Choice

“Phillips constantly dazzles with both the precision of his presentation and the power of his analysis.” -- Lester Keyser

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 311 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813121744
• ISBN-13: 978-0813121741
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,325,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Admirable Mess, January 6, 2001

By 

S. Berner (Cocoa, Fl USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir (Hardcover)

Is it possible for a book to be both invaluable and annoyingly almost unreadable? If so, this is the one. Phillips is absolutely on target in both his evaluation of Chandler's place in literature (High) and his fascinating comparisons of book to film of EVERYTHING the author wrote. Fans of Marlowe, fans of detective stories, fans of film noir, and film fans in general, will find a treasure trove within these pages. B U T.... Phillips writes like a student who has been given a writing assignment of "x" number of words and has to fulfill it. Either that or someone who is being paid by the word! Not only does he repeat the same information, often with virtually the same words, two, three, four, and more times within the book, he often does so within the same paragraph, and, on occasion, the same sentence! If you can, as I did, learn to spot this trend and skip whole passages as less necessary than a sequel to "Little Nicky", there is much to be gleaned from the book. Just resist throwing it against the wall in exasperation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chandler and Hollywood: Poisonous Marriage w/ Beautiful Kids, November 12, 2001

By 

Martin Lewison - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir (Hardcover)

A very interesting and thorough examination of the film-related work of mystery legend Raymond Chandler, creator of the ultimate film noir gumshoe, Phillip Marlowe. The books follows Chandler's career and work from pulpy dime detective story-writer, to novelist, to screenwriter. Chandler was an odd, cantankerous fellow who hated working in Hollywood, but the character he created is forever in the pantheon of American detective film heroes.