Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.