"The Big Sleep" (1946)

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone

First, the Lowdown: A private detective is hired to investigate a blackmail case, and finds more than he anticipated.

Humphrey Bogart is Philip Marlowe, hard-boiled P.I, etc, etc. He arrives at the Sternwood manor at the invitation of the retired General Sternwood. In the foyer, Marlowe is greeted by Sternwood's younger daughter, Carmen – a woman barely mature, who coyly plays with the reactions of those around her.

General Sternwood meets with Marlowe in his greenhouse, where the warmth helps his circulation. The general invites Marlowe to a drink and a smoke, as the elder Sternwood can only enjoy his vices by proxy because of poor health. Mr. Sternwood is being blackmailed by a party unknown to him. This isn't the first time Mr. Sternwood's been blackmailed either, the previous case was handled by an acquaintance of Marlowe's: Shawn Regan. Regan has mysteriously disappeared, though, much to the sadness of Sternwood. Previously a man by the name of Joe Brody demanded $5000 in exchange for silence in Carmen's embarrassing behavior. Now a used book dealer by the name of Arthur G. Geiger is trying to collect and equal amount for outstanding gambling debts. Marlowe advises Sternwood to pay the man off because the debts are in the form of promissory notes bearing Carmen's signature. But Sternwood merely wants the matter taken care of discreetly without having to pay.

After leaving his meeting with the General, Marlowe is informed by the butler that the elder Sternwood daughter, Vivian. She grills Marlowe on the nature of his investigation, in particular if it had to deal with the missing Shawn Regan. Apparently Shawn had left in a bit of a hurry, but his car was found abandoned in a garage outside of town.

A quick trip to the library provides Marlowe with a quick back story. He arrives at Geiger's rare book inquiring about a rare book, a “Chevalier Audobon – 1840”, and is brushed off by the woman at the desk. He goes across the street to a DIFFERENT bookseller and makes the same inquiry, only to be told that the book doesn't exist. Smelling a false front, Marlowe waits across the street for Geiger to leave his office so he can tail him.

Tail him he does, however, directly to Geiger's house in the suburbs. While waiting patiently outside in his car, he sees another car pull up and a man enter the Geiger residence. The car is registered to Carmen Sternwood. A few moments later a scream is heard as well as a gunshot. Marlowe bursts into the room to find Geiger, dead by a gunshot, and Carmen – sitting high as a kite. In an oriental statue, Marlowe finds a concealed camera, minus film. A search of Geiger's lockbox, reveals a notebook of coded messages – including one labeled “Sternwood.” Having overstayed his welcome, Marlowe takes Carmen home and instructs her older sister to insist that to anyone else that Carmen has not left the house all evening and that Marlowe especially didn't drop her off.

Returning back to the Geiger house, Marlowe finds everything how he left it – except Mr. Geiger's body is gone. Frustrated, he goes back to his office and tries to work out the coded entry in Geiger's notebook, only to be interrupted by Bernie - a friend who is a homicide detective. Sternwood's car was found washed up off Lido pier, with a body in it. The body is the Sternwood's chauffeur, but it looks like someone knocked him out and dumped him there.

I'm not much of one for old movies, and you have my grandmother's passion for Vivian Leigh and Judy Garland to thank for that. So naturally I've gathered an aversion to anything in black and while that predates the Eisenhower era. However, The Big Sleep is a tight little story (adapted for the screen by William Faulkner, no less.) One thing I admire about it is that while it is a vintage picture, it doesn't come off as musty (in spite of the presence of Bogart.) Also it helps bolster the argument your grandparents used to make about how they never make movies like they used to. It's a nice little mystery that is neither rushed or slow and it comes from an era where you could have a suspense story without explosions, overlong gunfights, or nudity in order to keep the plot moving.

Line of the movie: “You oughta wean her, she's old enough.”

Four and a half stars. Don't make me turn this car around.