I don't know Chandler from the radio shows, but I have read everything he ever wrote, and most more than once. There are a very few writers that have the effect on me that if I pick up one of their books, no matter how many times I have read it, If I start it again, I am compelled to read it again cover to cover. And enjoy it just as much. Chandler is one of those.
Late in life, I picked up a copy of the short story collection,
'Trouble is my business' and in terms of my fiction reading it changed my life. Stories like
'Red Wind' and '
Goldfish' are more like poetry than prose. Superbly composed, superbly atmospheric. Thank you. Thanks to your post I have found this which I was never aware of.
PHILIP MARLOWE Private Eye - S1E6 - Red Wind - Powers Boothe - 1986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vbdWSw0w4sThis is not the best television version tho.
In fact this one is a mash-up of several Marlowe stories.
This one is the best. With
Danny Glover of all people as Marlowe. But
all the dialogue is pure Chandler, unlike most adaptions.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0394558/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3That was an episode of a Noir TV series called
'Fallen Angels' This was part of a series of reverent adaptations of classic hard-boiled detectives.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105994/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_smJust look at that list of directors, writers and actors. definitely a labour of love. I have some of the episodes, but only some. I'll have to look for a DVD collection.
Christopher Lloyd , incidentally does a great job as
The Continental Op Chandler wrote relatively few stories, because he was never satisfied with his own work. So he took early stories and continually rewrote them and the ones he was nearly satisfied with became Marlowe stories.
Quote from Chandler:-
'When I first went to work in Hollywood a very intelligent producer told me that you couldn't make a successful motion picture from a mystery story, because the whole point was a disclosure that took a few seconds of screen time while the audience was reaching for its hat. He was wrong, but only because he was thinking of the wrong kind of mystery. "
"As to the emotional basis of the hard-boiled story, obviously it does not believe that murder will out and justice will be done - unless some very determined individual makes it his business to see that justice is done. The stories were abut the men who made that happen. They were apt to be hard men and what they did, whether they were called police officers, private detectives or newspaper men, was hard, dangerous work"
"The demand was for constant action, If you stopped to think, you were lost.
When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand. This could get awfully silly, but somehow it didn't seem to matter. A writer who isn't afraid to overreach himself is useless as a general who is afraid to be wrong."
Raymond Chandler.
'Little Sister'? Read it many times, makes perfect sense. But, like Shakespeare in Hamlet, in between the introduction and the finale, the writer uses it as a platform, to go all over the place, create characters and make points and do some great writing. Both could be reduced to 10 minute short stories if the plot was the point. But the quotes.
Damn you! I have much to do today, and now I'm on a Chandler Jag!
Some episodes of 'Fallen Angels' here, and as your ears will tell you, the soundtracks are great too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjm1PtVmiAs&list=PLP7_eREdOsFxH-uKmHNL6juaBMlC2ba9dAnd here's
Christopher Lloyd as The Continental Ophttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8G5cuTNlD0&list=PLP7_eREdOsFxH-uKmHNL6juaBMlC2ba9d&index=14 Cheers!
