After yesterday's movie post about a film that employed experimental cinematic techniques, we're going to touch on a movie from 1947 film noir that got all experimental.
Directed by Robert Montgomery, it's Lady In the Lake. Based on a Phillip Marlowe detective story by Raymond Chandler, the film stars Montgomery as the hard boiled private eye.
But you almost never see him.
The experiment is the camera is set from Marlowe's perspective and all the people Marlowe encounters interact with the camera.
YOU are Phillip Marlowe!
YOU must solve the mystery of the lady in the lake.
Phillip Marlowe is tired, tired of the low pay and high risks of being a private detective.
So Marlowe decides to become a writer instead and following the adage of "write what you know" submits a murder story to a mystery magazine published by Derace Kingsby.
Marlowe's story earns him an invite to Kingsby office to discuss his work.
But not so quick now, would be writer Phillip Marlowe. Publishing executive Adrienne Fromsett wants to hire him for his detective skills.
Chrystal Kingsby, Derace's wife, is missing.
There's a dead body in a lake on property Kingsby owns.
What follows is a convoluted tale of deception and betrayal. No one is who that claim to be and assumptions made on who can or cannot be trusted are constantly challenged.
Marlowe gets punched a lot, guns constantly shoved in his face and he's arrested a lot as well as shot at. Gee, no wonder he wants out of the private eye biz.
Lady in the Lake is pretty much standard for a film noir detective story but with some twists to the formula. For once, the established femme fatale (Adrienne Fromsett) does not prove to be so fatal and appears to be in for a happy ending.
As for the grand experiment, Marlowe is never seen except for a pair each of reflections in a mirror and direct addresses to the audience in character. The direct addresses were not part of Montgomery's plan but were foisted on him by the studio MGM which was nervous about this experiment and not having the star of the movie ever appear on screen.
Lady In the Lake did not do well at the box office and MGM blamed it on the film's experimental approach. It also marked the end of Robert Montgomery's relationship with MGM.
The movie's story is complex and interesting enough on it's own without the distraction of the first person filming. And it is a distraction. Points to Robert Montgomey for trying to do something new but he was a bit ahead of his time, limited by the bulk camera technology of the era. The upshot is the scenes can appear stilted, forced, not natural.
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