Production Company(ies)
Films,onor Vera Films,
 
Distributor
Criterion Collection, Criterion Pictures, Something Weird Video
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Château de L’Étang-la-Ville, 8 Rue de Fonton, L’Étang-la-Ville, Yvelines, France
 
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
 
Year of Release
1955
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama/Horror
 
Keyword(s)
Diabolique, Drama, Horror, 1955, French, Suspense, Thriller, Hitchcock, Twist Ending, Paul Meurisse, Vera Clouzot, Simone Signoret, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Pierre Boileau, Jérôme Géronimi, Frédéric Grendel, Rene Masson, Thomas Narcejac, Criterion Collection, Something Weird Video, Mono, Flat, 35mm, Boarding School, Murder Plot, Abusive Headmaster, Mistress, Cruelty, Murder, Odd Occurrences, Disappearance, Critic Reviews, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Deep Focus Review, Film Inquiry, Horror Queers Podcast, London Evening Standard, Sight & Sound, Variety, Audience Reviews, Suspense, Horror, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo, Psycho, Guilt, Religion, Divorce, Chilling, Disturbing, Eerie Scenes, Classic, Best Work, Macabre, Rarely Distributed, Classic Horror Film, Inspiration, Mean Streets, Blood Simple, Eraserhead, The Killer, The Devil’s Backbone, Criterion Pictures, Subscription, Rate and Review, MPAA Rating, Box Office Performance, Budget, Producer, Reviewed by
 

Cast & Crew

Simone Signoret

Véra Clouzot

Paul Meurisse

Charles Vanel

Jean Brochard

Nicole Horner

Christina Delassalle

Michel Delasalle

Alfred Fichet

Plantiveau

Simone Signoret – Nicole Horner
Véra Clouzot – Christina Delassalle
Paul Meurisse – Michel Delasalle
Charles Vanel – Alfred Fichet, private detective
Jean Brochard – Plantiveau, the groundsman
Noel Roquebert – M. Herboux

 

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Pierre Boileau

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
 
Writer(s)
Pierre Boileau, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jérôme Géronimi, Frédéric Grendel, Rene Masson, Thomas Narcejac
 
Producer(s)
Henri-Georges Clouzot

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
NA
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Derek Prouse

Philip French

Derek Malcolm

Sukhdev Sandhu

Peter Bradshaw

Sight & Sound

Guardian

London Evening Standard

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Variety

DIABOLIQUE
  All Critics (51) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (2)
  Rarely if ever has such a wallow in the sickeningly macabre been passed for distribution in this country.
 
  February 24, 2017
 
  Derek Prouse
  Sight & Sound
  TOP CRITIC
  Superbly acted, Les diaboliques is as effective a thriller as Hitchcock’s film, if lacking the depth and resonance.
 
  March 22, 2011
 
  Philip French
  Guardian
  TOP CRITIC
  Still riveting stuff, beautifully acted out by Simone Signoret and Vera Clouzot, the director’s wife.
 
  March 18, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
 
  Derek Malcolm
  London Evening Standard
  TOP CRITIC
  It’s a diabolical masterpiece.
 
  March 18, 2011 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Sukhdev Sandhu
  Daily Telegraph (UK)
  TOP CRITIC
  Satisfying, elegant and nasty.
 
  March 17, 2011 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Peter Bradshaw
  Guardian
  TOP CRITIC
  Although this has a few hallucinating bits of terror, the film is primarily a creaky-door type of melodrama.
 
  August 13, 2007
 
  Variety Staff
  Variety
  TOP CRITIC
  The whole experience of Diabolique feels like the bomb that’s about to explode. And by the end, when the bomb goes off, the unforgiving quality of Clouzot’s cinema cannot help but leave the viewer scorched and scarred.
 
  February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Brian Eggert
  Deep Focus Review
  Its intriguing and twisting story will keep you guessing, entertained, and horrified, all while showcasing the craftsmanship behind creating the perfect classic.
 
  August 28, 2021
 
  Stephanie Archer
  Film Inquiry
  A classy, measured thriller that sadly undercuts its queer vibes in the climax. Simone Signoret is magnetic and no amount of interference by director Clouzot can diminish her star power.
 
  April 3, 2021
 
  Joe Lipsett
  Horror Queers Podcast
  There’s a reason it’s considered a classic of horror cinema.
 
  March 25, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
 
  Trace Thurman
  Horror Queers Podcast
  I think it’s a beautiful story, it’s a classic story but I just would have liked to see more in the relationship.
 
  October 26, 2020 | Rating: 6/10
 
  Emma Wolfe
  SpookyAstronauts
  One of the greatest of all psychological horror films and a stunning inspiration for filmmakers fascinated by unexpected resolutions.
 
  August 18, 2020 | Rating: 9/10
 
  Mike Massie
  Gone With The Twins…

 

Plot
Christina Delassalle suffers greatly at the hands of her brutish husband Michel. She inherited the boys’ boarding school they run but it’s clearly Michel who is in charge. She and Nicole Horner, one of the teachers and Michel’s former lover, decide to kill him. Christina, who has a serious condition, is terrified when, by chance, she meets a retired police inspector who decides to look into the case.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Simone Signoret’s performance in Diabolique is described as “magnetic” by one critic.
 

 
Henri-Georges-Clouzot.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Charles K. Feldman Group Warner Bros.,
 
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
M/PG
 
Year of Release
1951
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama
 
Keyword(s)
starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden, Rudy Bond, Nick Dennis, directed by Elia Kazan, written by Tennessee Williams, Oscar Saul, produced by Charles K Feldman, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Ed Potton, Bob Thomas, Pauline Kael, Kim Newman, James Christopher, Peter Bradshaw, André Bazin, Matt Neal, Manny Farber, Alasdair Bayman, Clyde Gilmour, PG, small-town Mississippi, New Orleans, Southern-belle, volatile relationship, abusive, troubled, former schoolteacher, flirtatious, heart-rending, searing direction, sterling ensemble, intense, intimate, dialogue-driven, feminist themes, sex symbol, abusive nature, flawed men, vulnerability, power, passion
 

Cast & Crew

Marlon Brando

Vivien Leigh

Kim Hunter

Karl Malden

Rudy Bond

Stanley Kowalski

Blanche DuBois

Stella Kowalski

Mitch

Steve

Marlon Brando – Stanley Kowalski
Vivien Leigh – Blanche DuBois
Kim Hunter – Stella Kowalski
Karl Malden – Mitch
Rudy Bond – Steve
Nick Dennis – Pablo Gonzales

 

Elia Kazan

Oscar Saul

Charles K. Feldman

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Elia Kazan
 
Writer(s)
Oscar Saul, Tennessee Williams, Tennessee Williams
 
Producer(s)
Charles K. Feldman

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Won 4 Oscars
17 wins & 15 nominations total
 
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
 

Top Reviews

Ed Potton

Bob Thomas

Pauline Kael

Kim Newman

James Christopher

Times

Associated Press

New Yorker

Empire Magazine

Guardian

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
  All Critics (62) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (60) | Rotten (2)
  Elia Kazan’s claustrophobic close-ups do a fine job of recreating the intensity of the stage.
 
  February 10, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
 
  Ed Potton
  Times (UK)
  TOP CRITIC
  Some movie goers will be bored by its unlovely subject and wealth of talk, but others will admire it as an excursion into art.
 
  August 7, 2019
 
  Bob Thomas
  Associated Press
  TOP CRITIC
  Vivien Leigh gives one of those rare performances that can truly be said to evoke pity and terror.
 
  January 3, 2018
 
  Pauline Kael
  New Yorker
  TOP CRITIC
  Epic performances in a movie that seethes with atmosphere.
 
  February 10, 2012 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Kim Newman
  Empire Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  The blistering sexual repression is the entire point of the 1950s. Quite simply, fabulous.
 
  November 14, 2008
 
  James Christopher
  Times (UK)
  TOP CRITIC
  The film is perhaps best regarded as an intelligent and engaged recreation of the original Broadway experience, in which Jessica Tandy first played the role. There’s no denying the awful horror and pity of the final scene.
 
  November 14, 2008 | Rating: 3/5
 
  Peter Bradshaw
  Guardian
  TOP CRITIC
  Its international success doubtless arises mostly from its relative boldness as well as its eroticism. But this work is not without theatrical qualities: authentically dramatic, it also develops a certain poetic atmosphere.
 
  January 5, 2022
 
  André Bazin
  Cahiers du Cinéma
  The emotions are dialled up to 11 by the sweltering New Orleans heat and Marlon Brando’s physique, which is matched by his titanic performance.
 
  October 26, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Matt Neal
  ABC Radio (Australia)
  The story proceeds as Tennessee Williams first wrote it, except that all the frankest — and most crucial — dialogue has been excised and the last scene has been churned disastrously to satisfy the Johnson office but confound the spectator.
 
  September 15, 2021
 
  Manny Farber
  The Nation
  By the end of this Elia Kazan production, the revelations aren’t shocking or memorable or morbidly palatable; in many ways, they’re just depressing.
 
  August 23, 2020 | Rating: 6/10
 
  Mike Massie
  Gone With The Twins
  Even taking this performance alone, Brando’s work deserves to be known as an abiding cinematic performance. Amongst cowardly and callous acts, there still rests a level of pathos to the character.
 
  February 6, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
 
  Alasdair Bayman
  CineVue
  Vivien Leigh’s virtuoso portrayal was the year’s finest acting…in the same picture Marlon Brando gives a brilliant and appalling performance as a primeval brute.
 
  November 26, 2019
 
  Clyde Gilmour
  Maclean’s Magazine…

 

Plot
Blanche DuBois, a high school English teacher with an aristocratic background from Auriol, Mississippi, decides to move to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski, in New Orleans after creditors take over the family property, Belle Reve. Blanche has also decided to take a break from teaching as she states the situation has frayed her nerves. Knowing nothing about Stanley or the Kowalskis’ lives, Blanche is shocked to find that they live in a cramped and run down ground floor apartment – which she proceeds to beautify by putting shades over the open light bulbs to soften the lighting – and that Stanley is not the gentleman that she is used to in men. As such, Blanche and Stanley have an antagonistic relationship from the start. Blanche finds that Stanley’s hyper-masculinity, which often displays itself in physical outbursts, is common, coarse and vulgar, being common which in turn is what attracted Stella to him. Beyond finding Blanche’s delicate hoidy-toidy act as putting on airs, Stanley, a plant worker, believes she may really have sold Belle Reve and is withholding Stella’s fair share of the proceeds from them. What further affects the relationship between the three is that Stella is in the early stage of pregnancy with her and Stanley’s first child. Soon after her arrival at the Kowalskis, Blanche starts to date Mitch, one of Stanley’s friends and coworkers who is a little softer around the edges than most of Stanley’s friends. Mitch does not hide the fact that he is looking in general to get married because of a personal issue, he wanting Blanche ultimately to be his wife. Mitch is somewhat unaware that Blanche has somewhat controlled their courtship to put herself in the best possible light, both figuratively and literally. But in Stanley’s quest to find out the truth about Belle Reve and Blanche’s life in Auriol, the interrelationships between Stanley, Blanche, Stella and Mitch may be irrevocably affected, with any revelation about that life which may further destroy what’s left of Blanche’s already damaged mental state.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Marlon Brando’s performance as Stanley Kowalski is considered one of the greatest in film history.
 

 
Elia-Kazan.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Warner Bros.,
 
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Rowland V. Lee Ranch – Fallbrook Avenue, Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG for some violence and tension
 
Year of Release
1951
 

 
Genre(s)
Mystery & thriller
 
Keyword(s)

Cast & Crew

Cook

Detective Hennessy

Cook – Dr. Robert Brooks

CAST & CREW
Robert Walker – Bruno Anthony
Farley Granger – Guy Haines
Ruth Roman – Anne Morton
Leo G. Carroll – Sen. Morton
Patricia Hitchcock – Barbara Morton
Marion Lorne – Mrs. Anthony
Alfred Hitchcock – Producer/Director
Whitfield

 

Alfred Hitchcock

Whitfield Cook

Alfred Hitchcock

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Alfred Hitchcock
 
Writer(s)
Whitfield Cook, Patricia Highsmith, Czenzi Ormonde
 
Producer(s)
Alfred Hitchcock

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
3 wins & 2 nominations total
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Jake Wilson

THR Staff

Dave Kehr

Eric Henderson

Roger Ebert

The Age

Hollywood Reporter

Chicago Reader

Slant Magazine

Chicago Sun-Times

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
  All Critics (52) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (1)
  The upshot is a perfect Alfred Hitchcock thriller…with a ingenious plot taken from a Patricia Highsmith novel and a memorably seductive villain.
 
  November 2, 2018
 
  Jake Wilson
  The Age (Australia)
  TOP CRITIC
  Strangers on a Train is an admirable demonstration of Alfred Hitchcock’s virtuosity in the area of suspense dramas.
 
  June 30, 2017
 
  THR Staff
  Hollywood Reporter
  TOP CRITIC
  Perhaps Strangers on a Train still hasn’t yielded all its secrets.
 
  February 4, 2008
 
  Dave Kehr
  Chicago Reader
  TOP CRITIC
  To ignore the subtext during the runaway carousel climax is to be absolutely blind.
 
  September 6, 2004 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
  Eric Henderson
  Slant Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  Hitchcock was above all the master of great visual set pieces, and there are several famous sequences in Strangers on a Train.
 
  January 15, 2004 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Roger Ebert
  Chicago Sun-Times
  TOP CRITIC
  November 13, 2003 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Nell Minow
  Movie Mom
  TOP CRITIC
  I know no other recent film, in fact, which better conveys the condition of modern man, who must escape his fate without the help of the gods.
 
  September 1, 2021
 
  Jean-Luc Godard
  Cahiers du Cinéma
  All this is quite incredible, but it is not lacking in excitement at any time.
 
  August 20, 2021
 
  Jay Carmody
  Washington Star
  Showcases the technical prowess and brilliant editing that are among the hallmarks of Hitchcock’s work.
 
  May 11, 2021 | Rating: 7/10
 
  Dean Lamanna
  Film Threat
  It’s the kind of crime setup that is unable to face scrutiny by even slightly more modern detective practices – and, by extension, modern audiences.
 
  August 23, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
 
  Mike Massie
  Gone With The Twins
  Strangers on a Train (1951) was director Alfred Hitchcock’s suspenseful, noirish black and white thriller about two train passengers: tennis pro Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and psychopathic dandy Bruno Antony (Robert Walker)…
 
  September 29, 2019 | Rating: A+
 
  Tim Dirks
  Filmsite
  …a solid premise that’s employed to consistently captivating effect by Alfred Hitchock…
 
  August 20, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
  David Nusair
  Reel Film Reviews…

 

Plot
Bruno Antony thinks he has the perfect plot to rid himself of his hated father, and when he meets tennis player Guy Haines on a train he thinks he’s found the partner he needs to pull it off. His plan is relatively simple: Two strangers each agree to kill someone the other person wants gone. For example, Guy could kill his father and he could get rid of Guy’s wife Miriam, freeing him to marry Anne Morton, the beautiful daughter of a U.S. Senator. Guy dismisses it all out of hand, but Bruno goes ahead with his half of the “bargain” and disposes of Miriam. When Guy balks, Bruno makes it clear that he will plant evidence to implicate Guy in her murder if he doesn’t get rid of his father. Guy had also made some unfortunate statements about Miriam after she had refused to divorce him. It all leads the police to believe Guy is responsible for the murder, forcing him to deal with Bruno’s mad ravings.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Robert Walker’s performance as the sociopathic Bruno Anthony is “memorably seductive.”
 

 
Alfred-Hitchcock.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
 
Distributor
NA
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Oxford, Mississippi, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Approved
 
Year of Release
1950
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama
 
Keyword(s)
Intruder in the Dust, drama, William Faulkner, racism, Mississippi, lynching, murder, adaptation, Juano Hernandez, Claude Jarman Jr., Clarence Brown, directed by, produced by, written by, box office performance, budget, reviewed by, critic names, MPAA rating, English, David Brian, John Gavin Stevens, Porter Hall, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Kemper, genre, 1940s, small-town, social message, courage, passion, engrossing, thrilling, story, location, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, St Louis Post-Dispatch, Guardian, The Reporter, The Nation, Baltimore Sun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, San Francisco Examiner
 

Cast & Crew

David Brian

John Gavin Stevens

Claude Jarman Jr.

Chick Mallison

Juano Hernandez

John Gavin Stevens

Chick Mallison

Lucas Beauchamp

Nub Gowrie

Miss Eunice Habersham

David Brian – John Gavin Stevens
Claude Jarman Jr. – Chick Mallison
Juano Hernandez – Lucas Beauchamp
Porter Hall – Nub Gowrie
Elizabeth Patterson – Miss Eunice Habersham
Charles Kemper – Crawford Gowrie

 

Clarence Brown

NA

Clarence Brown

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Clarence Brown
 
Writer(s)
NA
 
Producer(s)
Clarence Brown

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
NA
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Mildred Martin

Marjory Adams

Kate Cameron

Edwin Schallert

Myles Standish

Philadelphia Inquirer

Boston Globe

New York Daily News

Los Angeles Times

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

INTRUDER IN THE DUST
  All Critics (42) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (3)
  As producer and director. Brown has maintained brilliant balance between the film’s melodrama and its powerful social message.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Mildred Martin
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  TOP CRITIC
  Intruder in the Dust is not only a great social document but an engrossing, thrilling story of courage and passion.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Marjory Adams
  Boston Globe
  TOP CRITIC
  While we may not like what we see on the screen, we must admit that Brown’s intention in capturing the Faulkner yarn on film was a meritorious one.
 
  January 29, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
 
  Kate Cameron
  New York Daily News
  TOP CRITIC
  Grimly courageous.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Edwin Schallert
  Los Angeles Times
  TOP CRITIC
  Good performances by Juano Hernandez, Claude Jarman Jr., David Brian and others, and superbly directed by Clarence Brown.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Myles Standish
  St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  TOP CRITIC
  Its great effectiveness lies less in its story than in, for instance, the picture it presents of the crowds gathering outside the gaol waiting for the dreadful, murderous show. The horror of this crowd is in its very casualness, its almost festive air.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Guardian Staff
  Guardian
  TOP CRITIC
  The great significance of the definition of Lucas Beauchamp’s role in Intruder in the Dust is that it makes explicit the nature of Hollywood’s changed attitude.
 
  January 25, 2022
 
  Ralph Ellison
  The Reporter
  [It’s hard] reconciling Faulkner’s beliefs with the tenets of Hollywood liberalism. Result: there is some very smooth broken-field running around all the implications that get in the way, but many of the dramatic potentialities of the plot are lost.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  William Poster
  The Nation
  Intruder in the Dust deserves our award for uncommon merit, the Blue Ribbon with Palms, and an additional accolade as being worthy to be classed among the best American films in the history of the cinema.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Gilbert Kanour
  Baltimore Sun
  It is a movie that earns a distant respect and admiration, and stays on top of the skin.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Harold V. Cohen
  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  Intruder in the Dust belongs among the Hollywood classics of this era.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Carl E. Cooper
  Kansas City Star
  I have never seen a film done with more forthright purpose, with less emotional bias or with greater understanding than this story, which deals with bigotry.
 
  January 29, 2021
 
  Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
  San Francisco Examiner…

 

Plot
Intruder in the Dust is a drama about a young boy who races against time to prove the innocence of a black man accused of murder in small-town Mississippi in the 1940s.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Juano Hernandez delivers a strong and powerful performance as Lucas Beauchamp in Intruder in the Dust.
 

 
Clarence-Brown.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Warner Bros.,
 
Distributor
Warner Bros.
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
New York Street, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios – 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Passed
 
Year of Release
1946
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama/Crime
 
Keyword(s)
starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, John Ridgely, Louis Jean Heydt, Elisha Cook Jr., directed by Howard Hawks, written by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, drama, crime, mystery & thriller, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph (UK), Independent (UK), TIME Magazine, The New Republic, Stream on Demand, Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe, Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge, Martha Vickers as Carmen Sternwood, John Ridgely as Eddie Mars, Louis Jean Heydt as Joe Brody, Elisha Cook Jr as Harry Jones, produced by Howard Hawks, Warner Bros., MPAA rating, film noir, private investigator, gambling debts, disappeared family friend, murder, seductive repartee, glamorous cigarettes, convoluted plot, sexual tension, intricate puzzle, complex plot, quick replies, villains, mastermind, right-hand man
 

Cast & Crew

Humphrey Bogart

Lauren Bacall

Martha Vickers

John Ridgely

Louis Jean Heydt

Philip Marlowe

Vivian Rutledge

Carmen Sternwood

Eddie Mars

Joe Brody

Humphrey Bogart – Philip Marlowe
Lauren Bacall – Vivian Rutledge
Martha Vickers – Carmen Sternwood
John Ridgely – Eddie Mars
Louis Jean Heydt – Joe Brody
Elisha Cook Jr. – Harry Jones

 

Howard Hawks

William Faulkner

Howard Hawks

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Howard Hawks
 
Writer(s)
William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman
 
Producer(s)
Howard Hawks

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
2 wins & 1 nomination
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

SMH Staff

Tim Robey

Sukhdev Sandhu

Jonathan Romney

James Agee

Sydney Morning Herald

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Independent (UK)

TIME Magazine

The New Republic

THE BIG SLEEP
  All Critics (66) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (2)
  It is a fast-moving drama, knee-deep in corpses, as tough as they come. It is rather’difficult to keep track of who is murdering whom and why, but there is not time to worry about such details with so many bullets flying around.
 
  July 22, 2019
 
  SMH Staff
  Sydney Morning Herald
  TOP CRITIC
  The Big Sleep is the best scripted, best directed, best acted, and least comprehensible film noir ever made.
 
  August 13, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Tim Robey
  Daily Telegraph (UK)
  TOP CRITIC
  The plot is a bundle of confusions, but who cares? Few films have made cigarettes seem so glamorous. Or had such seductive repartee.
 
  March 7, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Sukhdev Sandhu
  Daily Telegraph (UK)
  TOP CRITIC
  The Big Sleep is as fresh and perverse as ever, and remains one of Hollywood’s most entrancingly strange bedtime stories.
 
  March 7, 2014
 
  Jonathan Romney
  Independent (UK)
  TOP CRITIC
  The Big Sleep is wakeful fare for folks who don’t care what is going on, or why, so long as the talk is hard and the action harder.
 
  March 7, 2014
 
  James Agee
  TIME Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  The Big Sleep, though, is witty and sinister, and in an odd way is a realistic portrayal of big-city life with Arabian Nights overtones.
 
  August 30, 2012
 
  Manny Farber
  The New Republic
  TOP CRITIC
  … an American classic, arguably the greatest film made for a Chandler novel, and the definitive pairing of legendary screen team Bogie and Bacall.
 
  May 6, 2022
 
  Sean Axmaker
  Stream on Demand
  Just when a few solutions are offered up, further conundrums arise, as if fate dictates that Marlowe can never really be finished with a case.
 
  August 3, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
 
  Mike Massie
  Gone With The Twins
  For all the untidiness of its plot, The Big Sleep is, however, an enjoyable melodrama, exciting most of the time and comic when it chooses to be.
 
  October 22, 2019
 
  Harry MacArthur
  Washington Star
  There has probably never been so much plot in a film — but it doesn’t seem to matter. It, all looks very exciting, and if you follow half of it you’ll get through.
 
  July 22, 2019
 
  Donald Horne
  Daily Telegraph (Australia)
  It is brilliantly directed and photographed. It moves with breathless speed. The acting is admirable. The dialogue (Raymond Chandler and William Faulkner are among those credited) is of an unusually high level of humour and crispness.
 
  July 22, 2019
 
  Basil Wright
  The Spectator
  …seriously, does anyone care how the chauffeur died?
 
  February 13, 2019 | Rating: 8/10
 
  Sarah Boslaugh
  TheArtsStl…

 

Plot
P.I. Philip Marlowe’s hired by a wealthy general to find out and stop his daughter, Carmen from being blackmailed over gambling debts, Marlowe finds himself deep within a web of love triangles, blackmail, murder, gambling, and organised crime. With help from Vivian (another of the general’s daughters), Marlowe hatches a plot to free the family from this web and trap the real culprit.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
The chemistry between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep translates to the screen, spurred on by memorable lines.
 

 
Howard-Hawks.jpg