Rating: 
Summary: Bogey And Bacall InThe Picture They Were Born For
Review: "The Big Sleep" is the second Warner Brothers feature that pairs Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall under the direction of Howard Hawkes. The screenplay of "The Big Sleep" is based on the Raymond Chandler novel and written by William Faulkner (who collaborated with Hawkes in "To Have And Have Not") and Leigh Brackett. The combination of these artists produced one of the most distinctive motion pictures of the 1940s. Its twisting, non-linear storyline, the fine cast of supporting characters, and its rapid-fire witty dialogue will lead many viewers to watch "The Big Sleep" again and again, discovering something new after each time. Even individual scenes that might have been mere connective elements in other movies are wonderfully embellished. The meeting between Bogart's Philip Marlowe and General Sternwood is pure Faulkner and the witty flirtation between Bogart and the bookseller played by Dorothy Malone is a pure delight. But it is the complicated relationship that develops between Bogart and Bacall and the journey that the viewer travels with Bogart as he untangles the webs of intrigue and deceit that will one will remember most and will want to experience again.The DVD contains the 1946 general release and the 1944/45 prerelease seen mostly by servicemen overseas. If one has never seen "The Big Sleep" before, watch the documentary first, then the prerelease version, and then the 1946 version. In this way, one can see how and why the film evolved into its final form. If you are a fan of film noir, detective stories, Bogey and Bacall, or just great movies in general, make sure this DVD gets into your video library.
Rating:
Summary: Wild and Cool
Review: A movie so relentlessly all over the map and incomprehensible, it has to be seen to be believed. Closely adapted from Chandler's equally confusing private eye noir thriller. Bogart and Bacall are just plain cool. The flick captures the time and place perfectly. Every word, every inflection, every move, the clothes, the cars, the places and attitudes are all just right and utterly cool. Buy this and The Maltese Falcon and put em right next to each other on your shelf. Gotta have this on DVD.
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Summary: The Big Sleep is Double Pleasure!
Review: "Two...Two... Two Movies in One," could be the ad line for this wonderful DVD. Warner clearly understands that DVDs should offer the customer something new other than just a new play format. Here we get a two-sided disc containing both versions of this movie: a pre-release cut from 1944, seen mostly by servicemen oversees; and, the 1946 release, recut with reshot scenes to promote the chemistry between Bogart and Bacall (she had become a star between '44 and '46). This would be enough to justify buying this DVD, but Warner goes even further, providing an insightful documentary explaining the cuts and changes between the two movie versions--it's like being in a very good film appreciation class. While most DVDs seem overpriced to me, this one may be underpriced--especially considering it's one of the most intriging movies ever made. After watching both versions of the film, and also the documentary, I still don't fully understand the plot, but this movie really is all about atmosphere, dialogue and great acting. A wonderful addition to any movie collection.
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Summary: One of the top noir films in any age!
Review: Raymond Chandler focused his story in Los Angeles ; so beware with this title , which goes far beyond its simple significance .
The opening sequence in which we see the Gen and Marlowe talking in the winter quarters and the sweat we can see in the private eye's shirt will introduce us to that complex underworld of intrigue and corruption .
Vivian Sternwood has walked two steps ahead Marlowe in this sense and she will become his personal redemption . The sexual tension among them is clearly underlined by a clever dialogue (Marlowe: "You' ve got a touch of class but I don' t know you ` do over a sterch of ground" or Vivian: "A lot depends on who's in the saddle"). But when Vivian concedes to him that' s there's nothing wrong , with her that he can ` t fix , all has been said .
To many people the film perhaps romanticizes the original Chandler' s concept but Hawks knows the literature and the screen have common points but slender differences . And he underlines the irony through the visual and corporal language with sublime perfection .
And their happiness is not free they stand near a bloodstain and the ominous siren encroaching the romantic siren will remember them and us the secret agreements will be part of their lives , perhaps reminding us that smart conclusion of the Greek tragedy : there is not a happiness absolutely innocent .
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Summary: An Excellent Movie, All Style and Violence
Review: What a terrific movie...all style, all going from here to there, with the story line hardly mattering. The main characters -- Bogart, Bacall -- grab your attention and fit together like hand and glove. Plenty of amused and suggestive by-play, and the two of them look like they're having a lot of fun. The lesser characters do just as well. What could be a more exciting boy's own dream than the spoiled, dypso-nympho Martha Vickers, or as sad and brave as Elisha Cook Jr drinking the drink to try to save the woman he loves, or as hard a case as Bob Steele, urging Cook on.
What always amazes me is that so many excellent movies, maybe not all as good as this one, were made within the studio system where directors, stars and writers were assigned, where the budgets and shooting schedules for the most part were known factors, where professionalism was expected. Check who worked on the screenplay...Leigh Brackett, who knew how to put a tight screenplay together, and William Faulkner, who I understand was great with dialoque but who didn't know how to construct a screenplay. Yet through some strange chemistry they came up with a classic where logic didn't matter much.
The director, Howard Hawks, is one guy I wish could get a little more recognition today amidst all the praise for giants like Hitchcock. He did a fair amount of studio schlock, but look at his range in directing excellent movies: Scarface, Twentieth Century, Bringing Up Baby, Sergeant York, To Have and Have Not, Red River. It's sad that as time goes by he and many of the other great professionals, like William Wyler, just keep fading away, while so many of us continue to praise even the second-rate efforts of Hitchcock et. al. There should be room for both.
Cinephiles will love the two versions of the movie. For me, the studio release was just fine and very satisfying. I skipped through the other but didn't have the patience to sit through and analyse both. The DVD transfer is very good.
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Summary: "Do I have to count to three or something...?"
Review: "Do I have to count to three or somethin', like in the movies..?" utters gangster Eddie Mars' guntoting henchman Canino (Bob Steele) in Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep. The greatest element of this film noir classic is the wonderful street smart dialogue by screenwriter Leigh Brackett and others (a wonderful example is Bogart's plea to Lauren Bacall to help him escape from a gangster hideout "You know what they're are going to do to me when they come back, they'll knock my teeth in, then they'll kick me in the stomach for mumbling, and that's just for starters" ). Admittedly The Big Sleep contains possibly the most complex plot in film history, but that's ok. Thanks to its' tight dialogue direction, pristinely slick cinematography, and score by old pro Max Steiner the film bears up to many repeat viewings. Excellent performances by Bogart, Bacall, Bob Steele, Elisha Cooke Jr., Regis Toomey and Martha Vickers (as Carmen Sternwood the dark center of the entire plot).
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Summary: FIVE STARS FOR THE TEXTURED PLOT, ONE STAR FOR DVD QUALITY
Review: The movie itself is perhaps the most chaotic plot in the history of mystery yarns, which is why it helps a lot that there are two versions of the movie on the disc. It's a very well scripted moody noir that should be on your watch list, if only for Bacall's steamy scenes (and this was 1946!)
My quibbles arise with the quality of the print. It is tragic, at times the B&W picture totally fades out, especially on the right-hand side of the screen, turning several lighter shades of gray or brown. The 1945 version of the movie seems slightly less afflicted than the 1946 one. This has to be one of the best detective thrillers of all time and certainly deserved a lot better digital transfer than the blurry dated print it has been left as.
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Summary: Smokey Style
Review: Raymond Chandler's LA was peopled with the flotsam of human kind, a white kind. Though there may have been black or Mexican-Americans in LA in the forties,I didn't see any in this otherwise interesting film. There seems to be an almost stylish,white, even literary criminal class wandering Laurel Canyon Drive. The bad ladies are dressed and the men are suited. Ties are knotted and tight. Even the head gangster seems to be a sensitive soul. Drugs, murder, and classy dames, shut your trap! The film's a classic and so is Bogey.
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Summary: A Terrific DVD
Review: One of the most pleasant surprises in my DVD collection is this DVD. It contains not only the theatrically released version, but the pre-release 1945 version. Several scenes in the film were reshot to give Lauren Bacall more exposure, but when this was done some key scenes explaining the plot were deleted. I have always enjoyed the movie but finally had to read the book to figure out the plot because the theatrically released version just didn't make any sense. The pre-release version pretty well stands on its own from a storytelling standpoint and is more faithful to the book. Both versions are fun to watch, but having the pre-release version, I finally learned how Marlowe got the house keys he had when he goes back to A. G. Geiger's house (the scene where he finds them, which is in the pre-release version, is deleted in the theatrically released version). There is also a commentary comparing the changes made between the two versions. Having both versions to watch makes a great movie better!.
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