Film Noir Review: The Brasher Doubloon (1947)

“Rule 1 for private investigators: Always make an advance deposit before the client changes your mind.”

We all love Philip Marlowe. He’s the essence of film noir distilled into a single character, and he’s responsible for more classics than most on-screen detectives combined. The list of actors who have played him is mind-blowing as it is star-studded: Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, James Garner, Elliott Gould, Danny Glover and James Caan. Each of them brought a certain aspect of Marlowe to the fore, proving just how versatile and multi-faceted the character was.

That being said, Marlowe is not an automatic boon to a film. While his screen adventures have fared better than, say, Mike Hammer or Lew Archer, there have been instances where an adaptation dropped the ball entirely. Case study: 1947 The Brasher doubloon. A film that flirted with grandeur at almost every turn during pre-production and somehow ended up with the least compelling end product imaginable.

Let’s go back a little. Raymond Chandler, the author behind Marlowe, was the hottest star in Hollywood around 1945. He received an Oscar nomination as a co-writer double compensation (1944) and adaptations of the novels murder my sweet (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946) led to critical and commercial success. 20th Century Fox took notice and dusted off the rights to Chandler’s novel The tall window hoping for another hit. What could go wrong?

It turns out a lot. Buckle up, because the number of iconic actors who have been linked to the film at one point or another is whiplash. The first official word on The Brasher doubloon came in May 1945 when it was announced that Fred MacMurray would play Marlowe. Before the ink dried on said report, MacMurray was out and John Payne was in. Curious to see Payne step into Marlowe’s well-worn shoes? Too bad it was dropped two months later to make room for Victor Mature. 20th Century Fox was so committed to making Mature the next Marlowe that he was pulled from the musical Three little girls in blue (1946) to give him the necessary preparation time.

It doesn’t stop there. Mature eventually left, leaving the door open for Dana Andrews. A January 1946 studio report confirmed that Gene Tierney would be cast alongside Andrews’ Marlowe and that John Brahm would be hired to direct. Part of the report turned out to be true and had nothing to do with the stars laura (1944). Pressed for options and with no committed stars in sight, the studio turned to Robert Montgomery. On paper, the actor was as good a choice as anyone, but he had already committed to another Marlowe adaptation for RKO. lady in the lake (1947), and the double dip proved too great a hurdle to overcome.

I’ve spent so much time on the casting opportunities The Brasher doubloon for any of these actors would have made an excellent Marlowe. MacMurray and Mature could have tapped into the detective’s steadfastness, Payne could have tapped into his underlying tenderness, and Andrews could have given us a steely, somewhat uncharacteristic take (similar to the one above lady in the lake). There’s an intriguing movie starring each of these men, especially considering each of them was in their commercial prime.

What we got instead was George Montgomery and a 1947 publication. Now I’m not one to criticize actors outright, and Montgomery was a likable cowboy Cimarron City (1958-59), but he has nothing to do with taking the mantle from Marlowe. He’s an open book and you can tell. It’s too broad and chiseled, and it doesn’t communicate any of the internal problem-solving that a character like Marlowe needs to make him compelling. He’s also too far-sighted. From the opening scene, he aggressively flirts with his client’s (Nancy Guild) secretary, though she makes it clear that she has more pressing matters on her mind. Granted, Marlowe has always had a tendency to romanticize the women he meets, but Montgomery’s intransigence makes the whole endeavor feel, well, creepy. Less Spade and more Archer if you understand my drift.

Guild, who took on the role of the shy secretary after the deaths of Tierney and Ida Lupino(!), has little to do but look scared. She’s doing decently with what she’s got, but her chemistry with Montgomery is stiff at best, making them by far the least electric pairing in any Marlowe adaptation. Noir enthusiasts perk up when little players like Roy Roberts (power of evil) and Houseley Stevenson (Dark passage) appear, but they’re gone before they can boost the film’s momentum in any meaningful way.

The script doesn’t do the cast any favors. Dorothy Bennett and Leonard Praskins try to stay true to Chandler’s novel by incorporating narrative, but they end up over-explaining the plot so much that all tensions disappear. Marlowe figures things out in record time, and the unconvincing performances make it clear when a particular character is lying. The moment Guild’s character points a gun at Marlowe should come as a shock, but Guild has played all of her previous scenes with such an exaggerated innocence that the whole thing feels telegraphed. Even the shamus doesn’t look surprised.

It’s not all bad. John Brahm is one of those directors who are only as good as their material but still pull off some interesting visuals. Marlowe is knocked down at one point and when he looks up the camera takes on his POV with his captors standing over him. It’s a decent shot and one that captures the novel’s grittiness. I also like the use of architecture to convey the gothic connections of Marlowe’s clients, the Murdock family.

At the risk of making correlation sound like causation, the Marlowe adaptations slowed after the release of The Brasher doubloon. The film received mixed to negative reviews and the character would not return to the big screen until the 1969s Marlowe. The character has evidently survived, leaving this underperforming release little more than a curiosity for noiristas and Raymond Chandler completists. It’s one of those rare, unfortunate films that’s more interesting to read about than watch.

TRIVIA: The film was released under its original title, The tall windowIn the United Kingdom.

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All articles from Danilo’s Film Noir Review can be found here.

Danilo Castro is a Film Noir fan and contributing writer for Classic Movie Hub. You can read more articles and reviews by Danilo at the Film Noir Archive or follow Danilo on Twitter @DaniloSCastro.