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ACTOR
George MontgomeryNancy GuildConrad JanisRoy Roberts
DIRECTOR
John Brahm
SYNOPSICS
The Brasher Doubloon (1947) is a English movie. John Brahm has directed this movie. George Montgomery,Nancy Guild,Conrad Janis,Roy Roberts are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1947. The Brasher Doubloon (1947) is considered one of the best Crime,Drama,Film-Noir,Mystery movie in India and around the world.
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The Brasher Doubloon (1947) Reviews
No Bogart, No Powell, No Problem
Almost all the reviewers of the Brasher Doubloon have complained that George Montgomery was no Bogart or Powell. True. Would this film had been better with either of them playing the iconic Philip Marlowe? Of course. And while you're at it, it would have been better with Lauren Bacall as the femme fatale and Peter Lorre as the villain, etc. etc. Get over it, not every classic film can have a Hall of Fame cast. Many movies with 'B' stars were very entertaining -- and the Brasher Doubloon is a good example. Watch the film with fresh eyes, pretend this is NOT Raymond Chandler's Marlowe and I think you'll enjoy it more. In this film, Marlowe is younger, handsomer and more suave. The script, which many also complained about, suits the persona of the debonair George Montgomery better than the more cynical lines given Bogart and Powell. The main actors did a good job with their portrayals, the plot keeps you guessing with some good twists, the photography is great, the outdoor locations perfect. In sum, this is NOT the Maltese Falcon or Murder, My Sweet which are 10+. But the Brasher Doubloon is a solid 7 and well worth watching on its own merits.
The least of the forties Marlowe films, but still worth a look!
Most reviews of this film that I have read described this film as poor. Actually it really isn't. Its just that the other 40's Phillip Marlowe films are better. George Montgomery tries hard as Marlowe, but he is a bit to young looking to be convincing as a hard boiled detective. Ideally,an actor in his thirties or forties should have been cast; old enough to have grown world weary but still young enough to woo the babes. Despite this films faults, its still worth a look and is not the dismal failure some critics have claimed it is.
atmospheric location photography
Can't add much to what has already been said, but what this film has over some of the better known Marlowe films is some real Los Angeles location photography, which gives it a special atmosphere; the eerie Pasadena mansion with huge palm trees blowing in the wind, and a rambling old Craftsman house in the Hollywood Hills on a windy afternoon. Among other films based on Raymond Chandler stories, "The Big Sleep," in particular, all filmed on indoor sets, has no feeling of Los Angeles at all. George Montgomery in "Brasher Doubloon" is a lightweight, but the film is fun and entertaining. Surprising that it is virtually NEVER shown on TV. I only saw it because a pal owns a 35mm print.
The Brasher Doubloon, Film Noir with all it's magic, and plenty of pizazz to please that genre's true fans.
Mysterious, Moody Mansions, juicy but unexpected villains, great characters, especially Florence Bates as the mother of the 'Poor little Rich Boy', played by youthful fresh-faced and very talented Conrad Janis, whose 'Peck's Bad Boy act', contrasted with his boyish charm, makes you not want him to be part of his mother's dark machinations, and murderous plot to drive poor Nancy Guild over the edge into madness. Nancy Guild's name may not have been as powerful a draw as Lauren Bacall's, or other sultry Film Noir Stars, and George Montgomery may not have had the 'gravitas' Humphrey Bogart so easily exuded, but together this movie is as thrilling these many years later, as our memories are of the more famous Film Noirs of the time. It is not a white knuckle ride, but it is insidiously unnerving, taut, 'shivery' and darkly sensual, and represents a classic style of filming which is layered with conventional ploys of the era in which it was created, but frankly so much more satisfying that most of today's lukewarm fare. Three cheers or 20 for this fun whodunit.
George Montgomery doesn't cut mustard as Philip Marlowe
In the mid-1940s Hollywood discovered Raymond Chandler: Murder, My Sweet (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) and The Lady in the Lake (1947). Also from '47, John Brahm's The Brasher Dubloon is a version of Chandler's The High Window and, unfortunately, the most disappointing of this crop. Troubles start with the running time; at 72 minutes, that's not enough time for Chandler's baroque structures to start to unfurl, unless you reduce them to mere plot (and plot is not Chandler's long suit). Second, there's George Montgomery trying to fill the shoes of Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart and the other Montgomery, Robert. He doesn't. While he's pleasant enough -- as a light leading man -- he swallows line after line of the script smoothly where a more nuanced actor would have found a whole ham sandwich to sink his teeth into. Still, there are good points here, especially in Brahm's directing. The big old mansion with its twin, massive turrets is especially ominous with the Santa Ana winds whistling outside; Florence Bates, as its owner, knows how to grande-dame it with the best; and a striking series of sinister characters take us down meaner and ever meaner streets. With a better star and a more leisurely pace, this private-eye flick could have been a contender.