Dead are fast asleep
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dead are fast asleep |
| Original title | The Big Sleep |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1946 |
| length | 114 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Howard Hawks |
| script |
William Faulkner , Jules Furthman , Leigh Brackett |
| production | Howard Hawks |
| music | Max Steiner |
| camera | Sid Hickox |
| cut | Christian Nyby |
| occupation | |
| |
The Big Sleep is an American film noir - thriller from director Howard Hawks . The main roles are played by Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart , who were newly married at the time. The film is based on Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep (German title: Der große Schlaf , in the first German translation of 1950 also Der tiefe Schlaf ). The film premiered on August 23, 1946 and was released in theaters in the United States at the end of that month.
According to Steven Jay Schneider, the work has the right to be called the greatest crime film of all time , even if the plot is very involved. It was precisely this that made the dark film noir extremely notorious among film critics and film buffs. The famous US film critic Roger Ebert said of dead asleep that the plot was about the process of a criminal investigation, not the results.
In 1997 the film was entered into the National Film Registry .
action
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by the wealthy General Sternwood, because he is being blackmailed because of the gambling debts of his younger daughter Carmen. It also comes up that a former employee of Sternwoods named Sean Regan, with whom Marlowe was friends, disappeared without a trace. Marlowe gets to work and discovers that Vivian, Sternwood's intelligent older daughter, knows more than she admits. Her sister Carmen is involved in criminal activities, but she is insane because, as it soon turns out, she is a drug addict.
His research leads Marlowe into a jungle of small and large crimes. Since he does not shy away from the argument with the powerful gang boss Eddie Mars, he sends two thugs on his neck. A short man watching the matter only helps Marlowe after the thugs have gone. It turns out he has an acquaintance who knows about the whereabouts of Sean Regan and Eddie Mars' allegedly with this runaway woman. A little later he is murdered by Eddie Mars' killer Canino. Marlowe then meets with the acquaintance who actually gives him clues as to the whereabouts of Regan and Eddie Mars' wife.
Marlowe drives to the house where Sean Regan is said to have disappeared. There he is knocked down and handcuffed. When he wakes up, he sees Eddie Mars' wife and Vivian, the daughter of the man who originally hired him. She frees him and helps him escape; during this escape, Marlowe also kills Mars' right hand Canino. Marlowe finds out that Carmen killed Regan out of jealousy and that Vivian is being blackmailed by Eddie Mars. At the end of the film, Marlowe sets a trap for the gang boss with the help of Vivian. The gangsters mistakenly shoot their boss.
background
The first version of the script by Leigh Brackett was not used. Hawks had William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, with whom he had previously worked on the successful Have and Not Have , write a new script. According to a much-quoted anecdote, Hawks sent Chandler a telegram during the filming to ask who had killed the chauffeur Owen Taylor. Chandler replied shortly afterwards: "I don't know."
The film was shot in the fall of 1944. The first cut of the film was only shown in front of American troops abroad in 1945. A new cut version was created for the cinema release on August 23, 1946, which contained several re-shot scenes, mainly with Bogart and Bacall (for example their conversation in the restaurant) and instead scenes necessary to explain the crime story (such as the conversation between Marlowe and von Thomas E. Jackson depicted District Attorney White) waived. The unnamed scriptwriter for the re-shot scenes was Philip G. Epstein .
synchronization
The film was not dubbed until 1967 at Beta Technik Film GmbH, Munich, based on the dialogue script and dialogue direction by Wolfgang Schick .
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Philip Marlowe | Humphrey Bogart | Arnold Marquis |
| Vivian Sternwood Rutledge | Lauren Bacall | Christa Berndl |
| Eddie Mars | John Ridgely | Günther Ungeheuer |
| Carmen Sternwood | Martha Vickers | Margot Leonard |
| Agnes Lowzier | Sonia Darrin | Rosemarie Fendel |
| Bookseller with glasses | Dorothy Malone | Rose-Marie Kirstein |
| Inspector Bernie Ohls | Regis Toomey | Günther Sauer |
| General Sternwood | Charles Waldron | Erik Jelde |
| Lash Canino, killer | Bob Steele | Kurt E. Ludwig |
| Harry Jones | Elisha Cook junior | Kurt Zips |
| Joe Brody | Louis Jean Heydt | Harald Juhnke |
| Mrs. Mona Mars | Peggy Knudsen | Helga Trümper |
| Carol Lundgren | Tommy Rafferty | Arne Elsholtz |
Reviews
“Narrated in a straightforward and laconic manner, with dialogues brilliantly adapted by William Faulkner, the film is less interested in logical coherence than in the" existentialist "way of life of its hero. Humphrey Bogart shows in the lead role one of the best performances of his career. "
"Based on the novel 'The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler, Howard Hawks directed a classic film noir that depicts a hopeless society in a gloomy urban jungle. Hawks paid more attention to the effect of the images than to the logic of the plot. Hawks even admitted that he didn't quite understand the story either. If, in the end, it is not clear who actually murdered chauffeur Owen Taylor, you can comfort yourself with Marlowe's saying: 'In this city there are too many weapons and too little brains.' "
“The Big Sleep is definitely not the best film from Hollywood's Black Series : The atmosphere and aesthetics of film noir are exploited for a commercial production that cites pessimism and the cynical worldview rather than embraces it. Hawks is a veteran, he uses the tension dramaturgy schematically, but does it so skillfully and inconspicuously that the viewer forgets the shortcomings of the script. "
“One of the best examples from the series of American crime films from the 30s and 40s, which wanted to express discomfort in the society of the time beyond the tension. The good arrangement of the exciting plot, dense atmosphere and distant dialogues as well as the embodiment of a pessimistic detective by Humphrey Bogart make the film a front runner of its kind, only suitable for adults. "
Awards
- 1997: Entry into the National Film Registry
Remake
Chandler's novel was filmed again in 1978 under the title The Big Sleep (German distribution title: Dead sleep better) with Robert Mitchum in the leading role.
literature
- Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep. Novel (Original title: The Big Sleep ). Complete works, 1st transl. Gunar Ortlepp. Diogenes, Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-257-20132-X
- Paul Werner : Failing heroes in the film noir : "Dead sleep tight". Fischer film history. 3, 1945 - 1960. Ed. Werner Faulstich , Helmut Korte. Fischer TB, Frankfurt 1990, pp. 58-79
Web links
- The Big Sleep in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- The Big Sleep atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- Film information, review, poster
- Review in the film headquarters
- The Big Sleep two movie posters at rateyourmusic.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ 101 Gangster Films You Should See Before Life Is Over , edited by Steven Jay Schneider, Edition Olms AG, Zurich 2010, page 105
- ^ Roger Ebert: The Big Sleep Movie Review & Film Summary (1946) - Roger Ebert .
- ↑ Peter Köhler (ed.): Donnerwetter! I got drunk for free. Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006
- ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | Dead are fast asleep. Retrieved February 18, 2018 .
- ↑ Gereon Stein: The dead are fast asleep on synchrondatenbank.de. Retrieved May 27, 2019 .
- ↑ The dead are fast asleep. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 21, 2017 .
- ↑ The dead are fast asleep. In: Prism online. Retrieved July 21, 2017 .