In LADY IN THE LAKE, we see and experience all the action through Philip Marlowe's eyes, thanks to a subjective camera and clever editing. In fact, the only time we actually see Marlowe's face is when he looks at it in a mirror after being beaten up. Robert Montgomery (who also directs) plays the cynical private eye Marlowe, who yearns to write more than detect. But his tough-talking editor talks him into looking for her boss's missing wife. Lots of familiar '40s film faces turn up to help or thwart our anti-hero, including Lloyd Nolan, Leon Ames and one of those femme fatales you love to hate, Audrey Totter as the editor.
LADY IN THE LAKE (1946)
Noir from a different point of view
In LADY IN THE LAKE, we see and experience all the action through Philip Marlowe's eyes, thanks to a subjective camera and clever editing. In fact, the only time we actually see Marlowe's face is when he looks at it in a mirror after being beaten up. Robert Montgomery (who also directs) plays the cynical private eye Marlowe, who yearns to write more than detect. But his tough-talking editor talks him into looking for her boss's missing wife. Lots of familiar '40s film faces turn up to help or thwart our anti-hero, including Lloyd Nolan, Leon Ames and one of those femme fatales you love to hate, Audrey Totter as the editor.
