The Lady in the Lake: Books Versus Movie Essay

The Lady in the Lake: Books Versus Movie

When we think of mystery novels, we tend to view them as a cheap source of amusement. Not many would dive into a mystery novel expecting to find a deep meaning or an important theme beneath the layers of the text. Many just read mystery novels for pure enjoyment. Consequently, over the years the mystery novel has gained the reputation as pulp fiction. Many would find it absurd to compare mystery novels to more renowned pieces written by such authors as Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Although viewed in this light, some writers have managed to lift the mystery novel from pulp status to classic masterpiece. An excellent example of a classic mystery masterpiece would be Raymond Chandlers The Lady in the Lake. In this noir classic, Philip Marlowe has been asked to look into the disappearance of the straying wife of a local businessman. His search to find her leads him through dead bodies, corrupt police and wicked women. Marlowe witnesses the world in a fatalistic and impartial way as he describes the things people do to themselves and others. The narrative flows very easily as Marlowe unwinds the mystery to its inevitable conclusionobserving and condemning the corrupt American social structure with his cynical wit. Although the literature is seemingly spare and straightforward, Chandler demonstrates the simple power of talented writing.

Like many other books, Chandlers The Lady in the Lake was made into a movie directed by and starring Robert Montgomery. In most cases, movies that are derived from books are not as popular as the books themselves. There are very few movies that outshine the books from which they are drawn from and unfortunately, The Lady in the Lake is not one of those movies.

Upon starting the movie, we encounter the subjective camera. The gimmick is that, apart from a few scenes of Marlowe talking to the audience in his office, everything is viewed through his eyes with Marlowe himself remaining unseen unless glancing in a mirror. Seemingly a good idea on paper, the execution of this technique is far from compelling. The camera simply does not see the way the human eye does as the artificiality constantly draws attention to itself. In making the camera an active participant rather than an outside angle, Montgomery failed to utilize the full possibilities of what this unique camera can offer. After a few minutes of seeing a hand reaching towards a doorknob, lighting a cigarette or lifting a glass, the novelty begins to wear thin. Although his execution of the subjective camera was flawed, Montgomery has employed a manner for using the camera, which has led and will lead to more arresting angle effects.

Another aspect of the movie that makes it inferior to the book is that the movie leaves out most of the happenings that take place at Little Fawn Lake, which is arguably the most exciting and dramatic part of the book. Robert Montgomery side steps the finding of the lady in the lake and fails to include Muriel Chess, Bill Chess or

Jim Patton. In addition, Montgomery fails to draw from the imagery that Chandler creates with his masterful writing:

The thing rolled over once more and an arm flapped up barely above the skin of the water and the arm ended in a bloated hand that was the hand of a freak. Then the face came. A swollen pulpy gray white mass without features, without eyes, without mouth. A blotch of gray dough, a nightmare with human hair on it.

In describing people, places and things, Chandler does not spare the adjectives. His remarkable style provides very vivid images of what is happening and thereby allows the reader to be transported right into the narrative.

The film itself, on the other hand, and despite the excellent material from which it draws, is an overall artistic disappointment. Deciding to film his rendition of The Lady in the Lake entirely in the first person perspective, Montgomery fails to do Raymond Chandlers novel justice. While the possibility of puffs of smoke, lips, glasses, telephone receivers, and guns swinging suddenly into view with the nearness and spontaneity of real life sounds like a thrilling experiment, the way it plays out in practice is less than impressive. Raymond Chandler's fast, rhythmic, entertaining writing style dashes and darts above the less than talented filmmaking to surpass what could have been an entirely wretched film into an engaging, if flawed, portrait of noir. This is a novel that captures the poetry, sharpness and wit of Raymond Chandler, a master at using a few words of dialogue to bring those involved in his plots off the page and imprint them in the readers' mind.