The Big Sleepwritten by:Raymond Chandler

Jared Pieck

Sean Stout

Ashlie Thomas

Topics to be Discussed The Biography of Raymond Chandler

“Film Noir”

The development of Los Angeles during the 1930s.

Biography of Raymond Chandler

Born July 23, 1888 in Chicago, Illinois. Lived in England with his mother from 1896

to 1912. Served with the Canadian Army and Royal

Flying Corps during World War I.

Biography Continued Moved back to California in 1916 and

served as a petroleum company executive until Great Depression in the 1930’s

Chandler lost his job due to drinking and absenteeism and therefore turned to writing as a career.

Biography Continued His first short story, “Blackmailers Don’t

Shoot,” was published in a science fiction magazine called The Black Mask. He become a screenwriter in 1943.

Altogether he published a total of 7 novels and 19 short stories, along with several screenplays.

Biography Continued Chandler died on March 26, 1959. He passed away before finishing his current

novel, Poodle Spring.

The Big Sleep (1939) Farewell, My Lovely (1940) The High Window (1942) The Lady in the Lake (1943) The Little Sister (1949) The Long Goodbye (1953) Playback (1958)

The Big Sleep was Chandler’s first novel.

Los Angeles “In 1932, with population

surpassing one million, the city hosted the Summer Olympics.”

(Wikipedia)

“Los Angeles's literary side includes Raymond Chandler, whose hard-boiled detective stories were set in pre-war and immediate post-war L.A.”

(Wikipedia)

Raymond Chandler’s Influences

“Chandler’s short stories and novels are evocatively written, conveying the time, place, and ambience of Los Angeles in the 1930s and 1940s. The places are real such as Bay City which is Santa Monica, Gray Lake which is Silver Lake, and Idle Valley a synthesis of rich San Fernando Valley communities.”

(Wikipedia)http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-california/SantaMonicaPier-600.jpg

Film Noir Defines a “style” or “genre” of

cinematography and story-telling from the early 1920s through the 1950s. Some analysts theorize that “Film Noir” never disappeared, only changed with technology and trends.

Characterized by intense shadows (often from surrounding architecture,) mystery, and “realism”

The Big Sleep Philip Marlowe untangles

the web of deceit laid by Vivian Sternwood Rutledge and casino-owner Eddie Mars while scouring the maze of underworld L.A. for a missing bootlegger and Vivian’s wild and unpredictable younger sister, Carmen.

http://steerforth.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/big_sleep1.jpg

The Big Sleep Co-written by William Faulkner The second film starring Humphrey Bogart

and Lauren Bacall, who had married in 1945 Based of Raymond Chandler’s novel, but

adapted for screen, including additional scenes not present in the original text.

Provides a full glimpse into the slurry of questionable individuals within criminal underworld, including blackmailers, bootleggers, hitmen, pornographers and drug dealers.

Double Indemnity The tragic tale of an insurance

salesman and corrupt wife of an unappreciative middle-age man, marked for murder

“William Neff” and “Phyllis Dietrichson” carry on an affair, killing her husband and framing the death as an accidental fall from a train, resulting in “double indemnity” compensation from the company Neff represents; however, insurance fraud investigator “Keyes” remains suspicious… http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/

51yNWpAzy8L.jpg

Double Indemnity (1947)

Co-written by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder

The twisting plot largely concerns the internally “noir” struggle of William Neff, a man fallen in love with a married woman and the desires they hold for a new start.

Killer’s Kiss “Davey Gordon,” a

washed-up boxer meets “Gloria Price,” a dancer controlled by the heavy hand of her lover Vincent Raphello

Climaxes in the most famous scene, an axe/spear fight in a dark mannequin warehouse

http://www.kqed.org/assets/img/arts/blog/killers-kiss.jpg

Killer’s Kiss (1955) Co-written and directed by Stanley Kubrick This being Kubrick’s second film, and first

sold for world-wide distribution, it is the beginning of his legacy, although he later regarded the film as amateurish and cliché.

Kubrick later went on to participate and direct such classics as:

References Pierce, Kingston, J. "Raymond Chandler." Authors and Creators, Raymond

Chandler. 21 Oct 2008

<http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/chandler.html>. "Raymond Chandler." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia

Britannica Online. 21 Oct 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/105426/Raymond-Chandler>.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_culture_of_Los_Angeles

ReferencesChapman, M. (n.d.). Biography for Stanley Kubrick. Retrieved November 1, 2008, from Internet Movie Database: <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000040/bio>

Col Needham. (n.d.). Plot Summary of Double Indemnity. Retrieved Novemeber 1, 2008, from Internet Movie Database: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/plotsummary>

Stephan, E. (n.d.). Mini-Biography of Humphrey Bogart. Retrieved November 1, 2008, from Internet Movie Database: <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000007/bio>

Wolters, L. (n.d.). Summary of Killer's Kiss. Retrieved November 01, 2008, from Internet Movie Database: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048254/plotsummary>

Killer's Kiss (1955) 2.JPG. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2008, from The Distracted Globe: <http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2007/01/15/killer%E2%80%99s-kiss-1955/>

Killer's Kiss, .JPG. (2006, December 18). Retrieved Novemeber 1, 2008, from KQed: <http://www.kqed.org/arts/movies/article.jsp?essid=12740>

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2007/01/15/killer%E2%80%99s-kiss-1955/