Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir

by Phillips, Gene D.

• ISBN13: 9780813121741
• ISBN10: 0813121744
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

More than any other writer, Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) is responsible for raising detective stories from the level of pulp fiction to literature. Chandler's cynical, hard-boiled private eye Philip Marlowe set the standard for rough, brooding heroes with a strong sense of moral conviction living in a cruel and indifferent world.

Author Biography

Gene D. Phillips, S.J. teaches fiction and film history at Loyola University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Preface: Billy Wilder speaking	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Chronology	xvii
Prologue: Trouble in Paradise	xix
Introduction: Dead of Night	1	(12)
Part One Knight and the City: The films of Chandler's Fiction
Paint It Black: Chandler as Fiction Writer	13	(7)
The Lady Is a Tramp: The Falcon Takes Over; Murder, My Sweet; and Farewell, My Lovely	20	(28)
Knight Moves; Two Films of the Big Sleep	48	(25)
Down among the Rotting Palms: Time to Kill and The Brasher Doubloon	73	(21)
Dead in the Water: Lady in the Lake	94	(23)
Decline and Fall: Marlowe	117	(20)
Modern Times: The Long Goodbye	137	(28)
Part Two Exited in Babylon: Chandler's Screenplays
Lured: Double Indemnity	165	(18)
No Way to Treat a Lady: The Blue Dahlia and Other Screenplays	183	(19)
Dance with the Devil: Strangers on a Train and Playback	202	(21)
The Stag at Eve: Poodle Springs and Other Telefilms	223	(19)
Epilogue: Endless Night	242	(9)
Notes	251	(24)
Selected Bibliography	275	(8)
Filmography	283	(14)
Index	297