Back on the Beat

I haven't exactly been burning the blog boards up of late. A little extra curricular activity has been taking up my time, so reading, viewing, etc. has gone a little by the wayside. Having said that...

 

I did read Chandler's 'The Curtain' featuring Carmady, probably the next most common detective in his oeuvres next to Marlowe. Although I only saw, not read, 'Farewell, My Lovely', both the Dick Powell and Robert Mitchum versions, and a long time ago, there are a lot of parallels; old rich man in huge house, missing (good) girl, and especially the garage scene. The next story, 'Try the Girl', has similarities too, at least in a 'Moose Malloy'-type called Skalla.

 

I've read a lot of Chandler's 'Collected Short Fiction' at this stage and am still only halfway through. Very readable stuff. The old story about Chandler not knowing who killed the driver in the movie version of 'The Big Sleep', makes perfect sense. You don't need to know what exactly is happening to enjoy these tales, and sometimes it probably helps if you don't. There is a hypnotic quality to the writing, very much like an oral account, which makes sense too when you consider that most are told in the first person. You just go with the flow trusting that Carmady (and Chandler) knows his job and will get us there in the most efficient way in the end. I have a natural bias to Hammett, but I can still appreciate quality and this is quality.