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

Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir Phillips, Gene D. Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir. Lexington: Kentucky UP, 2000; 2003 (pb). Paper, $19.95. ISBN 0-8131-9042-8. 336 pp.

Film noir and hard-boiled detective novels have been favorite topics of American cinema and literature studies for decades. The shadowy nights, crooked cities, seductive femme fatales, and world-weary private detective crusaders have haunted lecture halls and critical texts ever since Nino Frank first wrote the term film noir in 1946. Given the been-there-done-that nature of many film noir discussions, is there anything left to learn? As the extraordinarily articulate Gene D. Phillips proves with his book Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir (2000), cinema fans and Chandler readers can revisit this old stomping ground, learn something new, and have a tremendously enjoyable time doing it.

Phillips, an experienced scholar and gifted writer whose work includes discussions on Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, focuses here on the infamous Raymond Chandler, literary genius of hard-boiled detective novels and collaborator on several noir classics. Chandler's best known novels-The Big Sleep (1939), Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The High Window (1942), The Lady in the Lake (1943), The Little Sister (1949), and The Long Goodbye (1953), among others-star crusading private detective Philip Marlowe, California's answer to Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. As Phillips reminds us, Chandler's Marlowe character is probably America's most celebrated hard-boiled detective, a "white knight" in the unspeakably crooked underground of criminal Los Angeles. Chandler also wrote the original screenplay for The Blue Dahlia (1946), and collaborated on the screenplays for Double Indemnity (1944), The Unseen (1945), and Strangers on a Train (1951). Aside from his impressive film and literature credentials, Chandler is infamous-especially, in Hollywood-for his wild temper, alcoholism, lack of cooperation, and other personal and marital problems.

Though it may be tempting to discuss a colorful, controversial character like Raymond Chandler in biographical format, Phillips is concerned primarily with analyzing the content of the literary and cinematic work itself. In accomplishing this task, Creatures of Darkness employs the tried-and-true adaptation studies method of analyzing the source material-usually books-first, and the films or television productions second. Using this basic, assiduous organizational structure, Phillips takes his readers on a journey through every book and film that Chandler was directly and indirectly involved with, from his early Black Mask days, all the way through posthumous influence on recent films like Where's Marlowe? (1999). All plots and themes are vigorously analyzed and compared, and numerous "the making of production stories and fun facts are expertly interwoven into each chapter. One of the many impressive things about Phillips's research is that he dug up the original Chandler-written treatments and screenplays to figure out, once and for all, exactly how much influence the writer had on each of the productions, effectively putting to rest several debates.

While Phillips's priority is Chandler's art, he is not afraid to tackle other, more controversial issues, particularly those related to the mystery writer's whimsical behavior. On the contrary, Creatures of Darkness boasts its fair share of background information about temper tantrums, bizarre terms of contract, alcoholism on the job, heated arguments with studio co-workers, and Chandler's overall eccentricity as a California-based writer who admittedly despised the natives. Of course, this sort of information is written in context, and never takes the form of tasteless gossip or moral judgment. In fact, Phillips purposefully underplays Chandler's erratic behavior and negativity rather than capitalizing on character deficiencies like lesser, tabloid-style writers and biographers would be tempted to do.

The strength of Phillips's writing is that it captures the fun of hard-boiled detective fiction and film noir while simultaneously managing to maintain the seriousness and professionalism characteristic of high quality scholarly research. Readers of all tastes and educational levels will likely find themselves captivated by Chandler's potent writings and life, and many will find themselves revisiting the novels and films as a result of Phillips's superlative analytical and descriptive abilities. That said, those people not yet exposed to Chandler's work should be wary of reading Phillips's book first as it exposes everything in vivid detail, including key plot developments and the endings of every discussed book and film.

All things considered, Creatures of Darkness is a scholarly text of the highest caliber in terms of information and readability. Film noir and hard-boiled detective fiction enthusiasts of all levels of knowledge will find the book not only captivating, informative, and accessible, but also a pure, page-turning delight. Hardcore fans in particular will appreciate the wealth of valuable information here regarding their favorite novels and Hollywood productions. Phillips successfully entraps his readers in the always interesting world of Raymond Chandler, much like Chandler placed his readers in filthy Los Angeles with beloved private detective, Philip Marlowe, over half a century ago.