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THE ESSENTIALS: PHILIP MARLOWE
June 17, 2017  | By David Bianculli

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

 

Alec Baldwin has been in charge of TCM’s Saturday night movie showcase, The Essentials, this season, and tonight he winds up an entertaining stretch in which his guest co-host is David Letterman. This evening’s salute is to the Raymond Chandler film noir classic detective character, Philip Marlowe, and it’s a well-chosen triple feature. First up, at 8 p.m. ET: 1946’s The Big Sleep, with Humphrey Bogart as gumshoe Marlowe, and young Lauren Bacall positively bursting off the screen, and setting it afire. Then, at 10:15 p.m. ET, comes 1969’s Marlowe, starring James Garner as a different-generation Marlowe – and that’s followed, at midnight ET, by Lady in the Lake, starring Robert Montgomery, who also directed, as Marlowe. It’s a fascinating cinematic exercise, because it’s shot entirely from Marlowe’s subjective visual point of view. The only time you fully “see” Montgomery as Marlowe is when he catches his own reflection (pictured). Upon reflection, it’s a wonderfully weird thing to watch – and I expect Letterman will have a lot of funny things to say about it.

 
 
 
 
 
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