I didn't actually finish watching The Lady in the Lake. There came a point when I realized it still had 20 minutes to go, and I couldn't bear the thought of watching it for that much longer.
George Montgomery's version of Phillip Marlowe was too abrasive. Bogart could play cynical detectives with a penchant for straight (read: harsh) talk, but he also knew when to play nice. Everything Montgomery says sounds like it comes with its own sneer. Of course, I can't be sure of that, what with the gimmick Montgomery decided to employ (he was also the director).
See, the entire movie is shown from Marlowe's perspective. We see it as he sees it. We only see his face when he looks in a mirror, usually to inspect his latest set of injuries. If Marlowe gets punched in the face, the fist comes right at us, then the camera wobbles, falls, and goes dim. The entire movie is done like this (excepting brief interludes where Marlowe addresses us directly, before continuing with his story).
The problem it presents is twofold. One, we only have Montgomery's voice to go off in our determination of who he is. As I said, most everything he says is mean-spirited, but we have no way of perceiving his body language. Maybe he's just tired, irritated, maybe it was a joke that fell flat, but those are the sort of things the actor's posture and face tells us, and those aren't options. The other problem is that by placing us in Marlowe's eyes, all the other character's reactions are directed at us. When he says something hurtful, and they look at him with anger or pain in their eyes, they look at us. Which makes me feel like I'm the guy who hurt them, and that makes me angry at Marlowe.
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