Mysteries and Detection

The moral in many of ChandlerÆs novels appears no more complex than the way in which his tough-guy, first-person narrator-detective Philip Marlowe is able to effectively combat danger and chaos in a corrupt world of dark forces. After failing in his once successful business, Chandler began writing detective stories at the age of 44, selling his first one, ôBlackmailers DonÆt Shoot,ö and never looking back. A few years later, he would write The Big Sleep, forever establishing his tough-guy Private Investigator Philip Marlow. ChandlerÆs detective fiction includes a style that has become associated with classic hardboiled detective fiction. According to Leon Arden (p. 76), ChandlerÆs style features ôvividness and variety of characterization, poetic descriptions the all-pervasive sharp edge of M

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and L.A. Confidential renewing interest in the genre among moviegoers. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, a slue of movies like The Big Sleep, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Laura and countless others were prime examples of the development of film noir in American cinema. Many film noir movies originated from hardboiled detective fiction of the era from James M. Cain, Dashiel Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. As reported by one Hollywood historian, ôNoir has a real place in film history. These movies are celebrated for their stylishness, their subject matter and certainly the fact that they are thrillers. TheyÆre the film equivalent to the great mystery novels of Raymond Chandler and others,ö (Noir, p. 06D). Film noir often features an atmosphere that is dark and isolated. City streets are often deserted as the protagonist faces an existential reality in a disillusioned world. Alluring women who offer allure as a mask for danger often involve the protagonist in criminal activity, most typically murder as is the case in Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Laura and many other film noir movies. As one film noir scholar maintains, there were four ôcatalytic elementsö that brough
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Approximate Word count = 1591
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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