The Big Sleep

1946 | Film Noir | 114 minutes | English

Info

Private detective Philip Marlowe is summoned to the mansion of General Sternwood. His flighty daughter Carmen incurred gambling debts to Arthur Geiger and he’s now blackmailing her. As he was leaving, Marlowe runs into Sternwood’s other daughter, Vivian. She’s beautiful and sexy and Marlowe is interested. The story gets complicated when Vivian visits Marlowe’s office the next morning. She reveals that Geiger also has pornographic photos of Carmen that he will only return (with the negatives) after payment is made. It also seems that Vivian is involved with the gangsters. There’s a lot of blackmailing and murdering going on. But you can depend on Detective Philip Marlowe to unravel the truth and punish the bad guys.

Cast

Humphrey Bogart (Philip Marlowe) / Lauren Bacall (Vivian Rutledge) / Martha Vickers (Carmen Sternwood)

Why Stream This Film?

The Big Sleep is probably the most puzzling film noir film ever made. However, this has never adversely affected its popularity and its affection with film buffs. Film critic Roger Ebert attributed the greatness of the film to its extraordinary way of explaining “the process of a criminal investigation, not its results.”

Rotten Tomatoes Score (Critics Consensus): 97%

Accolades

Sight and Sound Poll: Listed as one of the greatest films ever made
The film is listed in the book, Roger Ebert, The Great Movies
The film received a perfect 4 stars out of 4, in Leonard Maltin’s MOVIE GUIDE
The U.S. Library of Congress deemed the film “Culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” and added it to the National Film Registry.