''The Brasher Doubloon'' (known in the UK as ''The High Window'') is a 1947 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

directed by

John Brahm John Brahm (August 17, 1893 – October 12, 1982) was a German film and television director. His films include ''The Undying Monster'' (1942), '' The Lodger'' (1944), ''Hangover Square'' (1945), ''The Locket'' (1946), ''The Brasher Doubloon'' (19 ...

and starring George Montgomery and Nancy Guild. It is based on the 1942 novel ''

The High Window ''The High Window'' is a 1942 novel written by Raymond Chandler. It is his third novel featuring the Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe. Plot Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy widow Elizabeth Bright Murdock to rec ...

'' by

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

Victor Mature Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include ''One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darlin ...

, and

Dana Andrews Carver Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 – December 17, 1992) was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir. A leading man during the 1940s, he continued acting in less prestigious roles and character parts ...

were all mentioned at different times as having been cast as

Philip Marlowe Philip Marlowe () is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The hardboiled crime fiction genre originated in the 1920s, notably in ''Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashiel ...

in the film before the studio settled on George Montgomery, appearing in the final film of his 20th Century Fox contract. ''The High Window'' had already been adapted for film in 1942 as a

Michael Shayne Michael "Mike" Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday, a pseudonym of Davis Dresser. The character appeared in a series of seven films starring Lloyd Nolan for Twentieth Century Fo ...

adventure starring

Lloyd Nolan Lloyd Benedict Nolan (August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985) was an American film and television actor. Among his many roles, Nolan is remembered for originating the role of private investigator Michael Shayne in a series of 1940s B movies. Bi ...

Plot

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy widow Elizabeth Murdock to investigate the theft of a rare coin, the Brasher Doubloon, from her deceased husband's private collection. Believing the case to be a fairly routine one, Marlowe soon finds himself confronted by murder and a succession of shady characters and lethal crooks. The course of his investigation leads Marlowe to realise that the source of the mystery hinges upon Merle Davis, the timid and neurotic secretary of Mrs Murdock.

Cast

* George Montgomery as

* Nancy Guild as Merle Davis *

Conrad Janis Conrad Janis (February 11, 1928 – March 1, 2022) was a jazz trombonist and actor who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and 1960s. He played the role of Mindy McConnell's father, Frederick, on television's ' ...

as Leslie Murdock *

Roy Roberts Roy Roberts (born Roy Barnes Jones, March 19, 1906 – May 28, 1975) was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen. Life and career Born in Tampa ...

as Police Lt. Breeze *

Fritz Kortner Fritz Kortner (born Fritz Nathan Kohn; 12 May 1892 – 22 July 1970) was an Austrian stage and film actor and theatre director. Life and career Kortner was born in Vienna as Fritz Nathan Kohn into a Jewish family. He studied at the Vienna A ...

as Rudolph Vannier *

Florence Bates Florence Bates ( Rabe; April 15, 1888 - January 31, 1954), was an American film and stage character actress who often played grande dame characters in supporting roles. Life and career Bates was the second child born to Jewish immigrant pare ...

as Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock *

Marvin Miller Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...

as Vince Blair *

Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one ...

as Dr. Moss (uncredited)

Production

The novel was published in 1942. ''The New York Times'' said: "Chandler has given us a detective who is hard boiled enough to be convincing without being disgustingly tough and that is no mean achievement." Film rights were bought in May 1942 by 20th Century-Fox, who used it as the basis of a script for ''Time to Kill'' (1942), a movie in their B-picture series about Michael Shayne. Following the success of the Chandler adaptation ''

Murder My Sweet ''Murder, My Sweet'' (released as ''Farewell, My Lovely'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley (in her final film before retirement). The fil ...

'' (1944) and Chandler's adaptation of ''

Double Indemnity ''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American crime film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain's 1943 novel of the same ...

'' (1944), the author became in fashion in Hollywood: Warners filmed ''

The Big Sleep ''The Big Sleep'' (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by American-British writer Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, The Big Sleep (1946 film), in 1946 and again The Big Sleep ...

'', MGM did ''

The Lady in the Lake ''The Lady in the Lake'' is a 1943 detective novel by Raymond Chandler featuring the Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe. Notable for its removal of Marlowe from his usual Los Angeles environs for much of the book, the novel's com ...

'' (1946), and Paramount filmed a Chandler original, ''

The Blue Dahlia ''The Blue Dahlia'' is a 1946 American crime film and film noir with an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler''Variety'' film review; January 30, 1946, page 12.''Harrison's Reports'' film review; February 2, 1946, page 19. directed by George M ...

'' (1946). Fox decided to film ''The High Window'' again, this time more faithfully. In May 1945, they announced that Leonard Praskins was writing a script and Robert Bassler would produce.

, who had been in ''Double Indemnity'', would play Marlowe In October 1945 Fox announced that John Payne would play the lead role and that filming would begin in January 1946. In December there was another casting change:

was given the role.

was assigned to direct. Both Mature and Brahm were taken off ''

Three Little Girls in Blue ''Three Little Girls in Blue'' is a 1946 Technicolor musical film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring June Haver along with George Montgomery, Vivian Blaine, Celeste Holm, and Vera-Ellen. The 20th Century-Fox film was adapted from S ...

'' to do the film. In January 1946 Fox announced that the film would star

and

Gene Tierney Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed for her great beauty, she became established as a leading lady. Tierney was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the ...

, who had been so successful in ''Laura'', and that Richard Macaulay would write the script. In May 1946 Fox said that George Montgomery would play the lead and that filming would begin in July.

Ida Lupino Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, writer, and producer. T ...

was to co-star. By June Lupino had dropped out and was replaced by Nancy Guild. At one stage, John Ireland was meant to be in the cast. In July 1946 the title was changed to ''The Brasher Doubloon''.

Reception

Critical response

When the film was released, the film critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' panned the film, writing, "... Chandler's popular ' shamus' and, we might add, his efforts to recover the stolen brasher doubloon, a rare coin with a violent history, is the least of his exploits to date. Perhaps this is due equally to a pedestrian adaptation of Mr. Chandler's novel, ''

'', to the plodding and conventional direction accorded the film by John Brahm, and to the lack of conviction in George Montgomery's interpretation of Marlowe." Film critic Dennis Schwartz, on the other hand, liked the film and wrote, "A film noir similar in theme and almost as enjoyable as ''

'', as private investigator Philip Marlowe (George Montgomery) leaves his

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

office for a case in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

from a rich old widow who lives in a dark old house. It's just smart enough of a film noir to be considered a classic... This brooding Gothic melodrama is brought to life by John Brahm's

expressionistic Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

ambiance ably photographed by cinematographer Lloyd Ahern and by the sharp hard-boiled Raymond Chandler story the film is adapted from, ''The High Window''. The film is not as complex as the novel, but it makes good use of its snappy dialogue and has vividly grotesque characterizations to go along with the dark mood it sets. Fritz Kortner stands out in his villainous role, which he plays like

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

would; while Florence Bates is charmingly acerbic in her creepy role as a bitter old hag."Schwartz, Dennis
''Ozus' World Movie Reviews'', film review, January 26, 2002. Accessed: July 17, 2013.

References

External links

* * *

informational site and DVD review (includes images) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brasher Doubloon, The 1947 films 1947 crime drama films American crime drama films American black-and-white films American detective films Film noir Films based on American novels Films based on crime novels Films based on works by Raymond Chandler 20th Century Fox films Films directed by John Brahm Films scored by David Buttolph 1940s English-language films 1940s American films