George Montgomery was a brash Clarke Gable type who enlivened a number of musicals in the early 40s; his career never really recovered momentum after military service, but he did get to play Philip Marlowe in this film, perhaps the least known Marlowe adaptation. It’s based on The High Window, which also served as the basis for a Michael Shayne movie. You’d think The High Window was a slightly more sensible title than The Brasher Doubloon, which has a pirate flavour to it, but there you go (maybe they were hoping to draw comparisons with The Maltese Falcon).
Montgomery isn’t one of the great Philip Marlowes – he lacks a little depth (Montgomery was always most effective paired against a strong female co-star). To be fair the film doesn’t help him that much – John Brahm made a number of impressive films in his career, including a pair of Laird Cregar starrers, but his aim was slightly off on this one. The script doesn’t help – it features that staple of lazy scriptwriting: someone saying “there’s really no reason why I should tell you this but I’ll tell you anyway”; there’s also a Thin Man like finale with all the suspects gathered while Marlowe reveals who did it.
The supporting cast is a little undercooked. Nancy Guild is pretty as a girl who can’t bare to be touched although attracted to Marlowe, but she lacks a bit of spark. So too do the others, although they include Florence Bates and Conrad Janis – you can’t help compare them (not flatteringly) with the rogues gallery in The Big Sleep and Murder My Sweet.
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