So, I had so much fun comparing the book and movie for “The Thin Man” that I to read Chandler’s “The Big Sleep” so that I could compare it to its movie too. And once again I’m reading it from the Library of America edition that I already have. The book came out in 1939 and the movie in 1946. The pre-war and post war difference probably is significant. But we’ll just leave that alone.
And let me state for the record that this review is full of spoilers.
First off, I’ll state for the record that although I’ve always enjoyed the movie immensely, I found the book much more interesting and satisfying as a story. The biggest difference between the book and movie is the characterization of the Sternwood daughters Vivian and Carmen. In the movie the role of Vivian is a mostly sympathetic character who becomes the love interest for the Marlowe character. But in the book, she is almost as reckless as her unbalanced sister Carmen. And whereas in the movie Carmen is an exhibitionistic spoiled woman-child in the book she is truly psychotic.
And allowing the Sternwood daughters to be pathological individuals they are, simplifies the details of the story that in the movie have to be sanitized in order to fit the Hays Code. So, we can be told that Geiger’s “book store” lent out pornography to its customers and Carmen was being photographed naked by Geiger at the time when the Sternwood chauffer came in and killed Geiger and stole the exposed film of Carmen. And so on with other parts of the story that don’t make sense in the movie because the seediness of the plot elements prevented their being openly stated instead of subtly implied. So, we don’t have an explicit statement that Eddie Mars is not only aware of Geiger’s racket but also uses it to blackmail customers.
But the biggest difference between the two versions of the story is the disappearance of Rusty Regan (called Sean Regan in the film). At the end of the movie Eddie Mars claims he saw Carmen kill Regan. But because Mars didn’t even know what Carmen looked like Marlowe seems to reject this version of the facts. This leads the audience to believe that Mars had Regan killed by Canino out of jealousy over Mars’ wife’s relationship with Regan. But in the movie Marlowe suspects Carmen of the murder and he tests the theory. After he had rejected Carmen’s sexual advances one night, the next day he tests her sanity. He returns her pistol and tells her it’s loaded and she asks for him to teach her how to shoot. After leading Marlowe to a secluded location, she uses the opportunity and angrily fires all six shots at him. Of course, he had the gun loaded with blanks and after disarming her she goes into an epileptic fit. And after bringing Carmen back to the house to receive medical attention Marlowe tells Vivian that he knows that Carmen must have murdered her husband after a similar refusal by Regan to sleep with her. And Vivian admits to the truth of the killing.
I find this a much more satisfactory ending. We’ve been shown the Sternwoods as a very sinister and dysfunctional clan and the idea that Vivian is somehow a sympathetic or admirable individual despite all the evidence to the contrary just rings false. Chandler’s story is a grim tale that lacks the happy ending of the Hollywood movie that pairs Bogart and Bacall as a romantic couple. But it’s a better ending and in my opinion much more satisfying.