Insomnia

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

This film (2002) is a remake of the movie done in 1997 which was a Norwegian story set inside the Artic Circle. The setting is here is Nightmute, Alaska, which fits the constant daylight experienced by the residents. The opening shot shows someone applying blood to a fabric, presumably to frame an individual. Then there are shots of the white Alaskan environment as Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) rides in a plane over the frozen land with his partner Detective Happy Eckhart (Martin Donovan). His first name will become ironic as the story plays out. As IMDb points out Dormer’s last name in Romance languages implies sleep, which is also ironic here because that is something he will get little of.

They are met by the enthusiastic Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank), a fan of Dormer. (Could her last name refer to the cold exterior?). They meet Chief Nyback (Paul Dooley), an old acquaintance of the visiting detectives. The Chief requested their help although he notes that there is an Internal Affairs investigation going on that may involve Dormer. We quickly realize that there may be a dark side to the protagonist here. Director Christopher Nolan uses doubles in his films to show the negative aspects of his protagonists, such as in the Batman movies, Memento, and The Prestige.

Dormer insists upon seeing the body of seventeen-year-old Kay Connell despite being told all the evidence is in the report. It points to Dormer’s insight and experience. Dormer realizes that the killer took his time to wash the victim’s hair and cut the nails, not applying any makeup. He and Burr conclude the murderer must have known the victim and wanted to erase any traces of her that might connect them. The process was patient and methodical revealing a calculating killer. Dormer observes that the perpetrator “crossed the line and didn’t even blink. You don’t come back from that.” The idea of stepping over the line of legality and morality and the resultant fall from salvation is something that the film addresses.

After examining Kay’s room, Dormer sees that she cut out the picture of her best friend, Tanya (Katharine Isabelle). It is proof that animosity developed between the girls. He also observes gifts that her boyfriend, Randy (Jonathan Jackson) could not afford to give her. Dormer concludes there must be an admirer of some means involved. When Dormer says he wants to visit the school, the local police inform him that it’s ten o’clock at night. It’s the time of year there that has only daylight. Ian Nathan, in Christopher Nolan: The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work. says Nolan liked how the original movie “reversed the poles on film noir.” I assume that means that film noir movies take place mostly in the dark to mirror the dark deeds characters do. Here the light exposes those wrongful actions.

Even though Dormer doesn’t want to discuss his department investigation, Eckhart drops a bomb saying he has cut a deal which means he will testify concerning evidence used in arresting drug dealers. Dormer sees the Internal Affairs action as a means for others to get promotions, indication that selfish, not admirable, behavior is the motive. Dormer leaves upset. This fact makes what happens later question Dormer’s motives.

Dormer presses boyfriend Randy for information and realizes he doesn’t know the mystery person Kay was seeing even after Randy beat her, showing his brutal side. The police find Kay’s backpack which contains a mystery by A. J. Brody. Dormer is trying to discover connections to the victim since he believes it will lead him to her secret admirer who he believes is the killer.

Dormer sets up a trap, saying they are still looking for Kay’s backpack at a certain location. They stake out the area. The scene takes place in a fog on rugged terrain, which is symbolic of mystery and perhaps the inability for Dormer to see what is morally correct. The suspect shows up and wounds a police officer. In pursuit, Dormer fires at a shadowy figure which turns out to be Eckhart. Dormer goes along with the story that it was the suspect who killed Eckhart. Dormer tells the dead detective’s wife about the death, and it is ironic when she tells Dormer not to arrest the person who killed her husband. She doesn’t realize that she is actually telling Dormer to kill himself.

Burr is now investigating Eckhart’s death. Again, ironically, she doesn’t realize that it is Dormer she is after. He hides his gun just as he hides his criminality. The lawful here becomes the unlawful, as morality is turned upside down. Dormer cannot sleep. The brightness of the day will not allow him the luxury of escaping from his deeds into the relaxed darkness of dreams. He thinks he sees Eckhart among other policeman, as if the man is haunting him. Dormer is suffering from guilt, which is a major element in Nolan’s films: the leaving of the family in Interstellar; the drowning death at the beginning of The Prestige; the possibility that Leonard is the cause of the death of his wife in Memento; the torment the main character feels in creating a weapon of mass destruction in Oppenheimer.

Warfield, the IA investigator, calls Dormer at the restaurant where Rachel Clement (Maura Tierney) works. (Does her name imply that she is the opposite of the inclement weather in the area, and can bestow individual clemency?). Dormer is nasty to Warfield, which may rise out of his guilt that his past wrongful actions will surface.

The police found a .38 caliber bullet at the foggy area and Dormer doesn’t let it be known that he also picked up the .38 caliber weapon left by the suspect. He shoots a bullet from the .38 caliber gun into the body of a dead dog and exchanges the casing for the .9 caliber bullet that killed Eckhart. The lack of sleep causes sounds in the police office to appear loud and disturbing. However, it could also mean that his world has become distorted by his upending the moral order in his life. Burr gives him a report to sign to close out Eckhart’s death investigation. Possibly due to a guilty conscience, he doesn’t sign it. He tells Burr to be thorough in her investigation. We may have here the compulsion found in Edgar Allan Poe perpetrators to confess their crimes.

As Burr takes another look at the evidence and finds inconsistencies, Dormer gets a call from the killer, Walter Finch (Robin Williams). He says he saw Dormer shoot Eckart and pick up Finch’s gun. He knows that Dormer is experiencing insomnia, and that he hides his clock to not remind him of how much sleep he is losing. At the end of the conversation he says, “We’re partners in this.” It shows how he is the demonic replacement for Eckhart. Finch may be a manifestation of Dormer’s darker self, his evil double, another element of Poe’s writing appearing here.

By bringing the victim’s best friend, Tanya, to the dump where her body was found and intimidating her by saying he will reveal that she cheated on her best friend with Kay’s boyfriend, Dormer gets Tanya to reveal that Kay’s secret admirer was Brody, the crime novel writer, who is really Finch.  

Finch calls Dormer again, and again, shows how well he knows him by telling Dormer his state of insomnia. He says that no one would believe him if he says that the shooting was an accident because of the scrutiny on Dormer in the IA investigation. Finch says that he’s not who Dormer thinks he is. It is an ironic statement because it suggests that the surface an individual projects is not the reality beneath. That point can be applied to Dormer also. Finch says he is not a murderer, just like Dormer thinks he isn’t. But then Finch raises the question that maybe the shooting of Eckhart wasn’t an accident. Nolan likes to insert enigmatic possibilities in his stories.

Dormer finds out where Finch lives and breaks into his apartment. Dormer sees pictures of Finch so he can now recognize him. Finch left a piece of paper at the top of the door so when he returns and finds it has fallen, he knows someone is there. He runs off and Dormer chases after him across a river filled with floating lumber. Dormer falls in and almost drowns. Does this scene imply that Dormer is unable to reach steady moral ground?

Dormer returns to Finch’s apartment and receives a call from Finch telling him to feel at home by taking a shower and resting there. Maybe he can even feed Finch’s dogs. His words are another indication that Dormer and Finch could be doppelgangers. Finch is intelligent because he says Dormer should know he’s not going to return to his place. And the only way he knows that Finch is the killer is because he told him so (although we know that Tanya’s statements point to him as a person of interest). Finch sets up a meeting between him and Dormer. Dormer plants the .38 caliber gun in Finch’s apartment. Dormer is trying to frame a man for a killing he himself committed.

Burr has been following Dormer’s advice about checking out the little details surrounding a crime. She realizes that the shot that killed Eckhart came from a different location and now she discovers, as did Dormer, that Finch, a local writer, is the author of all the books in Kay’s position, one of which was autographed, which means she knew him. Later Burr finds a newspaper that features the LA investigation. She repeats what Dormer once said, “A good cop can't sleep because he's missing a piece of the puzzle. And a bad cop can't sleep because his conscience won't let him.” More irony here that Dormer’s protégé is on the trail that leads to himself.

Maybe the best scenes in the film occur between Pacino and Williams. Here they meet on the ferry. Dormer tries to diminish what Finch says about them being in the same situation, not meaning to kill their victims. But Finch is persuasive, saying if it comes out that Dormer shot Eckhart, even if he says it was an accident, it meant that all his IA problems disappeared, which would seem suspicious. It would also ruin his legacy of being an effective cop. It might cause many of those he put away to have grounds to be released, if Dormer is shown to be a cop who alters evidence. Finch says when he was young, he was impressed by the police, and that is why he writes about them. He even wanted to be once, he says, but couldn’t pass the tests. All his statements show how similar he and Dormer are. They speak with their faces close to each other, which suggests they are two sides of the same coin. Finch says that they should steer the investigation toward the boyfriend, Randy. Dormer coaches Finch since he will be brought in for questioning because of the signed copy of the book in Kay’s possession. Dormer tells him not to elaborate, and that the investigation will lead to Randy. Dormer, however, does not reveal that he planted the gun at Finch’s place. After he leaves the ferry, Finch reveals that he taped their conversation, insurance that he has the goods on Dormer.

Finch calls Dormer again and the latter asks if Finch still has Kay’s dress. He feeds that line to Finch who now says that is evidence they can plant on Randy. Dormer really wanted to discover if he could find evidence in Finch’s possession to pin the killing on him. Since Dormer says he can steer the investigation he needs more facts about Kay’s death. Finch says he wanted to comfort Kay when she came to him distraught about how Randy hit her and was fooling around with Tanya. But Kay laughed at him when he held her and kissed her. He says that he hit her to stop her from laughing and his humiliation was the force that led to his beating her. Here we see that Finch’s pathology is deeper than that of Dormer’s. His telling Dormer about what happened is like a confession, an attempt to relieve the feeling of guilt. He says he thinks he will be able to sleep now. The theme of insomnia not allowing one to escape guilt is stressed here. It is telling that when Finch gives Dormer the opportunity to unburden, Dormer hangs up. He can’t so readily expel his guilt.

Finch, during his interrogation, diverges from Dormer’s advice, telling how Kay was afraid of Randy, how he abused her. Then he reveals that Kay said Randy had a .38 revolver that he hid in a heating vent, which is where Dormer hid the gun at Finch’s place. Here Finch is communicating that he knows Dormer was trying to manipulate him and the reason Dormer didn’t want Finch to say anything about Randy was because he wanted Finch to be the prime suspect. Dormer then takes over the questioning once he realizes what Finch is doing. He says that Finch gave the young girl gifts, implying Finch was grooming her, like a pedophile. After Dormer goes into a rage, he leaves the room.

Dormer can’t find the gun in the air vent at Randy’s place. It was a ruse by Finch. The police come and find the weapon where Finch relocated it. They then arrest Randy ironically on evidence that Dormer manipulated to prevent himself from being implicated. Now, instead, an innocent person is targeted for something he didn’t do. Dormer has done the opposite of what a cop is supposed to do.

Dormer and Finch meet again, and Finch says that it’s over because he now can go on with his life, scumbag Randy is in jail, and Dormer’s reputation is intact. He gives the tape to Dormer who disposes of it and points his gun at Finch. But Finch reminds him that his outburst at the police headquarters shows he would be a prime suspect in Finch’s death. Dormer then says he will tell the cops about everything. Finch reminds Dormer he destroyed any evidence of the two ever having a previous conversation that implicated Finch.

Finch is very smart and has thought it all out, except that Burr finds more about what happened. She uncovers a .9 mm shell at the site of Eckhart’s death, which undermines the .38 caliber gun being the weapon that killed Eckhart. She notes in some case files involving Dormer that a .9 mm was used. She encounters Dormer who looks wasted due to insomnia. Burr gives him a hug and can feel the .9 mm gun, and since none of the local cops carry that firearm, she is very suspicious.

Back as his hotel room, Rachel asks Dormer why he is moving furniture around to block the window. Even though it is dark in there, he still says it’s bright. Metaphorically he can’t hide his guilt anymore. He now does confess to Rachel about the case under investigation back home. He describes how a pedophile kidnapped, tortured, raped, and finally killed a boy. Dormer says he knew the man was guilty. Tellingly, he says his job is to “assign guilt.” Now he is placing that guilt on himself. The shot at the beginning of the film that showed blood being absorbed onto fabric involved Dormer taking blood from the victim and planting it in the perpetrator’s home. He admits he knew it “would catch up” to him, and mentions the investigation. He says the “end justifies the means.” He doesn’t sound convinced, probably realizing it is a rationalization. He asks Rachel, who he has put in the position of a clergyperson, what she thinks. She says it might be that it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But can he live with his actions? And that is the vital question this film asks.

There is an interesting cut to Burr who holds the .9 mm casing and now she must decide what to do, and can she live with her decision? Dormer picks up his badge and gun and decides to go after Finch, no matter the means or the consequences. Burr promised to meet Finch at his cabin where she does not know he killed Kay. He said he had letters from Kay that told of Randy’s abuse. He has no such letters that he could create in time for this visit. Dormer can’t find any evidence at Finch’s empty apartment so he too heads to the cabin. Burr notices Kay’s dress and Finch knocks her out. What follows is Finch getting the drop on the disoriented Dormer. He disarms him and beats him. Burr shows up and Finch escapes to get more firepower. Burr realizes that Finch is Kay’s killer, and he witnessed Dormer shooting Eckhart. Dormer admits these facts and adds that he just isn’t sure if killing Eckhart was an accident. Dormer sneaks up on Finch and they fight. They eventually exchange gunfire. Both receive fatal wounds. The shot of Finch falling dead and disappearing gradually in the water symbolizes the death of Dormer’s darker self.

As Dormer is dying, Burr is ready to throw away the .9 mm casing saying nobody has to know. He stops her and says, “Don’t lose your way,” as he had, forgetting to abide by the law. He says to just let him “sleep.” He can now have the ultimate escape from his guilt in the comfort of an eternal rest.

Murder, My Sweet

 

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The title, Murder, My Sweet (1944), based on the novel Farewell, My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler, employs opposing sentiments, undermining the allure of romance with the revulsion of a killing. The story is told in flashback, which is a film noir convention, as the private investigator relates the story from his perspective, which becomes the point of view of the audience, as both discover evidence at the same time. The film uses light and darkness as a motif to stress the genre’s theme of truth that is hidden under a deceptive appearance. 

 

The first shot is in a police station with a spotlight shining on an otherwise dark room, suggesting the desire to shed illumination on what happened. Private eye Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) has a bandage over his eyes (which comically undermines the name of his profession, and is also a symbol of an attempt to cover up the truth so it will not be revealed). The cops, including Lt. Randall (Donald Douglas), interrogate Marlowe about some murders. He says he was at his office at night, the time of day which fits the deceptive goings-on that occur in film noirs. Marlowe says, “There’s something about the dead silence of an office building at night. Not quite real.” The use of “dead silence” sounds ominous. His words reflect the feeling of someone who travels outside the acceptable mainstream of society. Private eyes are a good choice for these stories since they walk along the border between the legal and illegal. They possess a code of honor but aren’t completely legitimate in their tactics. And they usually work alone, which stresses their alienation. Marlowe was a policeman but left after being insubordinate, which demonstrates his independent way of behaving.

 

Thug Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki), who has the mind of a child and the body of a weightlifter, appears and then disappears in a reflection in Marlowe’s office window. He looks like a scary ghost, which fits in with Marlowe’s statement that things don’t seem “quite real.” Marlowe narrates that Malloy recruited him to find his ex-girlfriend, Velma, who he hadn’t seen (more lack of sight) in eight years. Malloy gives him some money and they go to a seedy club, Florian’s, where his girl used to work as a singer. Malloy was there before and the owner says nobody named Velma worked there since he took over the place, and he doesn’t want any trouble. Malloy starts to question a woman at the bar, and the owner and Malloy get into a one-sided fight where Malloy tosses the burly man like he was weightless. Malloy is having some cognitive issues as he doesn’t seem to remember hiring Marlowe and repeats that Florian’s doesn’t look the same. That feeling of not knowing what’s going on and things seeming unreal starts to multiply.

 

They leave the club and Malloy says that he and his girl were to be married but he was in the “caboose,” slang for a prison, (film noir stories always contain their own underworld language), which prevented the nuptials from happening. He says that Velma’s last name was Valento. He gives Marlowe more money and says he’ll be in touch. Marlowe notes the previous owner, Mike Florian, died “in the middle of a glass of beer, His wife, Jessie, finished it for him.” These kinds of funny-tough lines also are abundant in film noir dialogue. 

 

Marlowe finds out where Florian’s widow lives, and brings some whiskey with him. Jessie (Esther Howard) is a boozer and he uses it to grease the flow of information he seeks from her. Jessie points out the offering of alcohol is something a regular policeman wouldn’t do, which shows how a PI sometimes walks over to the seedy side of life. She says she doesn’t know anybody named Velma, but goes into her bedroom to get some papers to show him. Marlowe sees her hide a signed picture of the redheaded Velma, takes the photo, and confronts her about lying. She says that Velma is dead, and seems afraid when Marlowe says that Malloy will not like hearing that. She then says she doesn’t know Malloy, although she acted like she did. Lying is keeping the truth hidden, which fits in with the imagery of preventing things from being seen. After he leaves Marlowe looks in the window and sees that Jessie appears completely steady and sober (more deception), phoning someone that he likens to “making funeral arrangements for a murder not yet committed.” He apparently thinks she is tipping somebody off about what she just learned about Malloy. In his job, Marlowe sees deceptions as always suggesting the possibility of a threat. 

 

Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton), a man preoccupied with clothes and the way he smells, according to the elevator operator, waits in Marlowe’s office the following day. Marlowe is annoyed and impatient because of the man’s indirect and fussy attitude. Marriott states that he doesn’t appreciate Marlowe’s “manner.” Marlowe wittily says he’s “had complaints about it, but it keeps getting worse,” showing how impervious he is to what other people think. Marriott finally says that some jewelry was stolen from a friend and he was told he could buy it back if he goes to a secluded location. Marlowe points out that he will not be able to do anything since the thieves will probably swindle Marriott and he doesn’t need a bodyguard. But Marlowe sees it as an easy way to make a hundred dollars, so he agrees to tag along.

 

Of course the meeting is at night and it’s foggy, more images of how sinister activities occur hidden from the light of day. Someone knocks Marlowe out with a blackjack, and, using a film noir metaphor, he describes the event as a black pool opening up into which he dove. The camera illustrates his words by showing blackness flowing in from the sides, engulfing what’s visible, implying that the truth of what is happening isn’t visible. He wakes up next to the car with a woman standing over him with a flashlight asking if he’s okay. But as soon as she sees his face, she runs off. The money he was carrying to buy back the stolen goods is missing. He finds Marriott beaten to death, which makes him wonder if it was an “amateur” job, or an attempt to make it look like a clumsy murder. Marlowe doesn’t accept anything on face value, which is in keeping with the devious behavior of the people he encounters in his profession.

 

Back at the police station, the assessment is that Marlowe’s rendition of what happened seems “sillier” every time he repeats it. Marlowe angrily points out if he killed Marriott then how did he knock himself out? He also questions why he would walk five miles to tell the police what happened when he could have just left the scene and the cops wouldn’t have found the body for a very long time? The police suggest that it may be that he was being set up to take the blame and he should stay away from the criminals they have been going after with whom Marriott was involved. They make it known that someone named Jules Amthor is a person of interest and Marlowe should not investigate the man.

 

A woman shows up at Marlowe’s office but she lies about who she is (more misdirection), as she says she is a reporter and asks about the stolen jade necklace (the Hitchcock-like macguffin in the tale) that Marriott was trying to retrieve. Even the police didn’t know the type of jewelry, so Marlowe realizes she knows too much and discovers her name is Ann Grayle (Anne Shirley). Marlowe wonders about why the two cases happened at the same time and asks if she has heard of Velma Valento. She wants to know why he is involved. He states the PI code which is he was hired and he failed to protect the client. He says he’s a “small businessman in a messy business, but I like to follow through on a sale.” She says that the necklace belonged to her father (a lie), but when Marlowe says Marriott said a woman owned it, Ann switches her story, saying the necklace belongs to her stepmother. 

 

Marlowe keeps narrating, saying he went with Ann to visit her father, Leuwen Grayle (Miles Mander). (Does the character’s last name imply he and his family live a blasphemous, materialistic version of the quest for the Holy Grail?) He and his wife, Ann’s stepmother, Helen (Claire Trevor), live in an immense mansion. Marlowe, given his making a living amid the morbid, darker aspects of society, sees the place as a “mausoleum.” Helen is much younger, what would previously be called a “trophy wife,” and Marlowe is distracted by her lovely leg, which Helen notices, and attempts to slightly cover up. The boring Leuwen drones on about jade, his hobby, but does state that the necklace could be worth more than $100,000. Helen seems to be acting naive by saying she doesn’t know why she wore something so expensive out, and that it was carelessness on her part. The elderly, tired Leuwen excuses himself and Ann accompanies him.

 

Helen, the femme fatale of this tale, wants to get down to business and informs Marlowe that Marriott was only carrying eight thousand dollars, which they considered a bargain to get back the necklace. Marlowe asks who else could get close to the jewelry, and Helen says her maid, whom she says she trusts. Marlowe’s life makes him suspicious of everyone so he wonders why Helen trusts anybody. Her saying she trusts him seems strange, and possibly untrue, since she just met him. On the night the theft she had been out dancing with Marriott, and Marlowe wonders if there are other “Marriots” who take her dancing. She appears (pretending?) to be outraged by the suggestion of infidelity. She says Marriott was a “heel,” but she smiles and seems to have enjoyed his company, which implies they had an affair. Marlowe is sitting quite close to Helen on the couch, and it looks like they are sexually manipulating each other. She says that it was odd that the robbers gave her back one of her rings, and she offers her hand to Marlowe, who holds it, adding to the sexual tension. He mentions Jules Amthor and she says she met him a while back through Marriott, and believes he is “some sort of psychic consultant,” which adds to the list of suspicious characters. Ann enters the room, sees how the two are sitting close, holding hands, and quickly assumes that her stepmother is philandering again. She angrily exits. 

 

Although Helen said that Amthor (Otto Kruger) is difficult to get in touch with, the man shows up right at that moment, with Helen at least acting totally surprised. Marlowe brings up the fact that the police told him not to deal with Amthor, which of course makes Marlowe just want to know more. He arranges to interview Amthor, and as he leaves he finds Ann running off after eavesdropping at the door. More suspicious activity. He shows his scorn for such an excessive amount of money spent on the building and its odd occupants when he asks the butler to show him out of “This fun house.”

 

In contrast, the next scene has Marlowe at his modest place. He is in his undershirt when Helen sneaks in as the laundry boy goes out through the door. The operative word is “sneaks” as nothing is straightforward and honest here. She is seductive again, noting Marlowe being in good shape and saying she came by to “size” him up, a statement with a sexual double meaning. She even sits down on his bed as she talks. She looks very attractive in a fancy dress. She says she thought he could buy her a drink at a swank restaurant, and he emphasizes the difference in their class status when he says he’s “the drive-in type,” and prefers it that way. He asks about Amthor, but she says they can talk about it over the drink, and gives him his retainer fee.

 

At the upscale club, we again get a spotlight in the dark, this time revealing an Asian dancer on a stage. But it also alerts us to possible unknown threats in the surrounding darkness. Helen says she is going to “powder” her nose, which the astute Marlowe says she doesn’t need to do. She leaves, and Marlowe is guided to a table where Ann sits. She says that Helen probably already left and Marlowe has been sidetracked (more appearances being deceiving). Ann says she’ll double what Helen was paying him to stay away from her stepmother and forget the whole case. So, there is something that Ann wants to hide, or metaphorically to stop from being brought out of the shadows into the light to be observed. 

 

While Marlowe scrutinizes Ann, trying to figure out what is going on, he sees Malloy at the bar, who signals to him to step outside. Malloy wants Marlowe to leave Ann and go with him “to meet a guy,” an unrevealing request. When Marlowe goes back to the table, Ann is now gone, imitating Helen’s disappearing act. She leaves him a coaster that says she is still offering him a deal and leaves contact information. 

 

Marlowe goes with Malloy and a chauffeur drives them to an expensive apartment building. But Marlowe, again stressing the theme of openness versus covertness, says he usually goes through the front door. Instead the men take him by way of the underground (hidden?) elevator. They remove his gun and escort him to a luxurious place that belongs to Amthor. So we now know how the two cases are related, since Malloy definitely works for Amthor, which was another hidden fact. Marlowe says that he thinks Amthor hired the sophisticated Marriott to get close to rich women, urge them to buy expensive things, and then steal from them. Only this time things went wrong, and maybe Marriott hired Marlowe to protect him so Marriott could keep the jade necklace. Malloy bursts in and wants to know where Velma is. Marlowe tries to tell the thug that Amthor is looking for the jewelry, not Velma, and is just using Malloy (another scam). But Amthor insists that Marlowe knows where Velma is, and the large Malloy overpowers Marlowe, choking him into submission. Amthor is very condescending toward Marlowe saying, he is a “dirty, stupid little man in a dirty stupid world. One spot of brightness” on him and he’d still be worthless. We again have the image of the spotlight used, only the elegant criminal ironically sees himself, by way of his affluent window dressing, as deserving to be in the limelight. The working-class Marlowe doesn't pretend to be anything other than what he is, and the uppity Amthor can’t see beyond the PI’s more pedestrian surface. Marlowe slugs Amthor, but the man knocks Marlowe out by hitting him with a revolver. Marlowe again is pushed into that blackness of unconsciousness, where one is unable to see what’s really happening.

 

In his dreamlike state, Marlowe hallucinates, including seeing many doors, possibly symbolizing an attempt to discover what exists behind those barriers, his desire to solve the mystery. He wakes up looking at a ceiling light, but not much is revealed since he is still half delirious. He is confined to a room in some sort of medical facility, but Malloy is there, so it appears that Amthor had Marlowe brought to the asylum. Marlowe knows he’s been drugged since he feels doped up. Everything looks as if he is seeing things through a spider web, which is a metaphor for how things have been spun to obscure seeing clearly. He shakes off the stupor and overpowers a man who has a blackjack. Marlowe takes the weapon and then confronts a physician, Dr. Sonderborg (Ralf Harolde), and acquires a gun the doctor takes from a drawer. Sonderborg says Marlowe has been out for three days. Marlowe concludes he was drugged to learn about the jade necklace, which he doesn’t know about anyway. The doctor fails to bring those cobwebs back, and Marlowe resolves to reveal what is really happening. He rallies enough stamina to leave.

 

Marlowe runs into Malloy, who seems to believe now that Amthor was lying about helping him find Velma. He gets a cab for Marlowe, but the PI suspects, again, that things aren’t what they seem, and that Malloy is up to something. Marlowe goes to the address that Ann gave him which is where she lives on her own. She asks if he is alright, and the words and her voice sound like the woman who he heard when he woke up next to Marriott’s car. Ann was there, probably having overheard the Grayles’ plans, and she says she cares about her father and was trying to protect his interests from the scheming Helen. She acquired Marlowe’s name after going through Marriott’s pockets after he was killed. 

 

Lt. Randall and Detective Nulty (Paul Phillips) show up at Ann’s and Marlowe tells them about being manhandled and drugged by Amthor. He says he wants to help the police catch the guy. He tells them that he thinks Amthor set up rich love-starved women and then stole from them. He says he believes Marriott tried to double-cross Amthor. He tells Randall about Dr. Sonderborg and his house of horrors (a medical facility which pretends to help others but does just the opposite). He doesn’t say anything about Ann’s father being involved for Ann’s sake (an empathetic withholding of the truth). Despite what he’s been through, Marlowe can still crack wise, saying they are going to “Buckingham Palace,” Grayle’s house, and feels hungry because it’s funny that “every third day” he usually has to eat something. Ann says he gets batted around and he doesn’t “even know which side” he’s on. He widens the observation by saying, “I don’t know which side anybody’s on.” That is how convoluted and deceptive the upside down world is according to Marlowe. There is no moral center to anchor one’s morality. 

 

Marlowe and Ann find Leuwen in his workshop. He is holding a gun, and he says he is frightened. Marlowe assumes that the police were there, and Ann’s father says that they were interested in the family beach house, since it was rented to Marriott. Leuwen says his buying Helen’s companionship has led to a death and danger and he wants it to stop. He tells Marlowe he’ll pay him to stop looking into the case. He agrees to quit, but outside he tells Ann that he wants the key to the beach house, because, again, in the midst of all the underhanded activity, he was hired to protect someone, and he failed. Also, he doesn’t want it known that he could have been involved in a man’s death.

 

They go to the beach house and find its contents tossed about. Marlowe voices an anti-cop line when he says the first thing Lt. Randall does after a person is murdered is mess up his house. Ann raises the question about whether Marriott just found Marlowe’s name in the phone book or was directed to go to him. Marlowe says there are things he’ll never know, which points to the unfathomable murkiness of the dissembling underbelly of society. Ann is attracted to Marlowe and they kiss. He guesses at Ann’s motivations and actions as he tells her that maybe she thought her father went to the secluded spot to kill Marriott, and ran when she saw it was Marlowe and not her dad was there. He suggests that she thought Marlowe would become another of Helen’s lovers and tried to pay him to drop the case so she could hide her stepmother’s extramarital adventures from her father. But then he says once her father failed to buy Marlowe off, she started to act nice to him, which suggests that her affection toward Marlowe isn’t genuine. Her disgust for his theory seems genuine to Marlowe, and he tries to dial back the implication. But, Anne is angry and starts to say how she hates men.

 

They then hear laughter which comes from Helen (who was hidden, of course, in the shadows), as she says Ann has learned that men “play rough. They soften you up, throw you off guard, and then belt you one.” Helen obviously subscribes to the belief that the relationship between men and women is a battle of the sexes. But Ann says she is not just on the side of the women. Referring to Helen, she says she hates calculating women, “especially the big-league blondes” who exploit men for their own gain, act lovely, but “inside blue steel cold” is at their center. Helen’s witty reply is that Ann’s “slip is showing,” because she too, although not selfish, has tried to hide things from men and control them. Ann knows her father loves Helen, so to protect him she says she’ll say Helen is fine and then she leaves.

 

Marlowe is hostile to Helen because she had Amthor try to extract from him where the jade necklace was, probably thinking he found out from Marriott. She says that Amthor is blackmailing her since he knows she goes out with other men. Marlowe is funny after she says she finds men very attractive and he says, “I imagine they meet you halfway.” She says she didn't realize that Marriott was closely connected to Amthor (another hidden fact). She says Amthor uses his psychological gifts to uncover what people are hiding and uses it for blackmail. Amthor helped her with a speech impediment, but by doing so uncovered her secrets and used them against her. Here we have two deceptions, the person with something unsavory to hide and a person pretending to help but really turning that person into a victim. Amthor found out about the necklace and wanted it as a payoff to keep silent. But it was stolen. She thinks it was Marriott who helped steal it, and then pretended (more dissembling) to be the go-between between the robber and the Grayles. Then Amthor killed Marriott, and since Marlowe was there, he could be the patsy. While she is talking, Helen turns out the light. It fits with the theme of concealment, but is she also trying to seduce Marlowe, since sex many times occurs in the dark? She tells Marlowe that she wants him to kill Amthor, since her blackmailer will never be satisfied and if her husband finds out about all her infidelities, it will kill him, given his age. She then hugs and kisses Marlowe. He plays along and the plan is to pretend Marlowe has the necklace and lure Amthor out to the beach house (another devious plan).

 

Marlowe goes to Amthor’s place, and finds things thrown around. He finds Amthor dead, and says it had to be a big guy who snapped his neck. Of course that means Malloy, who later shows up at Marlowe’s office. Marlowe knows he didn’t mean to kill Amthor, he just roughed him up too much trying to find out about Velma. Malloy still wants to know where Velma is. Marlowe has a hunch and shows him the picture of Velma that he took from Jessie, says he knows where she is, and sets up an appointment to meet him. 

 

Marlowe is also someone who is devious in his actions, but he does so to get at the truth, even if it is elusive. He and Malloy go to the beach house at night (again, symbolically and literally the time for covert activities). He tells Malloy to stay outside until he opens the curtains. Helen’s devious nature is suggested in the image of her being invisible in the unlit room, resting on the couch, only her cigarette smoke revealing that she is there. Marlowe unlocks the door for Malloy to enter later. Helen tells Marlowe to close the curtains and turn on the lights, because now the truth will be exposed. She shows Marlowe the necklace, which was never stolen. It was just a ruse to stop Amthor from getting it. Marriott was just a pawn in the con. Helen says she’ll give the necklace to Marlowe for helping to get rid of Amthor. Marlowe says what he already guessed, that she is Velma, and it was her that Mrs. Florian called when Marlowe came looking for her. She recruited Marriott to stop Marlowe because the private eye was trying to find out about her, which would have cut off her financial support for Marriott and Mrs. Florian. If Malloy exposed her then her cover would be blown, revealing her for the scam artist she is. She killed Marriott to connect him to the lie about thieves stealing the necklace, but didn’t finish off Marlowe, because, he says, he has a hard head. But, he still could have been blamed for Marriott’s death. 

 

She admits it’s all true, and plays the victim, but that doesn’t work on Marlowe. He says she worked her femme fatale ways on Malloy a while back, and she broke the law, and that is what Amthor was really using to blackmail her. Her husband knew about the other men, but not the criminal past. Helen has a gun and prevents Marlowe from signaling Malloy. Instead, Ann surprises them, coming out of the shadows near the door, and she is accompanied by Leuwen, showing there is more happening than what one expected. Leuwen also is not as innocent as he seems. He says Amthor will be coming and Helen tells her husband to take Marlowe’s gun. Helen admits this time will not be the first she killed someone. Before she can shoot Marlowe, Leuwen kills Helen. Marlowe starts to call the police, and Ann tries to stop him, as she still wants to protect her father by covering up the shooting, saying Helen was evil and deserved to die. Malloy shows up and Leuwen says he loved Helen/Velma and couldn’t lose her to anyone else. Realizing Leuwen killed his Velma, Malloy attacks Leuwen, who fires the gun with Marlowe very close to the weapon as he tries to prevent the violence. 

 

That is how Marlowe’s eyes were “scorched,” and why he is wearing the bandage as we return to the opening scene in the police station. Despite trying to shed light on the situation, Marlowe is literally and figuratively still in the dark about whether anyone else was shot. But his temporary physical blindness may suggest that, as Marlowe said earlier, that he’ll never uncover all the lies infesting his world. Lt. Randall gives him his belongings and says he can leave. Marlowe says Ann must have backed him up. She is there, but doesn’t want him to know it (even when there is nothing dangerous involved, we still have concealment). Randall tells him that both Malloy and Leuwen were killed in their grappling for the gun. Randall gives the necklace to Marlowe since it was Helen’s and she gave it to him. But he doesn’t want anything to do with it since it was tied to the dirty business that transpired. Nulty helps Marlowe to a cab as Ann quietly follows. Marlowe says nice things about Ann, and she gets in the cab next to him. He can smell her perfume and playfully says he hasn’t kissed anybody in a while and asks “Nulty” if he can kiss him. Helen had told him the gun in his shoulder holster hurts a woman when hugging her. He takes it out, knowing Ann is there, and her presence is romantically disarming. Even though there was murder, the film ends sweetly. 

The next film is Alfred Hitchcock’s Sabotage.