>
> Actually, it's the chauffeur, whose name I forget,
whose murder is
> unexplained. And without spoiling anything (I
couldn't do it anyway
as I
> don't remember anybody's name), it's fairly apparent
who killed him.
> Marlowe hypothesizes it and the perp's reaction
seems to confirm it
though
> subsequent events get in the way of a confession or
arrest. The issue
gets
> confused later when Marlowe tells a different story
to the cops and
DA;
> however, Marlowe has deliberately changed the story
in order to keep
the
> Sternwoods out of it. The issue gets further
confused in the film,
because
> the scene where Marlowe discusses the case with the
DA was cut.
>
> The anecdote about Chandler not remembering the
killer's identity is
funny,
> but even if it's true it's told in the context of a
screenwriter
(maybe
> Faulkner?) calling him up several years after he
wrote the book. That
> doesn't mean he didn't know what happened when he
wrote it. I didn't
know
> that TBS was based on several shorts but if so that
seems to make it
more
> rather than less likely that Chandler knew the
killer's identity.
It's one
> thing to finesse what ends up being a minor plot
point in the course
of an
> entire novel and another to write a mystery short
without a solution.
>
> Carrie
>
>
Another case of "When the facts contradict the legend, print
the legend". In this case, I think the legend will stick in
peoples' minds at the expense of the facts, as it has done
for more than half a century already.
Rene
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