Noir Double: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler vs The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

[@paulmonahawk4921]

Loved both of these! Chandler is one of the best writers ever. Maltese Falcon is the only Hamnet I have read so far. Where Marlowe is obviously the good Knight Spade is more slippery and I was unsure… how is he going to act? right until the end! Classic stuff indeed!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yeah bout really excellent! And both brilliant central characters

[@robertgallagher5285]

Liked the kind of shadiness of Spade like Ellroy says Hammets detectives darker (more Noir) then Chandler's Marlowe think Marlowe great in 🎥 movies like Robert Mitchum!!!!!

[@scdingundaroo]

For Raymond Chandler, I recommend The Long Goodbye. It was written towards the end of his life and, well, some may call it equal parts "sour" and "sentimental" (perhaps a combination that matches his cocktails in the story). Others have suggested that the negative portrait of the Wade character (a successful writer in the story) reflects a sense of self-loathing Chandler had for himself. But it was also written at the height of his powers and the depth to the character of Marlowe is wonderful.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I'm reading them in order and looking forward to getting to that one. Just read The High Window

[@retrog1]

I gave both books 5 stars on Goodreads. I think you will love Hammett's Red Harvest ( the Continental Op cleans up a lawless town) and the Thin Man starring hard drinking PI couple Nick and Nora Charles

[@CriminOllyBlog]

A few people have recommended Red Harvest! Thanks for watching!

[@BookishChas]

Great video! Both of these books have been on my list to read. The movies are two of my favorite classic movies.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thank you! Definitely worth reading the books!

[@robertgallagher5285]

More Modern movies of course Chinatown and if anyone has not seen it it was kind of a flop think it made a little can't recommend highly enough " Motherless Brooklyn" (a Brooklyn Chinatown MASTERPIECE)!!!!!

[@Priscilla_Bettis]

What an excellent idea for a video! "Deceptive people" is the first thing I thought of about these two stories. Well, that and the resulting movies.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thanks, Priscilla! And yes, they’re definitely packed with deceptive people!

[@eriebeverly]

Those are two books you never want to play a drinking game while reading. I prefer Hammett to Chandler but The Long Goodbye is my favorite book. But I think my preference for The Long Goodbye has more to do with the Altman film than the novel itself.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ha re the drinking game! I definitely need to read more by both authors

[@Kikilang60]

What I remember of these two stories is how they flip the damsel in distress trope. In both, the detective puts the women away. One, the woman begs him, "Don't you love me?" He says, "Sure, but you're still going prison or hung." Dude, outstanding. The other, the detective, sends the women to asylum for the criminally insane. Harsh, but again, groundbreaking. Up until then, women were never the bad guys. Truly groundbreaking in gender roles.

[@robertgallagher5285]

It's hard to ever top the novel that made you love an author The Maltese Falcon made me love Hammet and The Big Sleep made me love Chandler none of their other books have ever been able to replace them like a first love same thing with Cains The Postman Always Rings Twice and Ellroy's The Black Dahlia!!!!!

[@troytradup]

I have the classy new Black Lizard reissues of both of those (along with Postman Always Rings Twice) sitting on my dresser right now. Maybe December?

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Sounds like an excellent plan!

[@MattWall]

Yay! I love both of these. I too like chandler more. I think hard boiled stuff is always better in the first person. MF is classic though. I do like the continental op better than Sam spade. Have you read red harvest? That’s a damn banger!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

No, really need to read more Hammett!

[@juliealvar4587]

That background looks beautiful!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thank you!

[@ColonelFredPuntridge]

May I say a word or two about the movies? 1. The movie _The Maltese Falcon_ with Bogart and Mary Astor and the Sydny Greenstreet crowd is great, but the earlier (1931) version with Ricardo Cortez is great too, in a different kind of way. 2. The movie _The Big Sleep_ with Bogart and Lauren Bacall is great, but the later (1978) version with Robert Mitchum and Joan Collins is great too, in a different way. For one thing, it makes the story clear, unlike the Bogart version, which is completely obscure. It doesn't explain what happened to Rusty Regan, and it doesn't show that the point about Geiger's book store was that it was renting pornographic books, which was how it was blackmailing the customers.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I am tempted to watch the Mitchum/Collins version - a few people have sung its praises.

[@robertgallagher5285]

The parts of the plot you COULD understand in The Big Sleep was brilliant anyway ha,ha, but at times The Maltese Falcon got a little murky also Hammet was not completely innocent of that I think Effie Perrine a big factor in me prefering Falcon one minute she's sitting on his desk next chastising him and saying don't touch me NOW anyway it's close but I prefer Falcon!!!!!

[@ColonelFredPuntridge]

@@robertgallagher5285 The remake of THE BIG SLEEP with Robert Mitchum was much clearer and easier to follow.

[@robertgallagher5285]

@@ColonelFredPuntridge liked Mitchum in The Big Sleep also thanks!!!!!

[@robertgallagher5285]

@@ColonelFredPuntridge thanks everything so expensive really have to look at reviews!!!!

[@DDB168]

I like the Jack Bauer analogy. I need to read both of them.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

You do!

[@bighardbooks770]

Good one, Olly, really good! Ive been a Bogart fan (Cagney, too) all my life (see his picture on my wall in the background of my videos). IMA do a deep-dive into _The Big Sleep,_ later today. 🔫 🤠 🕶️

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Oh cool! That’ll be interesting!

[@mysterio1570]

Marlowe is more laid back. Spade is more prickly.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Solid assessment!

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

Both books are excellent. It’s been a few years since I read them, but I doubt I could pick the better of the two.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

They are both amazing. Looking forward to reading more by both authors

[@TheBookclectic]

I read The Maltese Falcon and loved it! I haven't read The Big Sleep, but I probably should 🤔.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

You should!

[@stephennootens916]

I read and have seen big sleep and there is a noticeable difference. However while I have seen Maltese Falcon I have never read the book largely because as I understand it they are pretty much beat for beat the same.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ah that’s interesting! I need to watch them I think

[@aaronedgell9426]

I enjoy both books a great deal, but I've always been a Spillane guy.

[@redbeard36]

I've always compared The Big sleep with Red Harvest. First person narrator hired by a wealthy man, convoluted plot.

[@5starubercar698]

In the forties, they had to omit the sex and drugs and that makes the plot confusing. The Mitchum version makes more sense.

[@OleJoe]

Both are fantastic books, but I do prefer "The Big Sleep" to "The Maltese Falcon". Humphrey Bogart did an excellent job portraying both characters, but you have to remember that "The Big Sleep" was modified to promote the career of Lauren Bacall and to take off on her fantastic debut in "To Have and Have Not". In the book, the Sternwood girls are not nice people. Vivian and Carmen are two spoiled opertunist brats who Marlowe dispises.

[@Nina_DP]

Hello! I think this is my first comment. I just very recently re-read The Maltese Falcon. I had just finished Hammett's The Glass Key (also a re-read, and my favorite Hammett - you should definitely read it if you haven't already) and fell down a Hammett-shaped hole, also re-reading The Thin Man before my omnibus collection of Hammett novels was due back at the library. I'm a Chandler fan, too, but prefer The Long Goodbye to The Big Sleep. I went through a hard-boiled noir phase in my 20s, which were many, many (many!) decades ago. In a Hammett-Chandler grudge match, I'm a Hammett girl all the way. For my money, he is the originator of the genre. AND he was really a dick, too. (The private kind). Now Humphrey Bogart … I would watch read the phone book.

[@Nina_DP]

PS: Great thumbnail!

[@charleshagen1143]

hi ya! re-reading the Thin Man also! love the dialogue and the drinking!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thank you!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Hello! Firstly thank you for watching and commenting! I really do want to read some more Hammett, as well as finishing my Chandler collection. I prefer Chandler on the basis of these two books, but could see myself being swayed!

[@anneworks]

Thanks, you're very good at spoiler free reviews. The Maltese Falcon is a lonely exotic bird in my book collection. Picked it up on a whim, though I've not seen the movie. I'm not going to make dicktember anymore, but I might do a private dicktober.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thanks Anne! Hope you enjoy it when you get to it

[@kevinrussell-jp6om]

You didn't mention that both put most of their fiction in California. Hammett was first and even Chandler is quoted as saying Hammett first wrote scenes that had never been produced before. Hammett was a detective; Chandler, with his innate artistry, turned himself into the premier noir/detective author. Don't get me wrong, I love all of Hammett's fiction (especially the Op) and consider Maltese and the Glass Key as similar productions. The Thin Man (cynical, tired, sophisticated, and SOAKED in booze) is a delight but not as hard edged like much of his early work. Chandler IS superior. When you pick up a Marlowe story, you are instantly in LA of the late 30's and 40's, the characters and settings are real, and you wish you could stay. The Big Sleep is NOT my favorite or the best, but the middle five are as good as they get. I love the Long Goodbye for lots of reasons, but the High Window, Farewell, Lady in the Lake, and Little Sister will more than do in a pinch. No one wrote dialog like Chandler. Neither Chandler nor Hammett were particularly nice people, but they both possessed artistic genius. Sure, I read other detective fiction, but Chandler & Hammett are so far in front of the others it's really a two-horse race.

[@slothrob]

The Big Sleep is famous for having an indecipherable plot, but is still fantastic for the dialog. The movie is wonderful, too, and appears to be about the world's sexiest bookstore. You'll see...

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ha ha well now I really need to watch it

[@slothrob]

@@CriminOllyBlog You really do!