The Brasher Doubloon (1947): Second Film Adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The High Window

The Brasher Doubloon starts with Raymond Chandler’s famous detective Philip Marlowe driving up to Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock’s residence in Pasadena, California. It’s a very windy day, and he grumbles about the wind on his way up the walk to the front door. His voice-over narration states, “I was sore at myself for coming all the way out to Pasadena on a day like that, just to see about a case. And how I hate summer winds. They come in suddenly off the Mohave Desert and you can taste sand for a week. I knew it was the voice of the girl on the phone that had gotten me. And I was reminding myself how often your ears play a dirty trick on your eyes. But this time, there was no letdown.”

From the start of The Brasher Doubloon, with its windy conditions and Marlowe’s reference to what I presume are the Santa Ana winds, I was curious about its filming locations. I didn’t find anything about filming locations or the weather conditions during the shooting schedule, but I did find an interesting blog about Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock’s house. Click here to see some history and filming information related to the house at the “I Am Not a Stalker” blog.

Except for detective Philip Marlowe’s dislike of the weather conditions, The Brasher Doubloon starts out much like the novel on which it is based: Raymond Chandler’s The High Window. Marlowe meets Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock and her personal secretary Merle Davis at Mrs. Murdock’s home in Pasadena. After some preliminary questions, Mrs. Murdock decides that Marlowe will do as the private investigator for her case. She hires him to find a missing coin, the Brasher doubloon, which was part of her deceased husband’s coin collection.

But the film very soon presents some noticeable differences from the novel. First, the film’s Marlowe is very much attracted to Merle Davis, and he takes every opportunity to find out what he can about her while he is working on Mrs. Murdock’s case. In the novel, Marlowe isn’t sure what to make of Merle Davis when he first meets her, but there is never any indication anywhere in the narrative that he is romantically interested in her. Also in the novel, Mrs. Murdock is certain that her daughter-in-law, Linda Conquest, a nightclub singer, stole the coin when she moved out a week earlier, and she insists that Marlowe look into her daughter-in-law’s affairs and retrieve her coin. In the film, the character of Linda Conquest doesn’t even exist.

The Brasher Doubloon is in the public domain. Click here to watch it at the Internet Archive. The digital copy at the archive is in English with Spanish subtitles. I don’t speak Spanish, but even I could tell that the translation was shaky. Beggars can’t be choosers; it is free, after all!

I’m going to confess up front that I did not like this adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The High Window. As portrayed in The Brasher Doubloon, Philip Marlowe is more brash and more physical. He lacked all of the poetry and wry observations of Marlowe in the novel, and he has none of the dry wit and good humor of Lloyd Nolan’s Michael Shayne in Time to Kill, which was the first screen adaptation of The High Window. And the screenplay took great liberties with Raymond Chandler’s plot. The film waters down Chandler’s story to make Philip Marlowe more of a ladies’ man and Merle Davis more willing to accept his romantic overtures. This second film adaptation is a poor telling of Chandler’s novel, and it doesn’t fare well in comparison to Lloyd Nolan’s Michael Shayne (the stand-in for Philip Marlowe) in Time to Kill.

After reading The High Window and learning that two film adaptations of the novel have been made, I decided to write about the novel and the two films as part of a series on my blog. Time to Kill was the first, released in 1942. The Brasher Doubloon, released in 1947, is the second.

◊ Click here for my article about Raymond Chandler’s novel The High Window.

◊ Click here for my article about Time to Kill, the first film adaptation of Chandler’s novel.

This article about The Brasher Doubloon is the third and last article in the series for July 2021.

George Montgomery portrays Marlowe as a rougher detective than the one in Chandler’s novel or Lloyd Nolan’s portrayal of him in Time to Kill. The scene in The Brasher Doubloon where he deduces that Rudolph Vannier is a freelance camera operator doesn’t appear in the novel, but I mention it here because Marlowe physically assaults Vannier and takes his wallet. Marlowe is portrayed as combative, Vannier as meek and weak: not at all the case in the novel. Later in the film, Marlowe gets into a fistfight with characters that don’t exist in the novel. Philip Marlowe, as written by Chandler, isn’t in the habit of getting into any physical confrontations—that’s just not his style—and it was odd to see him in this position in the film. If you haven’t read any of Chandler’s novels, however, you might accept this film version of Marlowe as just like any other ordinary detective in a film noir.

(This article about The Brasher Doubloon contains spoilers.)

I have read on a few sites online that The Brasher Doubloon was meant by the studio, Twentieth Century Fox, to be a more faithful adaptation of Chandler’s novel, but I disagree with that assessment of the final film. Let me list just a few of the glaring differences between The Brasher Doubloon and the novel:

◊ The Brasher doubloon has a romantic and violent history in the film. The only history it has in the novel is the history of its ownership by the Murdocks.

◊ Philip Marlowe is attracted to Merle Davis and wants to pursue her romantically. Marlowe did no such thing in the novel.

◊ George Anson never follows Philip Marlowe in the film as he does in the novel, and thus his role in the film is minor (he appears only as a dead body in the film).

◊ I already mentioned that Linda Conquest, Leslie Murdock’s wife, is eliminated from the film altogether. But this is such a glaring change that it deserves to be mentioned twice.

◊ Leslie Murdock is a tough character in this film. He hangs out with goons and gamblers, and he is not the momma’s boy that appears in the novel.

◊ Rudolph Vannier is not a coin collector, and he never visited Philip Marlowe’s office in the novel.

◊ Philip Marlowe breaks into the Murdock home, something he never does in the novel. He always consults with his client Mrs. Murdock directly because, in the novel, he does have some principles.

◊ Mrs. Murdock wants Merle Davis to use her feminine wiles to get the doubloon from Philip Marlowe. Merle Davis is incapable of such tactics in the novel.

Davis’s character has more of a role in The Brasher Doubloon than in Time to Kill, but her character is not portrayed faithfully compared to Chandler’s novel. Her problems with men and her abuse, first at the hands of the deceased Mr. Murdock and then by Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock, are not really addressed in either Time to Kill or The Brasher Doubloon, but they are given more coverage in the latter film. It’s still not enough, however, because her story is much more interesting in the novel than either film adaptation portrays it.

Turning Merle Davis into a romantic lead for Philip Marlowe isn’t true to the novel, and it isn’t true to the development of both characters in the novel. In the film, Davis goes to Marlowe’s apartment to demand the doubloon from him, not to report that she believes that she killed Vannier. She shows a lot more backbone in the film, but her backstory is filed down to the bare minimum, a few crumbs of detail. Davis does go to Marlowe’s apartment in the novel, but she is in a state of shock and needs help, which Marlowe provides for her. The scene between the two characters in Marlowe’s apartment is particularly ridiculous in The Brasher Doubloon, especially when she demands that Marlowe empty his pockets and then that he strip so that she can find the doubloon on him. Merle Davis wouldn’t even entertain such an idea in Chandler’s novel.

Is it obvious by now that I much prefer the novel to either film adaptation? But if I had to choose between either of the two film adaptations, I would definitely go with Time to Kill. And not just because I am a big fan of the Lloyd-Nolan-as-Michael-Shayne film series of B pictures. Time to Kill not only adapted the novel more faithfully but also kept its ties to the Michael Shayne film series. Shayne is still Shayne, just like he is in the first six Nolan-as-Shayne films, and even though he is a stand-in for Philip Marlowe in Time to Kill, the last film in the series. I saw Time to Kill first, and I enjoyed it immensely. But I didn’t realize what a gem it was until I had The Brasher Doubloon to compare it to!

February 6, 1947, release date  •  Directed by John Brahm  •  Screenplay by Dorothy Bennett, Leonard Praskins  •  Based on the novel The High Window by Raymond Chandler  •  Music by Alfred Newman, David Buttolph  •  Edited by Harry Reynolds  •  Cinematography by Lloyd Ahern

George Montgomery as Philip Marlowe  •  Nancy Guild as Merle Davis  •  Florence Bates as Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock  •  Conrad Janis as Leslie Murdock  •  Roy Roberts as Police Lieutenant Breeze  •  Robert Adler as Police Sergeant Spangler  •  Jack Conrad as George Anson  •  Jack Overman as the manager of the Florence Apartments  •  Houseley Stevenson as Elisha Morningstar  •  Fritz Kortner as Rudolph Vannier  •  Marvin Miller as Vince Blair

Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox  •  Produced by Twentieth Century Fox

Time to Kill (1942): First Film Adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The High Window

I am a huge fan of the B films starring Lloyd Nolan as Shayne, and this last one in the series did not disappoint. Nolan is perfect, as always, as Shayne. The character is fun and self-deprecating in his humor, which is another big plus. But this film is also an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel The High Window. The humor in the film is actually not that far removed from Chandler’s writing featuring his famous detective, Philip Marlowe. In the hands of Chandler, Marlowe is wry and poetic. The two detectives—Michael Shayne (as played by Nolan) and Philip Marlowe—may have different styles when it comes to humor, but the humor is still there.

Time to Kill is the seventh in a series of twelve films about the detective Michael Shayne. Lloyd Nolan starred as Shayne in seven of the films until the series was dropped by Twentieth Century Fox. These seven films were released from 1940 to 1942. When the series was picked up by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), Hugh Beaumont took over the role of Shayne for five more films, which were released in 1946 and 1947. Click here to see my article about Just Off Broadway, the sixth film in the series, and to find links to my articles for the first five films in the series.

The plot of Time to Kill keeps many of the details of Chandler’s novel—but with some important differences. The biggest difference, of course, is that Philip Marlowe has been replaced with Michael Shayne. Such a major change could have spelled disaster, and for many fans of Chandler’s writing and of Marlowe, maybe it did, maybe it will. But it’s hard—especially for me—to dislike Lloyd Nolan’s portrayals of Shayne. In this last film in the series, the character of Shayne is true to the way the character is portrayed throughout the series, which I appreciated. I think this is one instance where I enjoyed the film as much as the book, but for very different reasons.

Time to Kill is in the public domain. Click here to watch it at the Internet Archive. Frankly, the quality of the online print at the archive leaves a lot to be desired. The sound and the picture get off to a shaky start, and the images are not very clear—and I have the screenshots to prove it! But it’s all I could find, and it’s free, and it’s always hard to argue about “free.” It’s still worth it to see such a fun and entertaining film.

(This article about Time to Kill contains spoilers about the film and about the novel, The High Window, on which it is based.)

Chandler’s novel starts with the famous detective, Philip Marlowe, of course. He is standing outside the Murdock residence, about to meet Mrs. Elizabeth Bright Murdock for the first time. Once he is inside the residence and after some preliminary questions, Mrs. Murdock decides that Marlowe will do as the private investigator for her case. She hires him to find a missing coin, the Brasher doubloon, which was part of her deceased husband’s coin collection. She is certain that her daughter-in-law, Linda Conquest, a nightclub singer, stole the coin when she moved out a week earlier and left her husband, Leslie Murdock, Mrs. Murdock’s son.

Time to Kill starts with Michael Shayne, more specifically, with a shot of the very worn soles of Shayne’s shoes. He always has money troubles—it’s a theme throughout the series, a running gag, if you will. Some of his clients aren’t always reliable about paying his fees. The soles of his shoes are a subtle way to show that this is one characteristic about Shayne that hasn’t changed since the first film was released. His feet are propped up on his desk, and he is on the phone. Viewers hear his voice before they see his face. I’m sure his voice would have been recognizable to his fans in 1942 by this point in the film series. It certainly was for me.

Shayne is on the phone providing references to Merle Davis, Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock’s personal secretary. They agree to an appointment the next day at 10:00. His fans know that his references are shaky at best, and Mrs. Murdock is only too happy to point this out to him when they meet the next day, but she still hires him for the same reasons as she does in the novel.

Another major change is the title: from The High Window to Time to Kill. The title of the film—Time to Kill—could apply to any film about murder. A high window in the novel, however, is important to its plot and central to the fortunes of Merle Davis, Mrs. Murdock’s secretary. Davis has a much more important role in the novel, and her story is a much more vital part of the plot. In this first film adaptation of Chandler’s novel, Davis’s story is watered down, and her character is given a lot less to do. This change doesn’t make the film adaptation any less fun and entertaining, but it lessens the impact of Chandler’s original story quite a bit.

The police detectives are foils for Shayne in the film, and that is also true for all the films in the series. But it’s definitely not true of the novel, where the detectives know what they are doing, even if they don’t have all the information that Philip Marlowe is able to gather as a private investigator. Some characters’ names have been changed for the film, but these kinds of changes are minor.

I watched the ending of Time to Kill twice, and I don’t think anyone, including Michael Shayne, ever stated clearly who killed Elisha Washburn and George Anson Phillips. In the novel by Chandler, it is clear that Lou Vannier (Venter in the film) killed George Anson Phillips and Elisha Morningstar (Washburn in the film) and that Leslie Murdock killed Lou Vannier (Venter).

Even though Time to Kill is based on Chandler’s novel The High Window featuring Marlowe—and even though Michael Shayne is actually a character created by another writer of detective novels, Brett Halliday—the film somehow works as both an adaptation of Chandler’s novel and another entry in the series of Shayne films produced by Twentieth Century Fox. I am glad that the producers decided to keep the Shayne character and to fashion Chandler’s story as the seventh film in the Shayne series. I can now say that I have seen all seven of the Nolan-as-Shayne films, and I have enjoyed every single one of them. Shayne is still genial, tough, funny, and down on his luck when it comes to money, but this time, the ending of Time to Kill hints that he just might get the girl.

All seven of the films starring Nolan as Michael Shayne would have made a great series of articles themselves, and I wish I had thought of it sooner. But I still have the series of five Shayne films starring Hugh Beaumont to see. These are the five films released by PRC in 1946.

I enjoyed Chandler’s novel very much, and I was anxious to see the two film adaptations. I decided to write about the novel and the two films as part of a series on my blog. (Click here for my article about Raymond Chandler’s novel The High Window.) Time to Kill was the first film adaptation, released in 1942. The Brasher Doubloon, released in 1947, is the second. This article is the second in the three-part series for July 2021.

December 24, 1942 (New York City), January 22, 1943 (United States), release dates  •  Directed by Herbert I. Leeds  •  Screenplay by Clarence Upson Young  •  Based on the novel The High Window by Raymond Chandler, the character Michael Shayne created by Brett Halliday  •  Music by Emil Newman, Cyril J. Mockridge, David Raksin  •  Edited by Alfred Day  •  Cinematography by Charles Clarke

Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne  •  Heather Angel as Merle Davis  •  Doris Merrick as Linda Conquest Murdock  •  Ralph Byrd as Lou Venter  •  Richard Lane as Lieutenant Breeze  •  Sheila Bromley as Lois Morny  •  Morris Ankrum as Alexander Morny  •  Ethel Griffies as Mrs. Murdock  •  James Seay as Leslie Murdock  •  Ted Hecht as George Anson Phillips  •  William Pawley as Mr. Hensch  •  Syd Saylor as the mail carrier  •  Lester Sharpe as Elisha Washburn  •  Charles Williams as the dentist  •  LeRoy Mason as Rudolph, the headwaiter

Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox  •  Produced by Twentieth Century Fox