Misguided attempt to update Raymond Chandler is badly let down by a terrible 70s TV movie ambience, an awful key performance by Candy Clark, and most of all, by an inexplicable change of venue from Los Angeles to England. Chandler's writing is given its soul, its backbone, by the City of Angels. To change the setting totally destroys the essence of his work. Mitchum is miscast (actually everyone is miscast) and too old for the role of Marlowe, the movie looks dull and dreary and the whole thing is a complete waste of time, effort and talent. The fact that it is quite faithful to the novel just heightens the pain. Go watch Bogie and Bacall or read the novel instead.

The DVD is an exceptionally poor transfer, whether because of the original cinematography or issues in making a DVD master is hard to tell. Either way it is overly grainy with a green cast and makes the film an even bigger ordeal than it otherwise would be. The fact that some reviewers on Amazon give this film 5 stars frightens me.