Dir: Billy Wilder
Scr: Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler (adpt. James M. Cain)

This is the film that, with the exception of The Maltese Falcon and M, more or less paved the way for Film Noir. Spoofed countless times in everything from Mr Magoo to Wayne’s World 2, it’s unsurprising that this ranks so highly on the Top 100 movies on IMDB.

I can’t rave about it though. Well, actually, I can. The story is pretty weak in comparison to more modern films such as “The Usual Suspects” or older films like “The Third Man” but the dialogue is to die for. There are some marvellous lines, reflecting the writing genius of both Wilder and Chandler (who, apparently, did not get along at all during the making of this film). It’s just unfortunate that everything else feels a little clichéd - except I must keep in mind that this was the original and everything else just copied it.

So yeah, a good film, but I wasn’t blown away.* Not enough to consider it a valuable additon to my collection which is my normal yardstick.

*Feel free to pick me up on this and tell me why I’m wrong. But bear in mind that the DVD I was watching this on was slightly scratched so parts of the film were jumpy and I didn’t feel well disposed to it.