I've got several of Mr. Chandler's novels, all 5 of Dashiell Hammett's novels, and 5 of the Charlie Chan novels. What a wonderful time for detective novelists.
Thanks for this “slice of life” about Chandler’s milieu and where he drew his inspiration from. I can’t help but comment that this is the “good old days” so many people look back on with fondness, conveniently forgetting the bad stuff.
No one looks back at the depression years as "the good old days". You're just one of those modern day apologists that pretend that the decline of California in the last 30 years isn't real. Dishonest to the core.
I heard about Raymond Chandler years ago in Lit class but only just recently read one of his stories (The Big Sleep). Really great story. Love PI Marlowe, he is so sassy! It was so good I wanted to learn more about Raymond Chandler and his time. Really enjoyed this video.
Enjoyed this doc on the history of corruption in LA in the 30's. I thought I was going to see a doc specifically on Raymond Chandler. Turned out to not be the case. But, it's all good.
Thank you for this excellent tutorial. Bogie & pals were great, Dshiell Hammett, LA Confidential and Chinatown ring truer than ever. Noir is beginning to fall into place in my cluttered mind.
Raymond Chandler, once lived on Mount Nod Road, Streatham, London, S.W.16. England.UK. when a very young man. Raymond, at that time was a pupil at Dulwich College, London. Peace to all.
Wonderful short doc, and I don't mean a small physician. Great how Widmark went into narration mode, which made his voice sound more like Robert Stack. I kept waiting for a plug about watching Unsolved Mysteries.
What a great video, it was more about the underworld and corrupt politicians than Chandler himself. I really enjoyed it non the less and I learned a few new facts about the underworld and politics at that time in LA so thanks for a great video!!!!
@@douglassun8456 You, like me, are obviously a big Raymond Chandler fan. I've also read everything Dashiell Hammett wrote. And Cornell Woolrich, aka William Irish. And I've watched every version of all films noir that were based on their books. In the late 60s, I discovered Ross McDonald. Then in later years I became a fan of Michael Connelly's books. And then along came a woman writer, Sue Grafton, with her alphabet books; which featured her female PI, Kinsey Milhone. Unfortunately, Ms Grafton died without finishing the last book in the series; leaving some loose ends, that will never be tied up. Although, it might sound ridiculous, but I grieved the loss of this author who gave me so much enjoyment, and her character who felt, dare I say it, like an old friend. Which was exactly how I felt about Nancy Drew, and Judy Bolton back in my teenage years.
Richard Widmark was a fascinating actor, usually the clever villain, and any movie was sure to be great if he appeared as a character actor. Wonderful narrator...no surprise.
*It's unfortunate that the film adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely" had to be re-titled to "Murder, My Sweet." The reason for this was that Dick Powell had previously been associated with light and frothy musicals, and audiences of the 1940's may have turned away, assuming that it was just another brainless and bubbly song-and-dance concoction in the style of Busby Berkeley.*
I love Los Angeles. It is the cultural center of the United States. LA crime and entertainment topics are genres inspiring endless books, television programs and movies. I recently stood on the roof of the Movie Museum at Fairfax and Wilshire, just steps from the La Brea tar pits. What a view...Griffith Observatory, Hollywood sign, Los Feliz district site of the La Bianca Manson murders etc., etc. The museum grounds were filled with tourists.
@@davidlean1060 NYC is an interesting place to visit with famous streets, landmarks, scary subway rides, and great places to eat, all part of a 'dynamic' experience. Your point is somewhat well taken, but keep in mind that the world public views SoCal and Los Angeles as essentially one in the same. A recent episode of BOSCH, shown world wide, has Harry Bosch, LAPD detective, tossing a criminal out of an airplane into the Salton Sea. Next scene...back in LA. On Britbox I recently saw a scene set in the Highlands where a young lady is struggling against a strong wind. She says, via the script, '...wind reminds me of the LA Santa Anas...' Hmm, Santa Anas are hot winds. NYC is filled with places of great cultural value, the MET, art museums, even the Juiliard School, but American hoi polloi are not high-brow. They appreciate cobb salads, french-dip sandwiches, skate boards and thousands of other things (and ideas) originating in Southern California and Los Angeles. Las Vegas is 250 miles from LA, but the two cities are often linked together in the same breath, you might say. They are the seat of modern American culture, NYC less so. Chicago could never be part of this discussion. I do not live in Los Angeles.
I believe there are three on him. American Dog (2006) and Feast of Death (2001) are on youtube, but he's got another one from 1993 called Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction. I'll see if I can locate it.
While I enjoyed the crime history of early Los Angeles, was disappointed there wasn't more on Chandler the man. For instance his wife, considerably older than Chandler had money and supported Chandler. Then the interesting conflict with Billy Wilder when they worked together on a screenplay. Chandler's late fame and heavy drinking.
Wilder gave him a two-second cameo in "Double Indemnity." He's sitting outside of Barton Keyes' (Edward G. Robinson) office about 16 minutes into the film.
@@TheSaltydog07OMG, didn’t know that, have to watch the movie again, thanks for that! That was nice of Wilder because Chandler was not all that easy to work with. He just didn’t fit into Hollywood.
I agree. So much of Chandler’s work is autobiographical. More details would have been great. Did his wife really support him though? I thought he did pretty well when he worked in the oil industry and while it took him a while to make good money as a writer he was pretty successful (at least making enough to live on) fairly early on. Even if his wife did support him and though she was older, I think they really loved each other. From what I recall he went into a deep depression after her death and ended up drinking even more. My God, the amount he could drink and still work. He was drunk most of the time he wrote for Hollywood because he couldn’t tolerate it sober. What would put me under the table for the night were lunch drinks for him. Like 2 cocktails before lunch, wine with lunch, then 2 or more after.
@@RoseyTucker Just a child didn’t know much about him except for Lassie; his wife Kathy I think her name was, my mom told me that she had taken her life so I knew he was dealing with a lot of grief I could see it on his face when he would drive by.
His apt on greenwood place was the setting for tv show melrose place. It was also where. Rosemary LA Bianca’s daughter Suzanne laberge lived when her mother was killed. Small world
Except for the part about corrupt city hall and police which were outside my ken, the introduction sounded an awful lot like the Los Angeles that I live in during the 1990s.
sadly power in the wrong type still and will always cause a level of corruption, either through desperation, greed or personality type. This is why everyone says government action takes so long, we hope it is cause due diligence is being done.
Even in the depths of the Great Depression there was a small cabal of millionaires who managed to profit from the hardships of the majority of citizens.
hot diamonds , cold hard cash clean getaways , dirty coppers stand up guys , low down rats two-timihg dames , only one way out What's your angle sister ?
It's true picture of entire world scenario, the human mind caught in desperation of existence, and something else, that something else of all negatives , twisted mean arrogant greedy of what money can buy now add this to desperation and your human mind created this kind of world for themselves, but society always will be divided into layers, this is one of those, others are of brilliant minds creating innovations, entertainment, writers posts, new tastes in culinary , medicine, and all sorts of good things what now every single person of general public enjoy. Every layer of society attracts only those who want to be in those worlds and fit in those comfortably
The suckers could gamble to their heart's content just because a crooked riverboat situation was set up? Then all lawmakers had to do was expand the watery "limits" too many miles in any direction to allow that to happen. Duh.
The weather for one, the contrast of a bright, sunny day in Los Angeles with wide open streets and the "glitter" of Hollywood's image of glamour and wealth back then. Compared to the somewhat dingy and claustrophobic streets of NYC, especially the canyons of Manhattan and the poorer neighbourhoods in the 5 boroughs. You expected crime in 30s and 40s NYC by looks alone, but not in LA. There is an excellent film noir feature which takes place in NYC, The Naked City(1948) in which the city is exactly the right setting for it.
@@glenyoung1809 I have seen that movie a few times, and it even gave rise to a popular tv series in the early 1960s. I do not consider it a film noir, but instead a standard police/crime melodrama with noir elements [primarily photography].
Good show, but no excuse for throwing perfectly good furniture, tables, items etc. off boats, and trashing the ocean like that for stupid photo op. Should have brought that stuff back to shore to be re-used.
Raymond Chandler appears only as a minor character in his own life story. Extremely disappointing effort and in the end a complete waste of time. Verdict: Could have done better, a whole lot better.
I've got several of Mr. Chandler's novels, all 5 of Dashiell Hammett's novels, and 5 of the Charlie Chan novels. What a wonderful time for detective novelists.
You should read Ross Macdonald if you like hard-nosed American detective novels.
Excellent film. Richard Widkmark = the perfect narrator for this!
Big thumbs up for this. I search TH-cam every once and a while for a documentary on Chandler.
He was the best!
what's the best one you've come across?
Thanks for this “slice of life” about Chandler’s milieu and where he drew his inspiration from. I can’t help but comment that this is the “good old days” so many people look back on with fondness, conveniently forgetting the bad stuff.
Isn't that the truth?
The wounds inflicted by the Great Depression are all over the hard-boiled detective genre and film noir.
No one looks back at the depression years as "the good old days". You're just one of those modern day apologists that pretend that the decline of California in the last 30 years isn't real. Dishonest to the core.
@@douglassun8456
I love the way you phrased your explanation.
Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for posting.
Great piece of work, thanks for finding it and offering it to us
This channel's a goldmine
This is well done, thank you.
I heard about Raymond Chandler years ago in Lit class but only just recently read one of his stories (The Big Sleep). Really great story. Love PI Marlowe, he is so sassy!
It was so good I wanted to learn more about Raymond Chandler and his time. Really enjoyed this video.
Wish I kept my copy. I had a class too about big sleep
excellent on background for Chandler's work-and Elroy.
Dashiell Hammett was a great detective story writer, too. Wonderful stories....
I'm loving this. Thank you.
Enjoyed this doc on the history of corruption in LA in the 30's. I thought I was going to see a doc specifically on Raymond Chandler. Turned out to not be the case. But, it's all good.
Very good, compelling storytelling.
I was trying to figure out who the narrator was as I watched this wonderful documentary. I love Richard Widmarks voice
I had no idea who the narrator might be until I saw the ending credits. Good job.
Wonderfully narrated by Richard Widmark
Had a crush on him when I was 12.❤Widmark that is!
Oh! Me too!
Thank you for this excellent tutorial. Bogie & pals were great, Dshiell Hammett, LA Confidential and Chinatown ring truer than ever. Noir is beginning to fall into place in my cluttered mind.
Chandler corresponded with the publisher Hamish Hamilton and some of the correspondence was salvaged for the book "Raymond Chandler Speaking".
“It was a good. So good, I couldn’t hold it”. Classic Chandler!
It appesrs that LA hasn't changed.
1937 - the same time frame that the film "Chinatown" supposedly takes place. Action in the movie fits right in with Chandler's reality.
Yeah
This man is quite brilliant i really see the characters in his books with his fantastic writing and clever use of language and slang.
To me, LA crime is unique from other big American city's. The Black Dahlia is in a class by itself, as are the Manson murders.
really fascinating!
I like the succinctness here. THE BIG SLEEP was the only complete screenplay Faulkner wrote.
Raymond Chandler, once lived on Mount Nod Road, Streatham, London, S.W.16. England.UK. when a very young man.
Raymond, at that time was a pupil at Dulwich College, London.
Peace to all.
Wonderful short doc, and I don't mean a small physician.
Great how Widmark went into narration mode, which made his voice sound more like Robert Stack.
I kept waiting for a plug about watching Unsolved Mysteries.
Very interesting and well done!
What a great video, it was more about the underworld and corrupt politicians than Chandler himself. I really enjoyed it non the less and I learned a few new facts about the underworld and politics at that time in LA so thanks for a great video!!!!
One of our greatest writers. RIP Raymond
One of the great American prose stylists, often underrated because he didn't work in a highbrow type of fiction.
@@douglassun8456 I quite agree. What I found sad was he wasn't prolific. It didn't take me long to read everything he wrote
@@douglassun8456
You, like me, are obviously a big Raymond Chandler fan. I've also read everything Dashiell Hammett wrote. And Cornell Woolrich, aka William Irish. And I've watched every version of all films noir that were based on their books. In the late 60s, I discovered Ross McDonald. Then in later years I became a fan of Michael Connelly's books. And then along came a woman writer, Sue Grafton, with her alphabet books; which featured her female PI, Kinsey Milhone. Unfortunately, Ms Grafton died without finishing the last book in the series; leaving some loose ends, that will never be tied up. Although, it might sound ridiculous, but I grieved the loss of this author who gave me so much enjoyment, and her character who felt, dare I say it, like an old friend. Which was exactly how I felt about Nancy Drew, and Judy Bolton back in my teenage years.
Richard Widmark was a fascinating actor, usually the clever villain, and any movie was sure to be great if he appeared as a character actor. Wonderful narrator...no surprise.
Nice use of the music from Hammett.
*It's unfortunate that the film adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely" had to be re-titled to "Murder, My Sweet." The reason for this was that Dick Powell had previously been associated with light and frothy musicals, and audiences of the 1940's may have turned away, assuming that it was just another brainless and bubbly song-and-dance concoction in the style of Busby Berkeley.*
I love Los Angeles. It is the cultural center of the United States. LA crime and entertainment topics are genres inspiring endless books, television programs and movies. I recently stood on the roof of the Movie Museum at Fairfax and Wilshire, just steps from the La Brea tar pits. What a view...Griffith Observatory, Hollywood sign, Los Feliz district site of the La Bianca Manson murders etc., etc. The museum grounds were filled with tourists.
@@davidlean1060 NYC is an interesting place to visit with famous streets, landmarks, scary subway rides, and great places to eat, all part of a 'dynamic' experience. Your point is somewhat well taken, but keep in mind that the world public views SoCal and Los Angeles as essentially one in the same. A recent episode of BOSCH, shown world wide, has Harry Bosch, LAPD detective, tossing a criminal out of an airplane into the Salton Sea. Next scene...back in LA. On Britbox I recently saw a scene set in the Highlands where a young lady is struggling against a strong wind. She says, via the script, '...wind reminds me of the LA Santa Anas...' Hmm, Santa Anas are hot winds. NYC is filled with places of great cultural value, the MET, art museums, even the Juiliard School, but American hoi polloi are not high-brow. They appreciate cobb salads, french-dip sandwiches, skate boards and thousands of other things (and ideas) originating in Southern California and Los Angeles. Las Vegas is 250 miles from LA, but the two cities are often linked together in the same breath, you might say. They are the seat of modern American culture, NYC less so. Chicago could never be part of this discussion. I do not live in Los Angeles.
Is it possible if you can try to find and upload a documentary on the great noir writer James Ellroy.
I believe there are three on him. American Dog (2006) and Feast of Death (2001) are on youtube, but he's got another one from 1993 called Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction. I'll see if I can locate it.
While I enjoyed the crime history of early Los Angeles, was disappointed there wasn't more on Chandler the man. For instance his wife, considerably older than Chandler had money and supported Chandler. Then the interesting conflict with Billy Wilder when they worked together on a screenplay. Chandler's late fame and heavy drinking.
Wilder gave him a two-second cameo in "Double Indemnity." He's sitting outside of Barton Keyes' (Edward G. Robinson) office about 16 minutes into the film.
@@TheSaltydog07OMG, didn’t know that, have to watch the movie again, thanks for that! That was nice of Wilder because Chandler was not all that easy to work with. He just didn’t fit into Hollywood.
I agree. So much of Chandler’s work is autobiographical. More details would have been great. Did his wife really support him though? I thought he did pretty well when he worked in the oil industry and while it took him a while to make good money as a writer he was pretty successful (at least making enough to live on) fairly early on. Even if his wife did support him and though she was older, I think they really loved each other. From what I recall he went into a deep depression after her death and ended up drinking even more. My God, the amount he could drink and still work. He was drunk most of the time he wrote for Hollywood because he couldn’t tolerate it sober. What would put me under the table for the night were lunch drinks for him. Like 2 cocktails before lunch, wine with lunch, then 2 or more after.
There are plenty of sources for biographical information about Chandler. This documentary was about his milieu and where he drew his inspiration from.
@@davidhull1481Which do you recommend?
Thanks
Growing up in studio city Ray Chandler lived right behind me on Laurel Terrace Drive
@stevenlovell3300
What year were you and Raymond Chandler neighbours? Are/were you a fan of his books?
@@RoseyTucker Just a child didn’t know much about him except for Lassie; his wife Kathy I think her name was, my mom told me that she had taken her life so I knew he was dealing with a lot of grief I could see it on his face when he would drive by.
Excellent!!!
Fascinating.
It helped that the fiction was so close to the reality that inspired the fiction :-)
Really good.
This is about crime...not Chandler.
For now, it's as close as we can get. The best one on Chandler is by E! Mysteries & Scandals (S3 E4, 2000), but YT took it down.
@@AuthorDocumentaries This video is not really about Chandler at all. Title is a misnomer.
@@stephenbingham2589 I'll try and find that E! Mysteries one to replace it with
@@AuthorDocumentaries have u found it?
great voiceover by richard widmark.
Excellent
Very interesting...from Ireland.
His old address, 4616 Greenwood Pl., is still there. Although now it’s surrounded by huge, ugly, block-shaped, apartment buildings.
I love his work. Frank Gruber and Dick Francis are wonderful writers too. Great stuff.
harry raymond's life should be made into a movie.
Perhaps a silly question, but who's Harry Raymond?
Sounds like this was narrated by Richard Widmark
Yup
I think it's spelled Skidmark.
It is
Tony Conero is a great story as well built the Stardust Hotel in LV
"It was a different city then than it is today." 🤣
Not really about Raymond Chandler but adds context to his legacy.....
Chandler didn't like crooks, but he also didn't like the cops either. Most of them are given a negative portrayal.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
His apt on greenwood place was the setting for tv show melrose place. It was also where. Rosemary LA Bianca’s daughter Suzanne laberge lived when her mother was killed. Small world
Chandler...father of the early detective genre...los Angeles...the city of angels...and now we know why...murder and corruption
Except for the part about corrupt city hall and police which were outside my ken, the introduction sounded an awful lot like the Los Angeles that I live in during the 1990s.
sadly power in the wrong type still and will always cause a level of corruption, either through desperation, greed or personality type. This is why everyone says government action takes so long, we hope it is cause due diligence is being done.
Even in the depths of the Great Depression there was a small cabal of millionaires who managed to profit from the hardships of the majority of citizens.
The Depression was a manufactured one.
So is our current economy. The elites always win.
The banks, the "Fed", were said to have had more responsibility for it than the Stock Market Crash.
And, now sports betting (i.e. bookie joint activity) is legal and advertised on TV by athletes.
Music is dope
The reformers would not believe what LA has become a thousand times worse
If he were alive today and writing about LA he would be censored
LA is just as corrupt today. Gimme a break.
The Wrecks.
This is the city. My name's Friday. I'm a cop.😮😊
L A Confidential ...? Gives a pretty good picture of how it was..
Better still ? The Big Heat.....Glenn
Ford .
hot diamonds , cold hard cash clean getaways , dirty coppers stand up guys , low down rats two-timihg dames , only one way out What's your angle sister ?
why can’t we have reform in American cities now?
Comeuppance makes for a spinning yarn. #truth
It's true picture of entire world scenario, the human mind caught in desperation of existence, and something else, that something else of all negatives , twisted mean arrogant greedy of what money can buy now add this to desperation and your human mind created this kind of world for themselves, but society always will be divided into layers, this is one of those, others are of brilliant minds creating innovations, entertainment, writers posts, new tastes in culinary , medicine, and all sorts of good things what now every single person of general public enjoy.
Every layer of society attracts only those who want to be in those worlds and fit in those comfortably
Amazing that gambling was illegal....so stupid
The suckers could gamble to their heart's content just because a crooked riverboat situation was set up?
Then all lawmakers had to do was expand the watery "limits" too many miles in any direction to allow that to happen. Duh.
Why is L.A. such a great town for film noir? So much better than my hometown of NYC as a noir setting.
The weather for one, the contrast of a bright, sunny day in Los Angeles with wide open streets and the "glitter" of Hollywood's image of glamour and wealth back then.
Compared to the somewhat dingy and claustrophobic streets of NYC, especially the canyons of Manhattan and the poorer neighbourhoods in the 5 boroughs.
You expected crime in 30s and 40s NYC by looks alone, but not in LA.
There is an excellent film noir feature which takes place in NYC, The Naked City(1948) in which the city is exactly the right setting for it.
@@glenyoung1809 I have seen that movie a few times, and it even gave rise to a popular tv series in the early 1960s. I do not consider it a film noir, but instead a standard police/crime melodrama with noir elements [primarily photography].
Whoever they had to mean business dead men are heavier than broken hearts
Good show, but no excuse for throwing perfectly good furniture, tables, items etc. off boats, and trashing the ocean like that for stupid photo op. Should have brought that stuff back to shore to be re-used.
Very well said..! I was a little surprised, seeing them throw furniture and trash into the ocean so casually.
@@chucksmash1That was probably a dramatisation for the newsreels, as was the pickaxe of barrels of booze during Prohibition raids
Sounds like California today 🎉
Raymond Chandler appears only as a minor character in his own life story. Extremely disappointing effort and in the end a complete waste of time.
Verdict: Could have done better, a whole lot better.
This is a video about Los Angeles during the time Chandler was there. This channel does have a bio of Chandler if you are interested.
@@janii4 O.....K !!
This isn’t much of a documentary.
Yeah it barely talks about his Chandlers life as a writer
@@anthonyt1t5 - Wasn’t he also supposed to be a bad alcoholic?
It's as if you didn't read the title of the video. @@anthonyt1t5
I'll take the police and city of the 1930s and 1940s over what we have today.
Can we recall Biden?
Blotting out Trump would accomplish a blessing for the world!
Excellent