Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 50

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Popular Culture Review

amused. He refrained from congratulating his newlywed stars.^*
By November 28, the picture was 20 days behind schedule and Stacey
noted ‘‘Hawks’ practice” of “rewriting the entire scene on the set.” In Bogart’s
absence, Faulkner left the project and the studio. The writer’s famous December
12,1944 memo to Jerry Geller read: “The following rewritten and additional scenes
for The B ig Sleep were done by the author in respectful joy and happy admiration
after he had gone off salary and while on his way back to Mississippi. With grateful
thanks to the studio for the cheerful and crowded day coach which alone saved
him from wasting his time in dull and profitless rest and sleep. With love, William
Faulkner"' (Many of Faulkner’s revisions were not used in the film. In addition to
Hawks and Furthman’s extensive rewriting on the set, and Chandler contributing
here and there, Brackett’s caustic, witty dialogue was incorporated more often into
the script. On December 29, “Bogart returned to work—apparently in good
shape.” Production was 30 days behind schedule, and completion was not
anticipated until mid-January 1945.^° A January 13,1945 memo notes that “a retake
of the opening sequence in Vivian’s sitting room” of Bacall “was finished.
Incidentally, this sequence has already been retaken completely and this will be
the second retake of this episode.” Bogart, Bacall and Vickers finished cast shooting.
The film was 34 days over schedule, yet only $15,000 over budget, “with $35,000
budgeted for music” and “yet to be spent” it may “not go over budget much more
than $50,000.”^' The film received a PCA seal of approval on January 31, 1945.^^
With Hawks’ increasingly awkward rapport with his leading stars, the
producer-director focused considerable effort on grooming, lighting and dialogue
for female co-star Martha Vickers who plays the fem m e ^ Carmen— so much so that
she upstaged Bacall in the film’s initial release. UCLA Archive’s recently discovered
April 1945 print certainly bears this out. The Big Sleep (like Conflict) was originally
released/premiered for U.S. military troops, this time in the Pacific, in springsummer 1945. Bacall’s more minor role and lukewarm performance got less than
enthusiastic reviews. Yet, Hawks’ To H ave and H ave N ot surged in popularity.
Newcomer Bacall was now an on screen sensation. Warner Bros, smartly desired
additional tough “insolent and provocative” scenes of the female star opposite
Bogart (such as the classic harsh words in her bedroom, and the horse racing
innuendo at the rest aurant) to feature her more prominently in the narrative and
draw on the immense success of the sultry pair in To H ave and H ave Not. As
Warners rushed and prioritized the release of all its war-related pictures to capture
the last of a wartime consumer market before the global conflict drew to a close.
The B ig Sleep was temporarily stockpiled. But a year later, a January 28, 1946
production report indicates six days of retakes beginning on January 21-25, 1946;
the project completed filming on Monday the 28th. This new footage included
Vicker’s scenes in Marlowe’s apartment and the D.A.’s office, as well as numerous