Movie Review - Lady in the Lake (1947 - United States)

I always start my movie reviews with my personal five star rating at the top of the page, but in this case I find it impossible to do so. Lady in the Lake is such an unusual picture, so far unlike anything else that I have ever seen, that ranking it against other movies is inappropriate.

If Lady in the Lake is neither a good movie nor a bad one, it most definitely is extraordinary, unique and to times absolutely horrifying to watch, which makes it a must-see for anyone interested in the way movies are made. It is the only full-length film released by a major studio ever shot with a completely subjective camera. That means that what we see is—and is only —what the film’s main subject sees. Where he looks, we look. When he cannot see something, we don’t see it either. For the entire movie. And the only time we see leading man Robert Montgomery is when he looks in a mirror.

And because the subjective camera hides him from us, we start to loathe Robert Montgomery's bitter, sarcastic Phillip Marlowe almost instantly. Without the subtle clues of facial expression and body language to soften our opinion, all we have is the nasty dialog given to the character by Steve Fisher’s screenplay, based on Raymond Chandler’s novel.

“Why don’t you shut up and start acting like a woman,” he tells Audrey Totter's femme fatale by way of foreplay. I started hoping she would shoot the annoying SOB almost immediately, and my hope lasted right through the chirpy, pasted-on, MGM-obligatory happy ending, which was not in Chandler’s book. Frankly, I was still hoping that at least one well-placed shot would ring out right through the closing credits.

So, if Lady in the Lake is that relentlessly annoying, why watch it? Because it's the only one of its kind, because it's gutsy and because the parts that do work—the moments when we watch a still life of tabletops or door frames while Marlowe has no human to look at; the completely black screen (a cinematic taboo) when Marlowe passes out; the ability of the actors to carry remarkably long single-cut scenes while breaking the cardinal rule of acting (DO NOT look into the lens!)—are amazing. The fact that any of it works at all is amazing, actually.

It was promoted by MGM on its release as being the first film of its kind and as innovative a change in movie making as had been the birth of talkies. Reviews were not as kind to Robert Montgomery, who directed as well as starred, and noted that the rarity of the technique loses its charm quickly and becomes annoying just as fast. The weird explanatory prelude—during which Montgomery sits at a desk and tells us what a subjective camera is—doesn’t help make the picture more palatable, it has the opposite effect of placing yet another layer of oddity on top of this most odd of films.

It was made at the height of the noir era, and the convoluted plot is nearly a pastiche of every noir cliché. I realize that none of this is a ringing endorsement for the movie, and yet I still recommend that you watch it, for the original trailer and ads for the film do not lie, it truly was a remarkable cinematic innovation, as amazing as the first talking picture or 3D film. The fact that the subjective camera technique didn’t catch on the way those other two did in no way diminishes the historical interest of Lady in the Lake.

If for no other reason, you should watch this truly unique picture because whenever someone attempting to impress you bores you instead with a list of the same auteurs and landmark films, you can casually drop the names "Robert Montgomery" and "Lady in the Lake” into the conversation. If they know anything about movies, they will be the ones impressed, because Lady in the Lake is the most little known film that deserves a place on that list of film milestones, and so does Montgomery.

(I am an artist and the author of the Suburban Sprawl series of novels as well as two nonfiction books. Find out more about my work at RobertaLeeArt.com.)

Copyright © Roberta Lee 2012. All rights reserved.

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Drama Rating: R

Running Time: 1 hr. 43 min.

Directed By: Robert Montgomery

Written By: Steve Fisher

Based On A Book By: Raymond Chandler

Cast:

Robert Montgomery - Phillip Marlowe

Audrey Totter - Adrienne Fromsett

Lloyd Nolan - Lt. DeGarmot

Tom Tully - Capt. Kane

Leon Ames - Derace Kingsby

Jayne Meadows - Mildred Havelend