Merry Christmas, Phillip Marlow

I had heard a lot about Lady in the Lake, but I didn't realize it was a Christmas movie. I knew that it was directed by Robert Montgomery, and that he starred in it as Phillip Marlow, but you almost never saw him, because it is presented as if through Marlow's. And I knew that it was considered a failed experiment.

It starts with Robert Montgomery sitting in Phillip Marlow's office, telling us, the audience, the camera, that he wasn't making any money as a detective, so he had started writing detective stories. Right away, we're getting totally meta:

1. A character in a detective story is writing detective stories.
2. The character is talking directly at us - but -
3. You can read the name on the inside of the door, and Marlow's pocket square in on the wrong side of his suit. He's talking to a mirror!

So, the post-modern structuralist in me is loving this already. In the following scenes, we see everything from Marlow's point of view, sometimes seeing his hands, or his reflection in other mirrors. This is the part that some people consider a failed experiment, but I thought it was effective:

1. Characters interacting with Marlow look straight into the camera and into your eyes. I find this quite compelling.
2. Robert Montgomery doesn't really look much like a Phillip Marlow, and we don't have to see him much.

This second point is somewhat problematic. I like Montgomery, both as actor and director, but I think he misjudges himself. He imagines himself a Cary Grant with a little Bogart mixed in, but he's more a younger, cleanshaven Robert Benchley. His tough guy accent doesn't quite work either, clearly based on Bogart but not quite steady.

But that's ok, we don't see him much. We do get to see a lot of his co-star, Audrey Totter. She's a classic film noir tough dame, sub-type: classy. She's worth looking at for her hairstyle alone.

Plus, this all takes place over Christmas. Not sure what that has to do with anything.

On the downside, the plot is a little random, and we never do get to see the lady or the lake. The actress playing the lady is famously billed as Ellay Morte. Or is she?