The Big Sleep (1946)

As we continue to read through Corrigan's A Short Guide to Writing About Film, we notice that the example essays and excerpts presented may be about films we are unfamiliar with. I noticed an interesting title, The Big Sleep, and decided to browse the Internet for a summary about how this film can be a possible candidate for the major project. The Big Sleep tells the story of Phillip Marlowe visiting Geiger, a bookseller, to clear his daughter, Carmen's, gambling debts. Yet, upon Marlowe's return home, he discovers that Geiger has been shot. Marlowe finds Carmen high on drugs, and she immediately becomes the sucked into the mystery surrounding Geiger's murderer. As the film progresses, the audience becomes in tune to the numerous other mysterious disappearances and murders that occur. The Big Sleep is a possible candidate for the major project because it is indirectly suspends the censorship laws of the time by incorporating modern ideas including, homosexuality. Furthermore, this movie is an interesting choice to research more in depth with the major project because it can be examined from a grander perspective through a historical approach; the film is set in the 1940s during the war and illustrates some aspects of society at the time. The link I included provides a summary of the film, important quotes, and an "imdb profile" featuring quick facts about The Big Sleep.