♪
♪ Soft mysterious music
[sighs]
[man on radio] War continues in Europe.
Hitler has suggested that any questions over the
future of Poland
will be settled entirely between Germany and Russia.
He also stated that he regards
the Czechoslovak question as closed.
Speaking at Washington, President Roosevelt
made no comment as to...
♪ upbeat music
[woman] The name's Cavendish.
[siren blaring in distance]
Err, Miss Cavendish.
[door closes]
Perhaps it's a first name, Cavendish?
Um, cigarette?
The cigarettes you keep for your clients,
are they better or worse than what you smoke?
They're the same.
Perhaps it is a first name, Cavendish.
It's a good first name.
[Clare] Mm.
Please.
How private exactly are your investigations, Mr. Marlowe?
What can I do for you, Mrs. Cavendish?
Mm, you are a detective.
I'd like you to find someone for me.
[Marlowe] Mm-hmm.
Nico Peterson, he was my lover,
he disappeared without saying goodbye.
When you say disappeared,
do you mean out of your life or out of the world?
I don't know, that's why I'm here.
Where was your husband, Mrs. Cavendish,
when your lover Nico Peterson disappeared?
In retrospect,
do call me Cavendish without the Mrs.
- [exhales] - I like it.
Was your lover the sort of man to disappear
with you as a lover?
Normally they don't disappear easily.
No, I bet they don't.
They stay around, climb trellises,
scenes in restaurants,
lie down in the road, promise you anything.
Oh I know how it goes.
Do you lie down in the road, Mr. Marlowe?
- Drink? - Please.
Well, he's tall like you.
Bit of a weaker man.
He dresses nice, meticulously,
what does that say about a man?
Does Mr. Peterson get money from his profession
or does he just profess his profession?
You seem to assume that I was
involved with someone unsuitable.
Yes, unless you were unsuitable for him.
♪
Go to hell, you pathetic... [shouting indistinctly]
[Marlowe] Would it be accurate to say
that Mr. Peterson would be a marginal person
in motion pictures?
- Apologies sir. - Yes. Alright.
[Clare] It would be accurate, it would be very accurate indeed.
Go to hell, you pathetic...
[shouting indistinctly]
[Clare] We would meet at the Corbata Club.
Do you know it?
[Marlowe] How did Mr. Peterson know the Corbata Club?
Was he your guest or the kind of guy who was anybody's guest?
My husband and I have an arrangement.
May I ask, is your husband homosexual?
[Clare scoffs]
[chuckles] No.
He isn't remotely that interesting,
he likes polo, alcohol, waitresses and my money.
Your money, Mrs. Cavendish?
I beg your pardon, Mr. Marlowe.
I'm asking if the money is yours.
My father was in oil, he's dead.
You'd know my mother but we won't discuss her now.
Did you conduct your affair with Mr. Peterson at the club?
We weren't meeting in the horse sheds, Mr. Marlowe.
What did he not show up for?
An assignation.
♪ Soft mysterious music
[Clare] I telephoned him a few times, no answer,
and then I went to his house the following week.
The milk hadn't been canceled
and the newspapers were piled up on his porch.
[knocking]
[Marlowe] Did he have things to hide?
[Clare] Haven't we all?
[Marlowe] What do you think has become of Mr. Peterson?
[Clare] I told you I want a set of fresh eyes
and yours come highly recommended.
Maybe you'll find out what I can't.
♪ Soft mysterious music continues ♪
My name's really Clare, like the county.
You know the county?
Yeah in Ireland, I know it well.
My mother was in pictures, you'd know her,
it's rather embarrassing, the upper class.
You're very perceptive and sensitive, Mr. Marlowe.
I imagine it gives you trouble.
♪ Sensual jazzy music
[man] He ain't home, beau.
What? He owe you dough or make time with your wife?
That's the way it is, huh?
Yeah, I'd say so, and good for him.
He's not a bad guy, if you don't trust people anyway.
I don't.
I think he's from Cleveland.
That's my place across the street,
he used to come over sometimes,
pass the time of day, give me a smoke.
How, err, how long has he been gone?
Oh I guess I last seen him seven weeks ago.
You err, you see him leave?
No, I just noticed he was gone.
How did you know?
[inhales] Well, he wasn't there anymore.
-[chuckles]
-That means there weren't any women
banging on his front door, or throwing a shoe at the house.
I mean I did pretty good in my day,
but not like him.
Are you a cop?
Sort of.
You're a private dick, ain't no cop.
Yeah, you're not the first one to come around asking about him.
A pair of wetbacks showed up last week,
and they was all gussied up, but a beaner in a suit
and fancy necktie is still a beaner, right?
No, sometimes he's the king of Spain.
King of Spain don't ride around in no Lincoln
with a Mexican re-spray.
Yeah, I used to work in the low end
of the motor trade myself,
it was two beaners in a hot car
that had been across the border and back.
[Joe] Oh, let's start at the beginning.
This guy's been looked at, sure.
Grifts, alienations of affection,
parking tickets, drunk at a social gathering.
And in the early days, public solicitation.
Now nobody knew he ever had a house,
he's down as domicile unknown.
He does have a house, I was there.
Well there's having a house
and being the person paying for it, I suppose.
[Marlowe] Who was paying for it?
Well, I think you'll find he was paying cash
from his no visible means of support.
I hope the lady friend looking for him looks good in black.
He was killed, October 22nd,
hit and run outside the Corbata Club.
You owe me lunch.
Liquid or regular?
♪ Tense dramatic music
[tires screech]
- [engine revving] - [tires screeching]
Deceased was struck by a vehicle,
make unknown, driver unknown
on Bay Canyon Drive just outside the Corbata Club.
Decedent had numerous injuries
including gross comminuted fracture
right side of his skull.
Death be not proud.
[tires screech]
tense dramatic music
♪
[door closes]
[engine revving]
[men shouting indistinctly]
I guess there's no point in asking for an invite.
Oh, none at all, sir.
Uh-huh.
[men speaking indistinctly in Spanish]
Oh, hey!
You looking for a gardening job?
Actually no, a membership form.
Albert. We've got a hedge hopper here,
he needs trimming.
[Albert] A real heathen.
- Hey, buddy. - I lead.
[groans]
[Joe] Maybe there's a reason you're unpopular with policemen,
keep getting, I don't know, punched, locked up
and almost but not quite charged with accessory,
obstruction, etc.
And at your age.
- It's my manner, Joe. - Yup.
Starting to wish you still had your pension?
Sure you are.
Look, Marlowe, listen,
this guy got killed after getting sauced in there.
The remains smelled like a brewery and he had marks up and
down his arms, his head popped like a pumpkin.
The Corbata Club likes to make it nice,
it does not like trouble.
Hit and run is two crimes, at least.
Don't fuck with me, this is LA.
These guys like Peterson are a dime a dozen, they come out
here, they fail a screen test
and they do what they have to do.
Could any member of the Corbata Club not know that he was dead?
From our own chief of detectives
to the new Ambassador to England,
I find it highly unlikely that it didn't come up over cream
tea that a scumbag had caught a Buick at the front entrance.
Did they ask you to broom the case?
No one has to ask, my brother.
Can I see the police file?
You don't need it.
Why you looking for this guy?
A lady wanted to find him.
Well, he'll wait until she comes by.
♪ Soft mysterious music
[indistinct chatter] [man speaks indistinctly]
[woman] Go back to Boston,
and to that miserable goddamn family.
And then onto England, the court of Saint fucking James.
You're not the only one done with this.
[man] Just remember one thing.
Oh, please darling, not another.
I paid for that horse.
[woman] I get to keep him too.
Could you do mine after?
[grunts]
Are you the new mechanic?
Maybe, what's it paying?
- You've a name? - Marlowe.
This is hell nor am I out of it.
That was his one good line.
You don't think he was Shakespeare.
Neither did he.
Maybe I am out of it.
Well out of it.
♪ Mid-tempo music
- [Marlowe clears throat] - [gasps]
You startled me, Marlowe.
Apologies, seems to be my day for startling.
Who else did you startle?
Some elegant Mick outside, who quoted Marlowe.
Are you quotable, Mr. Marlowe?
Christopher Marlowe.
Ah, he played in Doctor Faustus at the Harvard Rep,
never lets anyone forget that.
- He? - Mm.
Joseph O'Reilly, my mother's financial advisor,
oh, and soon to be Ambassador to England,
he never lets anyone forget about that either.
What did he play, one of the seven deadly sins?
[scoffs] Please.
Iced tea?
You could have some of mine if you like.
No, thank you.
I can offer you anything, really,
it's like the Arabian Nights around here.
[man] Clare!
Clare!
Who the hell is this?
Sorry I'm, I'm Philip Marlowe.
Hello Marlowe.
Cavendish.
Mr. Marlowe calls me Cavendish, Richard, I like it.
It's your name, darling.
I like it as a first name.
[Mr. Cavendish] Glad I'm good for something, dear.
Have you, um, offered your very large friend
a proper drink, darling?
She did and I declined, thank you.
So Mr. Marlowe, what kind of business are you in?
Mr. Marlow detects things.
Oh, and what are you detecting here, Marlowe?
My necklace, I lost it, he found it.
[Mr. Cavendish] Of course he did. I wonder where.
Well, it was a matter of retracing your wife's steps.
Marlowe.
Yes, Mr. Cavendish?
Fuck yourself.
It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Cavendish.
[Clare] Didn't go for it, that's odd.
He must think there's something between us,
probably something... sexual.
So tell me about you and Mr. Peterson,
with no embellishments, please.
♪ Up-tempo piano music
[Clare] I met him at the Corbata Club
for the first time.
I thought he was handsome.
We made love, and then I saw him again, a few weeks later,
not an assignation, an accident.
In Tijuana, at my favorite bar, La Quinteria.
[Clare] I was there with my husband,
we were watching the procession, Dia de Los Muertos.
♪ Music continues, latin with a whistling accompaniment ♪
[Marlowe] What was he hustling in Mexico?
[Clare] I don't know.
Nico has many schemes.
[Marlowe] He's in the grave.
Nico Peterson is dead.
He's pretending.
He's pretending very well.
Oh, I know he's dead and buried.
That he got killed in front of the Corbata Club, supposedly.
Everybody says he was.
But you see, the significant thing is that
I saw him the other day,
from the street, not in my mind's eye, in the street,
not dead at all.
I think we're finished, Mrs. Cavendish.
No.
I just wanted you to start at the beginning.
Begin at the beginning,
that's what you're supposed to do, right?
Where did you see him?
Back in Tijuana.
My mother wanted me to view some Azteca horses,
you know the prancing kind.
I did that, I do what she says.
[Clare] So I was in La Quinteria again, having one of
their divine Mojitos,
when I saw Nico driving down the street.
♪
He called himself a collector, most of all collected junk,
pretend antiques.
I suppose they're for the movies,
things that don't exist, fairy tales.
[chuckles] There's a man in Baja who think's Nico's
actually a producer.
[chuckles] He's been fleeced.
What, what's wrong?
You lied to me, Mrs. Cavendish.
And I sat there and watched you lie to your husband.
Good afternoon.
[woman] Hello, Mr...?
- Marlowe. - Oh, of course, I knew that.
Richard made a call when you first came in.
You know what they say about the old boys' club?
What's that?
There really is one.
And what did he find, Madame err...?
Dorothy Quincannon, and don't pretend you don't know.
Well, let's see, you had a bad war,
and then in the twenties, you drank yourself out of a
good job in the oil business.
-Did I?
-Got on with the Los Angeles DA as an investigator, but that
didn't work out too well either, did it, Mr. Marlowe?
You see, he found all that out in five minutes.
You're not the only one who can make enquiries,
you weren't looking for pearls.
No, I throw them before swine, it's a habit of mine.
Tell me, Mr. Marlowe, what does my daughter want?
A divorce?
I might even approve.
I'm sorry, I only discuss business with my employer
so, if you'll excuse me.
- Slán. - Slán.
[smooch]
♪
[footsteps approaching]
[gasps]
♪ soft mysterious music
[Marlowe] Excuse me?
♪ Mysterious music intensifies
- Hey, Fergus. - Marlowe.
Jesus, here it is.
Are there a single lead on who ran Peterson down.
We pursued inquiries.
But how far?
Marlowe, if one wanted to find an absolute nest of entitled
and connected tosspots who feel they can just drive away after
running over another drunk's head,
you go to the Corbata Club.
There were no witnesses, a suspect wasn't possible.
Saturday night, they come and go at that club like rats
through a hole in a garbage can.
It could have been any one of a hundred cars that flattened
him, and probably none of them contained anybody
it'd be wise to arrest.
We are in the real world here.
You understand the real world?
Sometimes Justice is blind, sometimes Justice doesn't give
a shit and might be right.
So who's the mystery broad you're working for?
His sister?
Tell me about his sister.
Maybe she identified him, maybe she didn't.
You tell me about his sister.
I got my own sister, you can stick his sister up your ass.
I'm working for a person who thinks that
Nico Peterson is still alive.
Yeah, that's complicated.
I'm not a complicated man.
My client claims to have seen him, which gives you a murder,
my friend.
Yeah I got plenty, thanks.
Here's your file?
My employer thinks he didn't die,
that it wasn't him that got smashed outside the Corbata
Club, to repeat myself.
It gives me a murder, yeah, theoretically, maybe.
What's your trouble, gents?
Money or women?
Both with the complication of thirst.
He's like the rest of us, Pat, except he can't take a hint.
-What do you have?
-Whiskey.
Usual.
What's going on these days, Patrick, you, you married,
or happy?
At least my laundry's done.
Pat had a rough two weeks finding clean drawers after he
lost his mother.
- Fuck yourself. - If I could,
I wouldn't have to listen.
If it was an operation, I'd sign up.
If he's alive, Joe, you have a homicide.
[sighs] Gonna keep saying that?
That's the last thing you want in homicide, I realize,
homicide.
What, you think it was a homicide?
I went to the graveyard, guess what?
- It was cremated. - Good guess.
Yeah.
Even the teeth were destroyed and they'd be everywhere.
You ever run over a rat or a cat, you know, look at it?
If Peterson didn't die, who did?
Look, Marlowe, I know you got this Sir Lancelot bullshit, and
you live like some monk, you got no regular self-interest
anyone can count on, you like getting sapped and locked up
for just not stopping,
and this is an interesting story you have, if true.
But that stiff, Peterson, for all intents and purposes,
had Peterson's wallet in his pocket.
Plus he was identified at the scene,
for all intents and purposes.
- By who? - The manager of the club,
Floyd Hanson, and by the Los Angeles county coroner,
who's a member, so, it's nobody's business now
but county.
County line runs where?
Bay Canyon Drive.
[Marlowe] Right along here?
Oh Jesus.
[sighs]
Make the call, Joe.
I'll keep you out of it.
Mr. Hanson says it's most irregular, Mr. Marlowe,
but he'll see you.
Keep to the left, follow the signs that say reception.
Oh, thank you.
[horse neighs] ♪ mid-tempo jazzy music
I'm Floyd Hanson the manager.
What can I do for you, Mr. Marlowe?
Don't bother turning off the car.
The gateman tells me you're a private investigator,
could that be so?
Yes, I used to work for the DA's office.
I've heard that.
I've heard that you've heard.
[keys clink]
I'm here about an accident that occurred.
A serious one?
Nico Peterson.
That actually wasn't on the property, that was more in the
public road.
Oh, I fully appreciate the distinction,
but sometimes people get moved off the property even though
their leg is lying on it a little bit.
There was an interesting case in Cincinnati.
What was that?
A man was beaten to death and then he was put in the road,
and his head was run over by a tire,
to obliterate the cause of death,
and to get him off the property.
Mr. Peterson was run down on the road, and the road is not
on the property.
I appreciate that.
Was Peterson a member of this club?
No, Mr. Peterson wasn't a member.
No.
[Marlowe] That's because you're exclusive, I imagine.
[Hanson] We are, but your meaning, sir?
[indistinct chatter]
What would we do without Mexico?
Mexico's the future, we have a sister club
in Baja, California.
Looks like the past.
It must be brought along.
Mexico or its inhabitants?
Stick to the point, Mr. Marlowe.
It must have been a shock for you, seeing Mr. Peterson
on the road like that.
I was at Chateau Thierry, old man, Belleau Wood.
I've seen men in more disarray than that in which Mr. Peterson
was discovered.
Once after an artillery strike, I found a friend's tooth in my
whiskey glass.
I drank the whiskey.
You're a terrible man.
He was dead and I needed the whiskey.
You're my age, perhaps you were there, perhaps you know how it
was, and therefore is.
Royal Irish Rifles.
The Somme.
For the rest of time, we have seen the dead.
Let's take a stroll, Mr. Marlowe.
We're alive when others are not,
and it's a pleasant morning.
♪ Soft mysterious music
[Marlowe] I see you've made inequity
pretty much your profession.
[Hanson] The club is exclusive.
The rich like to play, the polo grounds are over there.
So whose guest was Mr. Peterson's
the night he was killed?
Who's your employer, Mr. Marlowe?
We're at an impasse, Mr. Hanson.
Who's yours?
I don't know what you want me to tell you,
the police were thorough.
Aren't they always?
Isn't that what they do, be thorough?
I rarely blame a policeman, unless he's really bad.
There's generally someone he's afraid of.
And who in this instance would any policeman be afraid of?
Well, if the hit and run driver were a very substantial or
connected person,
a policeman might be afraid of the club in general.
I mean, I am.
What would it take for you not to be afraid?
What can I do?
Now listen, Mr. Hanson, I intend to ask questions.
Then ask your damn questions.
This was a hit and run.
And given the road, it was probably a member, and perhaps
the driver didn't even know he'd struck anything.
Everybody in this country has been drunk since its inception.
I don't think I've ever even seen a sober driver.
Shall we have some tea?
Is there much gambling here, Mr. Hanson?
You're on very dangerous ground,
there are cards that are played.
Debts accumulated.
There are card rooms, they're private.
- Bedrooms? - We have guest accommodations.
Do studio men and their producers have meetings here?
Why am I talking to you?
Because you don't know who hired me.
Well, name the thing that most intrigues you,
perhaps we could conclude our chat.
There is the possibility that the dead man was not
Nico Peterson.
His sister was shown his corpse the next day at the morgue
and expressed no doubts.
Where could I find his sister?
Ask the police.
♪ Tense ominous music
Why do you raise the possibility that Peterson
is alive,
when I so clearly saw him dead?
Someone may have seen him recently in the street.
And where was this, err, supposedly?
I can't tell you.
Goodbye, Mr. Marlowe.
I'm sorry that it was ultimately uninteresting
to talk to you.
Err, but I do like this thing that you have about not being
afraid, when you should be.
I'll see myself out.
[indistinct chatter]
♪ sensual lounge music
[man] I told you you're the most beautiful woman in town.
You'll be a star!
[woman laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
My, my, you're not a regular.
Well, not yet anyway.
They do like to keep it exclusive.
Yeah, it seems that way.
Try me at the Cabana, Venice Beach.
Excuse me?
Try me at the Cabana, Venice Beach, ask for Lynn,
Lynn Peterson.
- You're Nico's sister. - [man] Sir?
Gentlemen.
♪ Sensual lounge music continues ♪
[Marlowe] Lynn, I'm not sure if it's an N, or an E.
[woman] With an X if she works here.
There you go.
Robes in the cabinet, and no monkey business.
I'll try not to.
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
- [Marlowe] Thank you. - [woman] You're welcome.
[man] Here he is.
[sighs] Mr. Hanson sends his apologies,
Lynn Peterson's been detained.
Oh, I'm err, I'm sorry to hear that.
Is that, err, Lynn with an X?
- [grunts] - [groans]
Ah, fuck it.
[groans]
I'm getting too old for this.
Sensual lounge music continues
[Hilda] Are you keeping evil company?
[Marlowe] More often than not.
[Hilda] Well then you'd better be a good boy, because you're
going to meet Dorothy Quincannon
at the Garden of Allah Hotel at three,
that's in 20 minutes.
Dorothy Quincannon.
[sighs]
Did you come for the film stars, Hilda?
I came to bloody be one.
[Marlowe] Hmm.
♪ Laidback piano music ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[Dorothy] First of all, you have to boil the water,
now is that water boiled?
[waiter] Yes, ma'am.
[Dorothy] And then scald the teapot,
give it a good scalding.
Put in one teaspoon per cup, then one for the pot and then
leave it to draw for three minutes.
Think of a soft boiled egg, darling, three minutes,
no more, no less and then you're ready to pour,
have you got that?
[waiter] Yes, ma'am.
When you make tea, make tea, when you make water,
make water.
Water.
[Marlowe chuckles] I, I don't think he got it.
[laughs] Did you?
You lifted it from Joyce, ma'am.
Uh ho!
And he lifted it from somewhere else,
shitty little man that he is.
Never a day's work in his life.
Uh, apart from the books.
Terrible little syphilitic.
Tricked an American, sometimes that's all you have to do.
Is that what you did?
I've tricked any number of Americans
including playing pagan princesses,
Elizabeth of England, ruined widows and any number of
flash eyed barefoot peasant girls.
[chuckles]
There's nothing to it, all you need are regular features
and the ability to read.
Oh, I very much doubt that.
Hmm.
I spoke with my daughter, surprisingly she's not at all
interested in getting a divorce.
- She loves her husband. - No.
[chuckles]
But the arrangement suits her.
Alcohol, waitresses and her money.
My money.
She hired you to find another swine, didn't she?
Nico Peterson, who doesn't want to be found.
You learned all of this from her, yeah?
Ah!
Now, I want that tea strong enough to trot a mouse on.
Fine, done, you can go now, I will be mother.
[waiter] Thank you, ma'am.
[Dorothy chuckles]
I have also had the pleasure of Mr. Peterson's company,
he was proposing certain investments.
In the equitation business, I presume.
Whatever business I wasn't interested.
But my daughter cannot help but want what she presumes I have.
And you had Mr. Peterson?
[chuckles] That was a presumption, Mr. Marlowe.
[Marlowe] An understandable one.
I'm sure my daughter's paying you handsomely.
I can't talk to you about your daughter's business.
What business do you think there is in my family
that isn't mine?
If she thought I wanted you, she'd have you too.
Mm.
Perhaps she already has.
I can only say it again, I'm not in a position to discuss
your daughter's business with you.
[Dorothy] You're a proud stubborn man, Mr. Marlowe.
I'm just an ordinary Joe trying to earn a buck
and stay out of jail.
Clare's father drove his car off a cliff in La Jolla
before she was even born.
He was in the oil business, very successful,
but he couldn't hide from the black dog.
It's the one thing that frightens me, Mr. Marlowe.
That hound, it runs in families.
You're afraid she's unstable?
Oh, I know she is.
So be careful Mr. Marlowe, she has this burning need
for a father figure.
You see, I had to pretend
that she was my niece all those years.
My advisers thought that, err, a daughter would age me.
[Marlowe] What advisers?
You've met the soon to be Ambassador to England?
Mr. O'Reilly.
And maybe he advised me wrongly, but I had to listen
all those years.
He even bought a studio, said it was to advance my career,
but it did no harm to his bank balance.
So my daughter had to be my niece, until at last even I had
to face the fact.
The fact?
That my game was up, it had been for some time.
No more barefoot colleens, no more Ruritanian queens.
I have more money than the Queen of Sheba
and I'm a very, very happy has-been.
You mean a celluloid legend, surely.
The key to Hollywood, Mr. Marlowe, is knowing when
your game is up,
take the money and run, or stay, if you want.
But at least take the money.
I had another investigator on Mr. Peterson's case, a Seamus,
called Seamus, if you can believe.
What did he find?
That besides being prop master at Pacific Pictures,
Nico was also a wannabe agent with a client of one,
Miss Amanda Toxteth.
So you see, Mr. Marlowe,
my daughter wasn't the only one spreading her legs for him.
So, if you find Mr. Peterson, come to me before.
.. Where would I find Miss Toxteth?
I don't know, some god awful B picture, I suppose.
- Ma'am. - Wait.
How dare you?
I'm a little confused, I've already been paid.
♪ Tense dramatic music
[tires screech]
Cut! Cut, cut!
I need to see the face, the face, I need to see the face.
Ama, Amanda, err, camera's over there, I need you to look at
the cameras, car rolls up, you look at the cameras, okay?
Thank you.
Lunch.
I can take this off, right?
[director] Yes.
After lunch.
Believe me, I look better without the war paint.
[Marlowe] Thanks for seeing me, Miss Toxteth.
Call me Mandy.
You're a detective?
I'm more harmless than I look.
That must be exciting, being a detective.
I can hardly contain myself.
Oh well don't contain yourself on my account.
Nico Peterson was your agent, yes?
Well... he got me some work,
Riders of the Red Dawn, did you see it?
Mm, not yet, no.
Well, it's gone now.
Joel McCrea was supposed to be in it, but something happened.
I play the rancher's wife, who makes eyes at an Indian,
and the Indian gets hanged.
I'll catch it when it comes round again.
Acting seems to be going well, Miss Toxteth.
You're sweet.
Actually, my mother says I should fuck more producers.
What do you think?
I think your mother is gravely mistaken.
What can you tell me about Nico Peterson?
How deeply should my account be detailed?
Well, when did you last see him?
I guess a week before he died.
He was trying to get back into my good graces.
He was a womanizer, yes?
That's a tricky question.
Nico liked the conquest, not the women.
He'd hardly touch you after he'd had you.
That's a particular kind of man.
Some girls say handsome men are cold,
that's normally just what you say to ugly men to make them
feel better, but...
Nico was cold.
Nico had girlfriends, but he didn't have girls
who were friends.
Do you know any of his other girlfriends?
Clare Quincannon supposedly fell for him.
The blonde with the terrible mother, and the mother's story,
kept by the Ambassador.
He even bought this studio for her.
I hear it's pure slavery.
Did Nico have anything to do with Mexico,
business out of Mexico?
There's only one business out of Mexico,
don't be a sweet chump.
When he had money, that was why, and probably the only
reason anybody would look for him, owed money or a fix.
[man shouting indistinctly]
What did he drive, Mister?
- Who? - Nico Peterson.
Well, whatever he drove, he ain't parking it here.
[dog barking]
[glass shatters]
♪ soft mysterious music
You again?
It's alright, I'm a friend of Nico's, Philip Marlowe.
You're much too persistent.
I'm trying to find Nico.
- He's dead. - Wait a minute.
Are you so sure of that?
I've been hired to look into your brother's disappearance.
He hasn't disappeared, he's in a jar on a marble shelf,
I had to buy it myself.
You saw it too, you should have known.
What if I told you he might be alive?
I don't believe in fairy tales, mister.
I saw his body, on the gurney at the place.
So it wasn't at the club on the roadway.
I did everything I had to.
It couldn't have been easy seeing him.
Wasn't much fun.
And what's Floyd got against you?
Why I wanted to meet, and if you're afraid of him or
anything, we have to talk.
I'm not afraid of anything.
What's in the book?
- Words. - No dope?
Just words, it's a book about words.
Nico was good with words.
You say you saw his body?
Yeah.
And then the cop tried to make me in the hallway.
Probably has a daughter my age.
It's funny, whatever you do, there is always someone
trying to make you.
Mm-hmm.
You know what?
Fuck Floyd, fuck cops and fuck you!
-Hey, shh, shh, shh!
-[man] I know the lady.
She's the punk's sister, but... who are you?
You are a big one.
I'm thinking of renting the place.
[man laughs]
[speaking Spanish] Donde esta Serena?
[Marlowe] Who's Serena?
You know my brother, he probably dumped her.
♪ Tense ominous music
[man speaking Spanish] Despacio, no te voy a lastimar!
[man speaking Spanish] Dónde vas?
[man speaking Spanish] Espérate, deja de correr!
[Lynn gasping]
♪ tense ominous music continues ♪
[man speaking Spanish] Toma!
Where's Serena?
Who's Serena?
- [Lynn] My brother he's... - Who's Serena?
You take us to her or you'll see what happens.
[shrieks in pain]
[man speaking Spanish] Ay! Chingada, la madre!
[Lynn sobbing]
[man speaking Spanish] Eh, eh, eh!
A dónde mija, a dónde, a dónde?
[man speaking Spanish] No, no, no, vamos pallá.
-[Lynn] Por favor.
Please.
-[in Spanish] No, no, no. Pallá.
[footsteps approaching]
[man] Well well, what have we got here?
[hen clucking]
[chuckles] Boss wants a word.
And who might you be, big guy?
Cedric, big guy.
[Marlowe] Your boss's name?
Oh he's a little guy, Lou Hendricks.
Oh, well...
Get up.
[groans, grunts]
♪ down-tempo blues music
♪
The Lou Hendricks.
Finally I need no introduction.
I'm a generic name, Cedric, an eponymous trademark.
[Marlowe] You're a criminal.
Businessman and philanthropist.
I could use a few bucks, take me away from all this.
I was hoping you could use a few bucks, Mr. Marlowe, but alas,
it will be transactional, not philanthropic.
Well what was the words you wanted?
I can only hope it is not a past participle.
Where's home, Mr. Marlowe?
Where the heart is, but you know that.
No.
I mean your actual, quotidian home.
Twenty-six Maple Boulevard.
Let's take Mr. Marlowe to his quotidian home, Cedric.
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.
A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence
must refer to the grammatical subject.
Walking slowly down the road, he saw a woman
accompanied by two children.
If you give any trouble, he will drop you like a bad
grammatical habit.
♪ Upbeat blues music
♪
[Lou] Do you need to dress that?
Cedric, your do-rag.
You mean my pocket square, Mr. Hendricks?
Some days, Cedric, I wish I'd left you where I found you,
give me the goddamn thing.
Thank you.
I hear, Mr. Marlowe, and from various connections that you
are looking for someone.
We're all looking for someone.
Oh, that's very sad.
Tell me who I'm looking for.
Let me guess, two Mexes who are looking for a
broad named Serena.
Serena, a femme of the most delicate shape imaginable,
last seen in the arms of one
Nico Peterson, does that name ring a bell?
A tinkle.
I don't need you to hear a tinkle, I need you to hear a
sonorous bell with a hunchback swinging from it,
gong-a-dong-a-dong, not a tinkle, Mr. Marlowe.
Who was chasing Peterson's sister?
Two beaners, I hear, maladroits from sunnier climes,
the land of banana and tarantula,
who were also, quite separately,
and I should like you to notice that, looking for her brother.
I would very much appreciate a word with our friend Nico
if you find him and I will pay you.
Tell me what Nico was involved in
and why he faked his death and ran.
Nico, in the end, had to avoid everybody, I think.
But I will tell you that he used to run errands for me,
down in the land of the sombrero, the serape
and the mule,
his Spanish was good, he was dark in a Latin lover kind of
way, he was useful in Mexico.
Is it bananas or tarantulas you import, Mr. Hendricks?
Tarantulas, I'm entirely composed of tarantulas.
And me afraid of spiders.
Nico worked for me, he would bring me items so hard to come
by up here where the laws are so strict.
At the time of his supposed death, he was in possession of
some of those items.
And these items are...?
There are items and items and one item that related to the
said items.
Why don't we take a ride to the Corbata Club?
Maybe he stashed the items there.
Mr. Marlowe, people will talk.
When I go, I go into the back entrance,
please leave that remark alone.
-Wouldn't touch it.
-I grease the Corbata.
Beneath this fine Charvet shirt,
there is nothing but grease.
Peterson would've needed help, he would've needed a body.
It has conspiracy written all over it, I don't think Nico
went to a graveyard with a shovel and a lamp looking for a
stiff to fit his tuxedo, do you?
The club was in on the conspiracy,
but what's the club's interest?
Ask your client.
I think you'll keep looking for Peterson,
client or not, because you can't stop.
But I'll pay you 1,000 just to sweeten the pot.
No.
Cedric, err, next street on the right, pull over, please.
It would be wise to reconsider, Mr. Marlowe.
♪
[Marlowe] Stop anywhere here, Cedric.
Twenty-six Maple Boulevard
and I am not so smart as they think I am.
You're welcome to come inside.
They give you back your badge?
No, I'm here to report a kidnapping.
If you find him, I will know, and then I'll come get him.
And when that happens, don't try to stand in the way.
Thanks, Cedric.
[Joe] So two Mexes came out of nowhere and kidnapped this
broad, is that what you're telling me?
That's what I'm telling you, that and that she turns tricks
at the Corbata Club
and identified as her brother a stiff who wasn't Nico Peterson.
Yeah, there are certain things I'm just not gonna hear.
They were looking for another broad,
someone they called Serena.
I'm not here.
[sighs] His sister was getting out.
You don't put it in the system, I'll go and make a report,
I'll go on the record,
I'll spill that Peterson wasn't Peterson
and that's not news, that's a feature.
I can never remember which newspaper hates the mayor most.
This will all go okay if you don't manipulate me, okay?
What we do, we get you out of here, I take a call from an
anonymous citizen who saw her put in the car.
And you, play nice or I'll put you at the scene as a suspect,
it ain't what happened, it's what I type.
- Deal. - I'll give your pal Bernie Ohls
the dope off the record.
Sheriff's detectives, I can start everybody looking for her
and they'll look hard.
Is this good enough for you?
They took my 38.
Yeah.
Here's your thirty eight.
If someone gets killed with your thirty eight,
you still have a thirty eight.
[Joe] If they ever make us record serial numbers,
it'll be fucked.
[man] Marlowe?
[Marlowe] Detective Bernie Ohls.
Wait in the car, Arthur.
Get us a drink, Marlowe.
[Marlowe] Scotch on the rocks.
-[Marlowe] She's being looked for?
-City, Sheriffs, everybody.
Not a peep out of the brass.
Once a bulletin goes out, nobody can kill it,
all car alert for Lynn Peterson.
Mexicans driving some sort of Tijuana spray job,
she'll get no different than anybody else.
Just really look for her, I lost her.
When you're getting to be an old timer,
it's okay to get out alive.
I rely on you to give me good example, Marlowe.
Who's the frail across the way?
[Marlowe] Nothing frail about her, Bernie.
♪ Soft mysterious music
[Bernie] Well, lay low and err, consider another profession.
- Goodnight, Miss. - Goodnight, detective.
Hey.
Who hurt you?
Mexicans looking for Peterson.
What were they looking for?
For God's sakes, you tell me.
♪ Soft mysterious music continues ♪
Coat?
Thank you.
One could live in a house like this
and so much would fall away.
That's how the other half lives and we do pretty good.
Clare, you haven't once told me why you really want Nico.
Amanda Toxteth claims that he wasn't especially thoughtful
in the bedroom.
Poor Amanda, she played a tough game.
[Marlowe] Tell me about it.
There's not one studio in this town that's run by men who were
looked at twice before they had their first million.
If women never liked you when you were poor,
that must twist you all up.
So they call you forth for refreshing acts of humiliation.
[Marlowe] Who did you learn this from?
The ambassador?
Mm, the ambassador got to town already loaded,
and he'll be even richer when he leaves,
just without my mother.
Your mother also wanted Nico.
She tried to hire you too?
She always wants what I want or have.
You mean Nico?
Maybe.
Or maybe she's just afraid that you'll make love to me before
you find out just how terrible I am.
That's a terrible idea.
Why?
Because I'm in your employ, because you're half my age.
Because you're so beautiful, I'd lose my bearings.
What can we do then if we can't do that?
♪ Jazzy piano music We can dance.
[Clare] I spent six years with the nuns, just so my mother
could be a flash eyed colleen with her hands on her hips.
She had to play the virgin for 15 years, gosh,
although you surrender in each picture, naturally.
And all the while, the ambassador was
advising her financially.
Has he ever advised you financially?
You mean has he ever touched me?
Suppose I do.
Maybe that's the wrong question.
-Oh!
-Pardon me.
[chuckles] You're a terrible dancer.
I'm a worse lover.
You expect me to believe that?
The dance is good.
For now.
♪ Romantic blues music ♪ [sighs]
I have to be somewhere.
Should I come back here after?
Stay over, as friends?
That never works, Clare.
I don't intend it to.
No.
A puzzle has many pieces,
I don't know exactly what you're gonna find,
you might find a dragon and have to kill it.
Fair enough.
Goodnight, Philip Marlowe.
Night.
♪ Romantic blues music continues ♪
[thunder rumbling]
♪ tense ominous music
[rain pattering]
[thunder rumbles]
[rain pattering]
♪ tense ominous music continues ♪
[Clare] Is the ambassador here?
[woman] Yes, ma'am.
[Clare] So do we call you ambassador now?
[O'Reilly] Clare, how are you?
It's good to see you.
Your mother just left.
What did she want?
-[O'Reilly] Don't ask.
-So it didn't go well?
[O'Reilly speaking indistinctly]
[Dorothy] Where's your camera, Mr. Marlowe?
I don't have one.
Mm, do you have any idea how much that photo
would've been worth?
Are they breaking any laws?
Only the laws of attraction.
I, for one, would pay big money
for an account of all of their terms of endearment.
He's old enough to be her father.
Yeah.
[chuckles] But then...
so are you.
[indistinct chatter]
[man] Hey, taxi!
There goes Bernie Ohls.
Arthur ran the number plate of your visitor last night.
Yeah?
That car belongs to Dorothy Quincannon.
So?
Of all the people in Los Angeles who you do not fuck
with, the new ambassador who opened the Pacific Studios
with bootleg money and his mistress are top of the list!
[sighs] Everybody's better connected than us.
Ever wonder what the attraction was?
What? The mother or the daughter?
Maybe both.
[scoffs, chuckles]
You are a very sick man, Marlowe.
LAPD found Lynn Peterson.
Where is she?
Encino.
She'll wait till we get there.
Was she um, was she shot with my gun?
No.
No, she wasn't shot.
♪ Ominous music
[Marlowe sighs]
[doctor] Deep continuous transverse wound to the
anterior triangles of the neck, cutting both venous
and arterial structures,
injuries not compatible with life.
That means her throat was cut.
That was after the lit cigarettes,
the knuckle dusters, the knife, the rape.
[Marlowe] Oh my God.
♪ Somber choral music
[man] We should wrap it up.
Guys, you're not gonna like this.
♪ Somber choral music continues ♪
[flies buzzing]
- Hey, you! - Yeah?
That's the sister of the man you identified two weeks ago
who was killed outside the Corbata Club, his head was
squashed like a pumpkin, were you aware of that?
Make a note of it in your report, doctor.
- I just do the bodies. - Just make a note of it.
Thank you, Bernie.
Nobody lives forever.
When things get down and dirty, rank and file don't like it,
not even in county.
At last, Bernie.
Joe.
Come with us.
[Bernie] The blue car came in an hour ago, the two suspects
in Tijuana got out.
That's the re-spray.
[Bernie] Yep.
Who's that?
That's the Bentley of Mr. Lou Hendricks.
The Lou Hendricks?
The same.
So he's a member, like the Mexicans.
I want you to go after these fucks like a rat terrier
in a closet, I don't wanna know anything about it.
Ah come on, Bernie, do it yourself.
I still have a pension, you don't.
[sighs] Fair enough.
We own Bay Canyon, we'll block the roads in and out.
Give me the glasses.
Get down that rat hole.
-How?
-Doesn't matter how.
Fair enough.
[Marlowe] Come on Joe, let's do this.
You look like shit.
Fair enough.
Just so you know, the real shit doesn't go down in there
until the early hours.
So once you're in, you gotta wait and wait.
Fair enough.
And remember, you're the guy who can ID the Mexicans,
so watch your corners.
Fair enough.
Hey, will this get my badge back?
Is that what you want?
You mind?
♪ Soft mysterious music
[Dorothy] Otis!
[Otis] Yes, ma'am?
I'll be right down.
[Otis] Yes, ma'am.
You're a long, long way from Tipperary, Dorothy.
[night critters chittering]
♪ tense ominous music
[door opens]
[man 1] What is this called?
[man 2] It's called a Miguel Finn, a Mickey Finn.
♪ Tense ominous music continues ♪
[snorts]
Girls, boys, heroin, coke,
I've given it some thought
and I'd like to fill out an application.
- [loud thud] - [grunts]
Not polite.
Maybe because I don't feel polite this fine evening.
Well let's have a drink, talk about it.
You heard about Lynn Peterson?
Tragic thing.
What if I told you that the police won't touch you but
they're expecting that I will.
[clanks]
I have nothing to do with Lynn Peterson or Nico Peterson.
[sniffs, sighs] This is Los Angeles,
people are on the make.
Why were they here on the make?
His sister was a Corbata whore with a junk habit,
she worked for you, you're a pimp.
No I'm not, I don't control the place, I'm not the boss.
-So who is?
♪ Tense music Dorothy Quincannon?
The ambassador?
How little you know, Mr. Marlowe.
I do know a guy named Lou Hendricks,
you might know him too.
His people call my people.
I'm going down the rabbit hole, Floyd,
I might even take you with me.
We'll need that drink then.
[Hanson] We can join Lou Hendricks down below.
[Marlowe] Beating you round the walls doesn't get me much,
does it?
Must be the military training.
Huh.
Okay, I'll have that drink.
It's, err, very difficult...
To balance your many obligations to the various
interests of all the people, powerful people.
[Hanson] Discretion is a thing that we provide.
And you take protection in return.
Very, very serious protection, Mr. Marlowe.
Now you will know the full extent of it.
I appreciate your difficulties, Mr. Hanson.
It's difficult to run a whore house
and not have anyone know it is one,
especially when you're also in the narcotics business.
[Hanson] There's an awful lot you don't understand.
About narcotics?
[Hanson] About management.
♪ Tense ominous music
The Corbata Club investors leave me alone
to, to manage the place,
I don't trouble them when difficulties arise
unless the difficulties are,
how shall we say, hard for me to deal with alone.
♪ Tense ominous music
Like the whore who won't play ball,
the girl or a boy who aren't as interested as you'd like,
or the snoop who's far too interested.
You give them a little something...
Are you alright, Mr. Marlowe?
I would've thought you'd be a man who could hold his liquor,
seems I was wrong.
[groans]
As you go to sleep, I want you to consider
the whereabouts of Nico Peterson
were never the issue.
It was the whereabouts of what Nico had in his possession.
We'll get to the bottom of those issues without your help.
From everything I hear, you were never a team player.
Never went along to get along.
And see where it gets you?
You're dying.
Alone.
♪ Suspenseful music
♪ forlorn blues music
[laughing]
I'm gonna get you!
[distorted echoing]
♪ forlorn blues music continues ♪
[woman laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
[grunting]
[grunts]
[sighs]
[exhales]
- You alright? - Yeah, I'll be here.
Damn.
[Cedric] You're awake.
[Marlowe sighs]
[grunts]
[Marlowe] This must be yours.
You didn't drink it?
I remembered what happened to Alice in Wonderland
when she bit the mushroom.
You pretended.
And you?
Should've known, who offers the wheels a cocktail?
- [coughs] - Lou Hendricks?
They're working him over real bad.
That's him shackled up inside, I guess?
They'll have him speaking Greek soon.
[groaning softly]
- [grunting] - [straining]
Promise you never do that to me.
If I help you out of here...
will you help me?
Fuck yeah.
Crank up the volume.
Two dead boys from Tijuana, see where this gets ya?
You're making this hard for me, Lou.
♪ Upbeat mambo music
[Lou gasps]
Much too hard.
What else do you do for Lou Hendricks?
Too damn much if you ask me.
-[Cedric] Sweet.
-Oh, righteous.
Hey, we both go in there.
We're both coming out alive.
Yeah?
Agreed, Mr. Marlowe.
♪ Upbeat mambo music continues
I'm awfully sick of this tune.
Where is she?
Where is who?
The Chiquita bitch!
The one that you call Serena!
I already told you, Nico had his way with her.
What do you do with this?
It's just for shaving.
Ear, nose and throat jobs, huh?
I have people who do that for me.
Oh, do you?
Oh, so do I!
So do I!
- Frederick! - Yeah!
Give him an ear and nose and throat job, in that order.
Make him tell us where Serena is.
Not Serena!
-The Serena!
-The Serena?
The Serena Ornamental over there!
A plaster mermaid?
Serena's a fuckin' mermaid?
-You gotta work on your Spanish!
-Hanson!
- [gunshot] - [groans]
Say this in Spanish!
[Lou] Cedric!
Cedric, catch it!
[Lou] Cedric!
Yes, boss.
Was it beyond your capabilities to save the fucking mermaid?
Sorry, boss.
You just broke the Hendricks bank!
Sorry, boss.
It'll take you years to pay me back!
Mr. Hendricks, that's not fair.
As the progeny of sharecroppers, Cedric,
you should know life isn't fair!
You're right.
Life isn't fair.
[Cedric] I expected to see grease, didn't you?
Grease and tarantulas.
But instead, he's entirely made of soft tissue,
[chuckles] go figure.
Shall we?
♪ Somber blues music
[Bernie] What will I find inside?
[Marlowe] Some dead bodies.
How many?
I forgot to count.
Uh... Lou Hendricks, Floyd Hanson,
two gentlemen from Tijuana and one busted mermaid.
A mermaid?
The Serena Ornamental, packed with Mexican powder,
now it's very wet.
And you are?
I'm his wheels.
♪ Blues music continues
[Marlowe] So what now, Cedric?
[Cedric] We both spilled some significant blood.
So we should stick together,
I'll be your driver for the moment.
[Marlowe] Cedric, I have my own wheels.
[Cedric] Of course you do, but consider the parking.
♪ Tense ominous music
Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Nico Peterson.
[chuckles]
So,
you're not dead.
[Nico] You're quite the detective.
[Marlowe] What do you want?
You've been looking into the circumstances of my demise.
My determination for some time has been that reports of your
death were greatly exaggerated.
[chuckles] I'll say.
Well, not your sister's.
My half sister's, from my father's wild days in Acapulco.
[Marlowe] So you won't be spilling any tears?
She is dead, I know.
[Marlowe] She did not die pleasantly.
I couldn't help that.
You could help yourself though.
Well, I happen to have something everybody wants.
[Marlowe] More dope?
Much better than dope.
[Marlowe chuckles]
You are all too much for me,
all I am is a working stiff.
I need to get to Clare.
I will do everything in my power to put you both together
and never see any of you again.
Then give her a message from me, will you?
Tell her I'll meet her in the studio prop house, tonight and
I'll have the goods on the ambassador.
What have you got on him?
Just give her the message, Marlowe.
There's a few things I want cleared up
before we decide anything.
-What do you wanna know?
-The body outside the Corbata club.
A musician who worked the club.
-Did you kill him?
-No.
Did you kill him?
No.
Opportune?
He looked like me, I like people who look like me.
What does Dorothy Quincannon want from you?
Well, maybe she wants to fuck with the ambassador who's maybe
trying to fuck her daughter, I don't know.
Put it together, Marlowe, you're the detective.
Everyone wants something on somebody else, it's all just...
blackmail in the end.
I'll be in the prop house,
7:30,
tell her I've got what she wants.
♪ Laid back piano lounge music
[Clare] I've just realized,
this is my mother's favorite table.
This is where the ambassador advises us financially.
You've asked her along?
Yes, I felt I needed some advice.
- Financial? - More like professional.
Hmm.
My, my, my, it's Clare.
[chuckles] What a wonderful surprise, Mr. Marlowe.
- Tea, Mother? - [Dorothy] Scalded.
Let's hope you brew it right.
- So a mouse can trot on it. - So a mouse can trot on it.
You know, I've so enjoyed our separate meetings that I felt
the need for us all to sit together.
What Mr. Marlowe means, my dear, is that he thinks he's
too clever for the both of us.
[chuckles] One of you hired me, the other tried to, so you both
seem to want the same thing.
Nico left you for a girl alright,
a plaster mermaid full of Mexican powder.
That's disgusting.
A subject about which you claim to know nothing, yes?
Why don't you cut to the chase and ask her why she hired you?
To find Nico Peterson.
Hiring a detective might just be the best way to suggest
she doesn't know where he is.
What do you think, Mother, I'm keeping him in a shack
in Rosarito?
Maybe closer.
Why don't you tell Mr. Marlowe what you want with him?
Perhaps I am trying my best to save your reputation.
[Clare scoffs] Well, maybe it's the other way around, Mother.
[Clare] You see, Mr. Marlowe,
her lover dumped her.
The Ambassador to England wants done with tinsel town,
so she's playing the only role left for her to play,
the femme fatale, her very own Medea.
[chuckles]
Oh well,
it's a role that awaits us all, my dear.
[dishware shatters]
[Dorothy scoffs] Well,
you suspected one of us would do this but you just didn't
know which one, did you?
I laid a dollar on you.
Mmm.
You've quite mastered the technique, haven't you,
Mr. Marlowe?
Of upsetting the women in your life.
There are no women in my life.
Well then, follow her, she likes older men.
Don't worry,
I'll pay for the mess, I always do.
[woman speaks indistinctly] [bellhop] Yes, ma'am.
Are you okay?
I don't care that I'm less than you think I am,
I'm always less than people think I am.
You're one of those people who's just lucky to be more
than we think you are.
I'll send you the balance of what I owe you.
Maybe I can charge your mother together with a finder's fee.
A what?
I found him, this afternoon, or rather he found me.
I walked into my little house and there he was,
Mr. Nico Peterson.
Where is he now?
He'll be waiting for you at the prop house at Pacific Studios,
7:30 p.m.
Why the prop house?
I was hoping you would tell me.
[Clare] Taxi!
[Clare] Go!
♪ Tense music
[Cedric] "A car is more than a vehicle,"
Mr. Hendricks used to tell me.
It's a sealed confessional,
a repository of secrets.
And this city, devoted as it is
to the internal combustion engine,
is a city of motorized secrets.
You're waxing philosophical, Cedric.
Yep, forgive me, Mr. Marlowe, it's a habit I inherited from
my late employer, he had a tendency to digress.
But you did say the prop house?
I did.
And I have to ask myself,
why the prop house?
And now you have to tell me, Cedric, why the prop house?
[Cedric] Nico Peterson was moving Lou Hendricks's product
through the prop house for years.
[Marlowe] And the product is from Tijuana, right?
[Cedric] Hidden in a plaster raven, the bust of Nefertiti,
a Virgin of Guadeloupe or a Serena Ornamental.
You see, Mr. Hitchcock, who could've worked wonders for
Pacific Pictures, but is sadly on his way to MGM,
Mr. Hitchcock, like Mr. Hendricks,
always liked to keep the script to himself.
But many conversations, overheard from this here front
seat, enabled me to do what Mr. Hitchcock always
managed so adroitly,
to work out the plot.
[rapid gunfire]
[Cedric] It was never really about a mermaid,
it was always about the contents of a certain
briefcase, which could bring a whole studio down.
[Nico] Clare.
Nico.
You're on your own?
Did you want the full auction house, Nico?
Me, my mother, Floyd Hanson, Lou Hendricks?
That would be difficult, two of them are dead.
Well, you're gonna have to start the bidding with me.
What I've got here is worth a fortune.
[Clare] Really?
You better show me then.
All of the records of the heroin which was flowing
through his studio.
It's more than enough to ruin the ambassador's reputation
and the reputation of Pacific Pictures.
[Cedric] Nico Peterson went missing with one Serena
Ornamental and one handmade briefcase packed with records
of every dope transaction since he and Lou Hendricks
started business.
He was trying to sell this information
to anyone he could find.
[Nico] I'm a bookkeeper, darling, a good one.
Import, export, I kept every transaction.
♪ Ominous music
[Clare] You're more than a bookkeeper, Nico.
You'd sell tickets to the gates of hell.
[Nico] Maybe that's why you like me.
I never liked you, Nico.
[door opens]
Do you trust me that little, Clare?
[Clare] You know how it is these days, Nico,
nobody trusts anyone.
[gun cocks] [gasps]
What, what was that sound, Clare?
My mother's gun, I found it in her boudoir.
[gunshot]
[groans] Fuck!
I'm so bad with these.
Why are you doing this?
You've always played too low, Nico.
Take a lesson from me and go straight to the top.
[groans] That's better.
[Nico groans]
♪ tense music ♪ [Nico gasping, coughing]
[Nico groaning in pain]
I'm burning your books, Nico.
Is he dead, Mr. Marlowe?
At last.
And that's why you hired me?
So you could finally kill him?
It's one of the reasons.
Has the ambassador paid you off?
I imagine he'll have to after this little piece of
spring cleaning.
Tell me why I shouldn't shop you.
Because he was far too young for me,
because he was evil incarnate, because he was already dead.
Let me deep-six this.
Use the side door.
♪ Soft ominous music
Goodbye, Clare Cavendish.
Good evening, Mr. Marlowe.
♪ Upbeat mambo music
[siren wailing in distance]
[firefighters shouting]
Tell me you didn't set that fire, Marlowe.
No, Bernie, you know I only put 'em out.
What do you think I'll find inside?
The bust of Nefertiti, the Ark of the Covenant,
Maltese Falcon.
Oh. Nothing more significant?
What more could you want?
[Cedric] So you got caught in the crossfire
between a mother and a daughter?
[Marlowe] Yep, I never seem to learn.
[Cedric] And who wins, Mr. Marlowe?
The mother or the daughter?
[Marlowe] Who would you put your money on?
[Cedric] Well, the ambassador loses.
[Marlowe] Those guys never lose, Cedric,
they just move on.
[chuckles]
- Mr. Marlowe? - Yeah.
She will see you now.
Thank you.
- [woman] Why does he get in? - [man] And this one?
Mr. Marlowe.
Mrs. Cavendish.
[man] And one more...
So, this was the transaction?
What exactly do you mean?
[man] Thank you.
You saved the ambassador's ass, he lets you run things,
it's better than the bootlegging trade,
don't you think?
The ambassador's moved beyond all that.
Your mother's acting again, I see.
[Clare sighs] She never stopped.
What's the story?
Oh you know, like any,
love, murder, reconciliation.
[Marlowe] Happy ending?
We're working on that.
So, are you, err, going to tell me why I'm here,
Mrs. Cavendish?
The studio needs someone to play a knight in shining armor.
[chuckles] I saw ten of those guys outside.
They can only act the part.
So I should say my goodbyes then.
The studio's all cleaned up, Mr. Marlowe.
Roosevelt's an inch from joining the war effort.
The ambassador would like to...
reward you for your discretion.
The studio will always need its private detective.
You're offering me a job?
More than a job.
A pension,
executive in charge of security.
We all have our secrets, Mr. Marlowe,
leading men with their little peccadilloes,
leading ladies who can't function without their
Mexican tinctures.
We all need someone to keep us in line.
And your secrets, Mrs. Cavendish?
You'll have to keep those too.
Not for me, Mrs. Cavendish.
However, I can recommend someone.
I'll need references, of course.
He's a friend of mine, he's very capable.
He's dealt with many situations in the past.
Very well spoken and a great keeper of secrets.
[scoffs] Are you blackmailing me, Mr. Marlowe?
[chuckles] Blackmail?
I would never.
I leave that to others.
Good day.
♪ Upbeat music [angry shouting]
[director] Cut, cut!
[director] Cut!
This is a pool party, not a funeral!
Hey!
They don't like books, do they Mr. Marlowe, those Nazis?
They don't like many things, Cedric.
Still, that Leni Riefenstahl makes some good movies though.
You really like them, don't you, motion pictures?
[chuckles] I certainly do, Mr. Marlowe.
Mrs. Cavendish of Pacific might have a position for you
as chief of security, that's if you're interested.
Oh, I'd be very interested, Mr. Marlowe.
I would happily recommend you.
I'd need references, huh?
Only one, me.
And if you do take the job...
this might come in useful.
[Cedric] We've all done bad things, Mr. Marlowe.
[Marlowe] And that gun is a memento of one very bad thing.
[Cedric] So you mean I can't shoot anyone with it?
[Marlowe] Uh-uh.
Use your Tommy gun for that.
[Cedric] That's always an option.
[Marlowe chuckles]
♪ smooth jazzy music