The Big Sleep In the book The Big Sleep, and the film The Big Sleep, I saw many similarities and many differences. Both book and film intrigue the mind of the reader and viewer by introducing different plots and characters through out the book and film. First I shall start off by talking about the plots and characters of the book and film. The plot and the setting at the beginning of the film pretty much started out the same as it did in the book. The only difference that I noted was that the plot in the book was very detailed, but the plot in the movie moved really fast.
On film the Sternwood mansion was very clean and elaborate just as described in the book. The scenery in the green house where Marlowe and Mr. Sternwood were having their meeting about Carmen was on point , all the way down to the hot climate that was circulating through green house. Secondly, I noticed that at the beginning of the film that the characters were introduced in the same order in the film as they were in the book. Towards the end of the film, some of the characters order of introduction was rearranged.
For example, in the book Marlowe is fond of Mrs. Mars and takes a sort of liking to her. In the film Marlowe takes a liking to Vivian Sternwood and at the end of the film they winded up being together. That was a big twist that I did not expect out of the film, especially after reading the ending of the book and seeing how different it was. Thirdly, I feel that some of the characters in the film didn’t fit the descriptive profile given by Marlowe in the book. For example, in the book Eddie Mars is described as being a grey hair older gentleman.
In the film, Eddie Mars was a thirty maybe forty year old man with black hair who stood tall and lean. Another example is when Marlowe described the taxi driver that he had tail Brody as being a young boy. That was the description that was given of the taxi driver in the book. In the film the taxi driver was a young woman. Those were just a few differences that I noted between the book and the film. The description of Carmen and Vivian personalities in the book were on point with the characters personalities on film.
In the book, Carmen is pretty much described as being small and delicately put together with little sharp predatory teeth. Marlowe also described Carmen as being sort of promiscuous, reckless and uncaring of other feelings. In the film she came off the same way. Marlowe described Vivian as being smart, ruthless, seductive and a compulsive gambler. The film portrayed Vivian in the same light that Marlowe portrayed her in the book. In the film Vivian was secretive and over protective of her sister Carmen.
She spent most of her time at the gambling shack involving herself with the owner of the gambling racket, Eddie Mars. After viewing the film I realized that this description was right on point with the descriptions given of these two characters in the book. Furthermore, there were a few other things that I noticed were different in the film versus the book. There was no chase in the film. The book said that Marlowe was tailing Brody and his right hand man Carol for the books. I also noticed that Rusty Regan name was changed to Sean Regan in the film. Vivian last name was different in the film as well.
Last but not least, the book stated that the maid came and got Carmen out of the car when Marlowe brought her home from Geiger’s house, but in the film Vivian got her out of the car. Finally as mentioned before, there are many comparisons and contrast that can be made from the film and the book The Big Sleep. There were a few changes, twist and turns, and unexpected endings at the end of the film. All in all, I think that the film is a very good interpretation of the book. The actors and actresses did a great job of portraying the characters in the book.
