The Big Sleep (BFI Film Classics)

This is the first book-length consideration of the classic 1946 movie The Big Sleep and the first published book to compare it to the 1945 cut of the movie, which has been restored and released. David Thomson discusses the making of the film as well as the careers and romance of its stars, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. He also looks into the psyches of its director and screenwriters. Thomson beautifully describes a classic in progress, tracking "the way in which fantasizing, power plays, and maneuver affected the making of the film." Along the way, Thomson meditates about why The Big Sleep has attained its mythic status and why it continues to move him so powerfully.