The Americans know it as Murder, My Sweet, because they thought people would mistake it for a musical, we the English however have it with the original title based on the Raymond Chandler (writer of Double Indemnity) novel. Basically private eye Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell, famous in musicals) is hired by recently released petty crook Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki) to find Velma Valento, his former girlfriend not seen for six years. At the same time, Marlowe is also hired by Mrs. Helen Grayle (Claire Trevor) to find a horde of jade jewels, and it seems that this case may be moulding into the Velma one also. There are some promising enquiries leading into him into a complex web of deceit involving bribery, perjury and theft. At one point Marlowe is taken into a world where he almost goes mad or something, but he eventually gets out, and the twist is that the Femme Fetale is Mrs. Grayle, revealing herself as Velma. Also starring Anne Shirley as Ann Grayle, Otto Kruger as Jules Amthor, Miles Mander as Mr. Grayle, Douglas Walton as Lindsay Marriott, Donald 'Don' Douglas as Police Lieutenant Randall, Ralf Harolde as Dr. Sonderborg and Esther Howard as Jessie Florian. Powell makes just as good presence as Bogart did playing the role of Philip Marlowe, I may not have caught up with everything going on, but it is a good black and white classic film noir. Very good!
Review of Murder, My Sweet
