Who is the actress in the still photo Marlowe obtained from Mrs Jessie Florian? The photo of a show girl is signed "Always, Velma Valento". This would be a good trivia question as to the actual name of the actress in the photo.
shareWell it's Claire Trevor, the woman who plays Velma in the movie. Didn't you watch the ending?
shareYes, but the photograph is a completely different woman, with the "autograph" forged to throw Marlowe off the trail. Unfortunately, I can't answer the original question as to who is actually in the photo.
in the movie they make no mention of a fake picture - its only mentioned in the book - so we can assume that the picture is actually velma...
shareYou're wrong. The movie definitely makes mention that the picture is fake- Moose confirms it in Marlowe's office. This is the moment when Marlowe figures out that Velma is really Mrs. Grayle.
As for the actress, who knows?
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Yes. The night before the showdown at the beach house Marlowe shows Moose the picture and says "Is that your girl?" Moose says "No. I told you like she was. Cute as lace pants". Marlowe says he thought not, and realizes Mrs. Florian was putting one over on him.
You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead.
This is one of the screwy things about this movie--the picture is definitely Claire Trevor--with dark hair and makeup, so why doesn't Moose recognize it?
shareLook Moose in the film says that's not his Velma, the book says the same, it was a fake picture. What more do you want?
shareAbsolutely. And it matters too. Marlowe wouldn't be much of a detective if he had that big photo and then couldn't put together that Velma was the woman who walked into his office and tried to hire him early in the picture. Florian's widow had it mislabelled for one reason or another. (You'd have to ask Raymond Chandler for a definitive answer and he's not talking.)
shareYou know this still doesn't make any sense. I watched it last night and I don't remember the scene where Moose says that the picture of the girl is not really Velma. I thought it was "Mrs. Grayle" (Trevor) as she used to look when she was Velma. Because at the end, doesn't Moose say that she looks different but "still cute as lace pants." And isn't this why Florian was blackmailing her too? So she could keep her past secret? That's why it's so telling when Florian says "Velma's dead" - because in essence she is - she's become Mrs. Helen Grayle.
A little confusing, but all in all it's still a great movie. Everyone was perfect in their roles, and the cinematography and direction were great.
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You know what would be great? If the woman in the fake photo was identified as an actress named "Claire Trevor".
shareits definetly SUPPOSED to be a fake picture. marlowe shows it to moose, asks if its her, moose gets mad because its not and thinks marlowe's messing with him. then marlowe even says something along the lines of "i knew it was planted to throw me off" like someone said, if he was such a great private eye and couldn't realize it was her he had talked to (only with dyed blonde hair) then i doubt he could detect his way out of a wet paper bag.
shareI am just watching it now and it is definitely NOT Claire Trevor in the photo(for those still in doubt it is exactly 14 minutes and 15 seconds in). As previously noted it wouldn't have made much sense if it was. What I don't get is why she had a picture of some other dame signed Velma Valento.
When there are two, one betrays-Jean-Pierre Melville
Unfortunately, I just returned the DVD, but I remember Marlowe (Dick Powell) saying something like "I had to make sure" to Moose, implying that he was just testing him to find out if it really was Velma or not. Also, I thought that it definitely looked like Claire Trevor's face with a different hair colour.
shareI don't think every "i" was dotted and every "t" was crossed in this film. How about at the end when Mrs. Grayle took Marlowe's gun but it showed up again?
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
> How about at the end when Mrs. Grayle took
> Marlowe's gun but it showed up again?
Mrs Grayle doesn't take Marlowe's gun. She's holding him at gunpoint, but he's still armed when Ann and Mr Grayle enter. Mr Grayle then takes Marlowe's gun, and uses it to shoot Helen/Velma, then Moose Malloy.
Mrs. Grayle was pretty specific about stealing Marlowe's gun while they were embracing. She said, "It leaves a bruise." The DVD commentary notes this discrepancy.
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
> The DVD commentary notes this discrepancy.
If that's so, the DVD commentary is also mistaken.
Watch the scene again. There's no suggestion that Helen/Velma has taken Marlowe's gun. She does rebuke him, saying "you shouldn't kiss a girl while you're wearing that gun - it leaves a bruise", but the gun she points at him isn't his. His gun is still in its holster, and he's reaching for it. Mr Grayle then enters and disarms him.
Geez, folks. It was not a picture of Claire Trevor. And near the end of the film during the scene in Marlowe's office, the conversation between him and Moose makes this crystal clear. The person in the photo was probably an unknown actress or model who got paid a few bucks to pose.
It is better to be kind than to be clever or good looking. -- Derek
What I don't get is why does Jessie Florian hide the photo of the supposed Velma, if she doesn't really think it is Velma? If she was in on Velma hiding her past and the photo is fake, she should have shown it to Marlowe. The only one who would know it was fake was Moose. But florian didn't know Marlowe was working for Moose. She would only know to use the fake picture to throw off anyone nosing around for Velma.
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."
-Dennis