"A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler" by Tom Williams

As one of the Four Horsemen of the Noir Apocalypse (the others being Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, and Cornell Woolrich), Raymond Chandler has a unique place in our literary history.

Chandler invented Philip Marlowe, after all. He wrote about the mean streets of Los Angeles years before Dragnet. His novels have been developed into quintessential noir movies such as The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely. 

The list of actors who’ve played Marlowe, the definitive private eye, includes Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell, Robert Montgomery, George Montgomery, James Garner, Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum, and, most recently, Liam Neeson.

Born in Chicago but raised in England before moving back to the United States in his 20s, Chandler developed a perspective that came through in his writing, said Tom Williams, author of A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler.

Chandler was the proverbial outsider from the start when his mother placed him in a fancy British prep school. He remained somewhat out of step even after his return to the States, said Williams, noting that “Chandler’s reasonably easy to see but hard to grasp.” 

If you listen to Chandler’s voice on some of the interviews that exist, you find his accent is neither British nor American but just different, Williams said. 

Chandler found his footing in Los Angeles, however, when, while in his 40s, he turned to writing detective fiction. Fascinated and encouraged by pulp magazines like Black Mask, Chandler wrote lines like “He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake.”

Marlowe’s dialogue had a purity and straightforwardness that explains the character’s popularity with readers but Chandler (often photographed with a pipe clenched tightly between his teeth) could be difficult, noted Williams.

When James Cain, the author of Double Indemnity, wasn't available to write the movie screenplay (he was under contract to another studio), the call went out for Chandler. So began a rocky 10-week collaboration between Chandler and the film’s director, Billy Wilder.

The two men were unable to get along from the first, said Williams, suggesting that collaboration wasn’t Chandler's strong suit. At one point, Chandler left the studio in a huff, citing a slew of complaints about Wilder, blaming him for everything from arriving late to meetings to opening the blinds without permission.

Despite their differences, the film that was produced stands as a classic, Williams said. In casting Fred MacMurray, better known for comedic roles, as the wayward insurance salesman, the audience found a likable murderer, he said.

Chandler also had problems with another famous director. While Chandler’s name appears on a screen credit on Strangers on a Train, he didn’t have much to do with the film, often cited as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best. It seems that Chandler reportedly referred to Hitchcock as “that fat bastard,” a comment that Hitch apparently overheard after making a special trip to Chandler’s home in La Jolla to discuss the screenplay.

Chandler wrote a script for the film but Hitchcock not only didn’t use it but made a ceremonious gesture of dropping Chandler’s effort in the trash during a production meeting for the film.

Lest you think that Chandler and Philip Marlowe exist only in noir’s colorful past, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that the Chandler estate has been licensing new literary treatments of the private eye with different authors since 1989. In The Goodbye Coast, published in 2022, Marlowe drives a 2008 Mustang GT and knows how to use GPS.