The result is a messy but well-intentioned movie that relies on nostalgia and by-the-book genre tropes we've seen a million times. Being a Marlowe adventure written long after the period it's set, the movie attempts to recapture the atmosphere of classic Hollywood film noir without the luxury of originating from that era. The film isn't an adaptation of an original Raymond Chandler novel, but instead an adaptation of 'The Black-Eyed Blonde' by John Banville, under the pen name of Benjamin Black.

Marlowe, the newest movie to hit the big screen, is unfortunately also the lowest-rated. The film is not only the big screen debut of Philip Marlowe but is also considered one of the first examples of film noir. Murder, My Sweet is an adaptation of the novel 'Farewell, My Lovely'. It's an odd choice, especially considering that Marlowe has outlasted both of his replacements. Instead, the cases are solved by detectives who were already established in their film series, The Falcon and Michael Shayne, respectively. The Falcon Takes Over and Time To Kill was released in 1942: each is unique in the franchise because, even though they are adaptations of Philip Marlowe novels, Marlowe doesn't actually appear in either film. RELATED: 10 Best Classic Mystery Movies, Ranked According to Letterboxd Just because they're not the most popular movies in the franchise doesn't mean they're not worth seeking out. The three earliest Philip Marlowe movies have been so outshone by what has come since that they have not been reviewed enough to have a critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

RKO Pictures/20th Century Studios/RKO Pictures

Philip marlowe lady in the lake