John Brahm's The Brasher Doubloon has one of the single worst pieces of acting that I have ever encountered from the days of the classic Hollywood studio system. It involves a scene where private dick Philip Marlowe (George Montgomery) is being held hostage at gunpoint by a beautiful young woman. She orders him to strip (to make sure he isn't armed, of course) and he suddenly lets loose a strained, painful laugh that wouldn't have past muster in a Middle School theatrical production. He incredulously informs her that the gun isn't loaded. And, of course, she falls for it. In seconds they are passionately kissing. Did I miss a scene? Did the editor accidentally insert the wrong daily into the final cut? George Montgomery's turn as Marlowe in The Brasher Doubloon has always been reviled as one of the worst portrayals of the infamous character ever put to screen. But until that scene late in the film, his performance is passable. Too bad the rest of the film fails to live up to even Montgomery's level. The weak script about a missing coin, several corrupt owners/collectors, and a mentally scarred secretary seems unfinished and unpolished. I never quite understood why one of the characters, an old crone who first contacts Marlowe about the missing coin, is so vicious to her secretary. And when she is carried off by the police at the end triumphantly screaming that at the very least she has reduced the secretary to a "loony," I can't help but feel that the writer stumbled over a very important piece of exposition (yes, I know that she was blackmailing said secretary, but that still doesn't answer my question). The cinematography is appropriately moody, but ultimately forgettable. The film staggers from contrived scenario to contrived scenario, desperately seeking a purpose that refuses to reveal itself. And then, of course, there is Montgomery's flaccid performance and his hollow, constipated laugh.
4/10
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