Philip Marlowe, the archetypal wise-cracking, hard-drinking, yet morally upright detective, introduced in Raymond Chandler’s novels of the ‘30s and ‘40s, such as Farewell, My Lovely and The Big Sleep, is a foundational figure in the canon of crime fiction and film noir through many celebrated film adaptations; Neil Jordan, working from John Banville’s authorised 2014 novel, The Black-Eyed Blonde, dusts off the venerable character for one more trip through the seedier corners of 1930s LA, with Liam Neeson now filling shoes once occupied by Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and Elliott Gould.

As the story begins, Marlowe is tasked with finding a beautiful heiress’s (Diane Kruger) missing former lover. He soon discovers that underneath the man’s disappearance lies a web of corruption that puts him in the crosshairs of several of the city’s richest, and most dangerous constituents.

Notes by David O’Mahony