The Effect of Censorship in Howard Hawk's The Big Sleep

Throughout the history of cinema, censorship played a major role in the shaping of most screenplays, but as the stories within silent films began to lean toward crime and sexuality, the motion picture industry began to look for an alternative method of control over the subject matter of films. "The Production Code (also known as the Hays Code) was a set of guidelines governing the production of motion pictures" (Wikipedia), and was adopted in 1930. This adoption did not change the industry for quite some time though. During the depression, producers looked for films that sold, and these films were those containing sex and violence. "The Motion Picture Association of America responded to criticism of the racy and violent films of the early 1930s by strengthening the code. An amendment to the code, adoped on June 13, 1934, established the Production Code Administration, and required all films to obtain a certificate of approval before being released" (Wikipedia).

The screenwriters of this time payed special attention to the guidelines governing the Production Code, because the Code focused a great deal on plot material. Four guidelines within the Code, involving sex, drugs, murder, and revenge, are particulary important to The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946). During the adaptation process, many major plot points had to be completely removed. Although these gaps were filled beautifully by the chemistry between Bogart and Bacall, the dirty life of the Los Angeles underworld that Raymond Chandler describes is lost in Hawks' film. The four above mentioned rules
that governed the plot of this movie shined a different light onto the dark underworld, inscribing a touch of morality onto the otherwise hopeless plot of Chandler's novel.

The Production Code puts great emphasis on the topic of sex in films. Since the objective of these guidelines is to instill morallity into the amoral artform, the Code limited the portrayal of sexuality a great deal. Not only was the act of sex strictly forbidden, but the metion of impure love had to be dealt with very delicately so it did not appear attractive to the audience. The subjects of pornography and homosexuality in The Big Sleep are where most of the censorship occurred during the adaptation process. Two specific guidelines in the Production Code specify the negative moral implications of sexuality in motion pictures. "Sex Perversion or any inference to it is forbidden…[and] complete nudity is never permitted " (ArtsReformation).

Although sex appeared numurous times throughout Chandler's novel, sexuality was treated very delicately throughout the film. While pornography is a major plot point within Chandler's novel, the film adaptation chooses to almost completely avoid the subject. The scene in which Marlowe tails the man out of Geiger's store and opens his wrapped package to find a pornographic book is omitted, and Carmen is clothed in the film when she is depicted as naked in the book. While the photographs of Carmen are involved, the ambiguous treatment of these snapshots makes the subject of the pictures hard to interpret. The issue of homosexuality is also removed; Carol is described as Gieger's "tail" in the film, instead of his lover. Racy dialogue appeared frequently between the characters portrayed by Bogart and Bacall, but the issue of sex was never directly addressed.

Crimes against the law are strictly forbidden according to the Production Code, and issues such as drugs and murder must be handled with great care. The placement of drugs within Hawks' film is very skillful and ambiguous, and because of its evil connotations, the Production Code prefered to have references to drug use, and its trafficing completely removed, but due to the large role drug use played in the development of two central characters in the novel, Carmen and Regan, the complete removal of this evil hindered the characters' developement. Although Regan was mentioned a great deal thoughout the film, his profession was never stated (he was a bootlegger in the novel). The fact that Carmen's liquor was mixed with ether was not mentioned in the film, nor were her other drug habits thoughout the story. These ommissions are due to the general principals of the Production Code stating that "illegal drug traffic must never be presented" (ArtsReformation).

The Production Code constantly stresses the importance of morality within films. Any scene throwing sympathy toward the accused, or showing the audience how to commit a crime, is strictly forbidden, therefore "the technique of murder must be presented in a way that will not inspire imitation" (ArtsReformation). While the representation of murder is permittable, strict guidelines limit the portrayal of such acts. Since Chandler's novel is full of murderous characters, the subject of death in the film was handled with great skill. Although each murder was discussed within the film, none of these killings were shown explicitly. These murders were designated by off-screen gunshots (the murders of Geiger, Brody, Mars, and Canino) or discussion of their death (as in the death of Regan, Taylor, and Jones).

Revenge is the instigator of every death in the novel. Carmen killed Regan because he didn't love her. Owen Taylor killed Geiger because he loved Carmen and Geiger took nude photographs of her. Carol killed Brody because he thought Brody had murdered his lover, Geiger. Canino killed Harry Jones for Mars because Jones was going to reveal Mars' well-kept secret. The subject of revenge is also specified in the Code: "revenge in modern times shall not be justified" (ArtsReformation). Since each murderer is punished by persecution (Carmen) or death within the film, revenge is never justified.

The most interesting treatment of this guidline is in the death of Eddie Mars, which does not appear in the novel at all. Since Mars not only killed Harry Jones "by remote control," but also concealed the murder of Regan, he had to be punished for his crimes. The fact that Mars was murdered was punishment enough, but the fact that Mars was shot by the men he hired to shoot other people, proves that revenge is never justified within this film. This death also illistrates the embedded morality placed upon the film by the Production Code. It is a blatant reminder that crime doesn't pay.

The Big Sleep is notorious for its incomprehensible plot due, in part, to the restrictions set upon the screenwriters when adapting the novel to the screen. "The Production Code spelled out specific restrictions on language and behavior, particularly sex and crime" (Wikipedia). The guidelines in the Production Code set out to remove immorality from the plots of Hollywood's films, and since immorality is the basis of Raymond Chandler's novel, the conversion from book to film hit some bumps along the road. In fact, the Production Code devotes a large section to the distinction between motion pictures and literature. While both mediums are seen as a type of artistry, the way in which each artform represents action is very different. "A book describes; a film vividly presents" (ArtsReformation). Films represent with actual people; novels represent with words. "The reaction of a reader to a book depends largely on the keenness of the reader's imagination; the reaction to a film depends on the vividness of presentation" (ArtsReformation).

With all its omissions and ambiguity, a very important question about the film arises: how does the film make sense? The answer to that question is simple: in all actuality, it doesn't. But due to Hawks' insightful creation of a romantic subplot between Vivian and Philip, all the dangling plot aspects at the end of the film seem somewhat inconsequential. This type of classical Hollywood ending is described by film theorist David Bordwell as the "closure effect." Although quite a few of the major conflicts throughout the film are never resolved, the sense of closure given by the uniting of the two main characters of the film gives the effect of resolution to each of the unanswered questions.

Censorship had a very large impact on the adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel to the silver screen, and although Howard Hawks' finished product was far from the original story, the dark underbelly of Los Angeles is still portrayed. While Chandler's novel ends on a desperate note, Hawks' adaptation supplies the viewer with a hopeful ending to an otherwise discouraging story. Although this fact is due, in part, to the censorship inflicted on films during this time period, the optimistic ending of the film not only instills morality into the spectators, as the Production Code instructs, but also instills a sense of hopefulness that is lacking in Chandler's novel.