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Edgar G. Ulmer's Ruthless (1948) stands as a merciless anatomy of social ambition and spiritual bankruptcy, constructed with the formal ingenuity of a master denied the budgets and acclaim he deserved.
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Directed by Howard Hawks, an apogee of the 1940s expression of crime, sexuality, and everything that film noir stands for, The Big Sleep almost defies description in terms of its script, perhaps down to the fact that no final script was truly ever available during its initial shooting, and then the film was delayed, due to a backlog of war related films which needed to be released and out of the way.
Between principal work in 1945 and release in 1946 footage was condensed, altered and eliminated and new footage had been added. The film was released to capitalise on the publicity already generated by the Hollywood romance between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart — the She and He of film noir and one of Hollywood's most celebrated couples.