Murder, My Sweet: Edward Dmytryk creates a competent, if ultimately unspectacular, noir; the plot is appropriately convoluted, but the overall mood is somewhat lacking. John Paxton does a good job with the adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s book, streamlining the plot; it loses some bite and depth, but retains the hardboiled dialogue and descriptions (through the use of voice-over). Dick Powell reads the dialogue well, and shows the proper range as the central character; Claire Trevor and Mike Mazurki are also strong presences. Harry J. Wild’s cinematography is stylized, but not very stylish; it does, however, present some nice visual solutions to a few key scenes.