"Playback: Raymond Chandler in his own Words" - working title A proposal for a feature-length documentary film Producer/Director Dana Heinz Perry Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) is undoubtedly one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Evelyn Waugh described him as "the greatest living American novelist". TS Eliot and Edmund Wilson were also generous in their praise. Camus cited Chandler and Hammett as primary influences on "L'Etranger." Chandler's contribution to the oeuvre of crime fiction and film noir is unparalleled to this day. From his early pulp detective fiction published in The Black Mask to his astounding achievement in novels and film, Chandler's imagination became the paradigm of the dark underbelly of American noir. But, beyond his achievements on the page and screen, Chandler's life is an extraordinarily compelling subject. Largely unpublished until his fifties, Chandler lived the expatriate's dream and nightmare. Addled by drink, alienated as a foreigner in his own land, and in love with a wife almost 20 years his elder, Chandler exemplified the outsider's view of the dark characters found in the newly minted west coast town of Los Angeles in the 30's and 40's. To date, there is no comprehensive documentary film on his life and work. The intention of this film is to illuminate not only the profound influence of his work, but to also examine the man and the experiences that brought him to create one of the most iconic and influential characters in American fiction, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe serves as an alter-ego to Chandler, embodying the values of honour and a distinct morality in the face of evil, weakness and corruption. The style and attitude of the film is inspired by the clever wordplay and profound understanding of character by the author himself. While biographical in its detail, the documentary aspires to a higher level in its execution. Chandlerisms abound in the vocabulary of American arts and letters. Who else could turn a phrase like Chandler? His witticisms become almost a clichÈ in the lexicon of pulp fiction.