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In celebration of the centennial anniversary of the birth of Howard Hawks, Phillips looks at two books written about Hawks and his films. "The Big Sleep: A Screenplay," a monograph by David Thomson published in "Film Scripts One," and "Howard Hawks: American Artist," edited by Jim Hillier and Peter Wollen, are discussed.

David Thomson. The Big Sleep. London: British Film Institute, 1997. Jim Hillier and Peter Wollen, editors. Howard Hawks: American Artist. London: British Film Institute, 1996. The centennial of the birth of Howard Hawks (1896-1977) received international attention, as evidenced by the books published by the British Film Institute in Hawks's honor. There is, first of all, a monograph by David Thomson about one of the director's most celebrated films, The Big Sleep, released in 1946.

Hawks commissioned William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett to write the screenplay, based on the mystery novel by Raymond Chandler, and cast Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall as the hero and heroine. The director was always the first to admit that the film's labyrinthine plot was hard to follow. He later recalled: "When I was asked who killed the man whose car was fished out of the river, I said, 'I don't know; I'll ask Faulkner.' But Faulkner didn't know either. So I asked Chandler, "who likewise failed to come up with an answer. "The picture was a success, so I never worried about logic again." Nevertheless, Hawks was always concerned about the overall structure of the film, since the audience must be able to follow that, whether or not some of the details get lost along the way; and The Big Sleep is no exception to this rule.

As Thomson points out, part of the reason that the plot is difficult to follow is that there was originally " a lengthy, ponderous scene" in which detective Philip Marlowe (Bogart) reveals to the district attorney his explanation of why various crimes have been committed in the course of the picture. Nevertheless, this scene does exist in an unreleased version of the movie, recently discovered in the studio vault. Since Thomson lists the published screenplay of the film in his bibliography, it is surprising that he seems unaware that the scene in the district attorney's office is printed in the script as published ("The Big Sleep: A Screenplay," in Film Scripts One, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1971, pp. 229-35). Thomson might well have summarized the scene, as it exists in the screenplay, for the reader, since it does explain certain plot details which are left unexplained in the film as released.

By the same token, Thomson quotes a letter in which Raymond Chandler reports that Hawks initially considered an ending for the picture in which Marlowe allowed the villainess, Carmen Sternwood (Martha Vickers)-a murderess, a nymphomaniac, and a drug addict-to walk into a trap and stop a bullet that was meant for him; but, Chandler adds, Hawks eventually substituted a different ending for the movie. Thomson then speculates as to whether or not such a scene was ever composed by the screenwriters (even though it was never shot). Once again, Thomson fails to note that the scene in question is printed in the published screenplay-exactly as Chandler describes it in his letter (Screenplay, pp. 31623). In short, Thomson's apparent unfamiliarity with the published script of the movie points up how he might have used his research sources to better advantage.

For the record, the original version of The Big Sleep, featuring all of the footage cut from the film prior to its release in 1946, was given a limited theatrical release in 1997, before being made available in videocassette. Even with its shortcomings, Thomson's monograph is a handy item for the filmgoer to use in viewing the restored version of the film.

The British Film Institute also published a collection of essays on Hawks, edited by Jim Hillier and Peter Wollen, titled Howard Hawks: American Artist. I can recommend this book unreservedly, since it represents the best collection of writings about Hawks ever put within the covers of a single book.

There is, for example, Manny Faber's brilliant essay on Hawks, in which he describes how a director like Hawks would tunnel beneath the surface of the routine scripts he was given to direct, and seek to illuminate in a shrewd and unsentimental fashion deeper truthsusually about the unglamorous side of the human condition. Farber writes: "With striking photography, a good ear for natural dialogue, an eye for realistic detail," Hawks created films which seemed to take "private runways to the truth," while other directors "took a slow, embalming surface route."

The volume also contains illuminating commentaries on some Hawks films by novelistscreenwriter Graham Greene, who penned some of the best film criticism of our age. Then there is Bruce Kawin's essay on Hawks's working relationship with novelist-screenwriter William Faulkner, who, as we know, co-scripted The Big Sleep. The book is rounded out with Peter Bogdanovich's thought-provoking interview with Hawks himself. Taken together, these two works constitute a suitable tribute to a filmmaker who proved throughout a long career that a director of entertaining movies could also be a genuine artist.