Chandler slams Hitchcock in vicious note
via Letters of Note:
In 1950 Alfred Hitchcock hired Raymond Chandler to write his next film, Strangers on a Train. It seemed like a smart move--Chandler had the right sensibility for the project, and had previously been nominated for an Oscar for co-writing the script to James M. Cain's Double Indemnity.
But it wasn't exactly a match made in heaven--the two didn't get along at all. Chandler constantly complained that Hitchcock was willing to forgo story and logic for dramatic effect. At one point, as Chandler watched Hitchcock getting out of his car, the writer said, “Look at that fat bastard trying to get out of the limousine,” loudly enough for the director to hear.
Needless to say, Chandler was let go from the project and his draft of the script was scrapped. Hitchcock went on to make Strangers on a Train, which Otto Penzler named one of the 101 Greatest Films of Mystery & Suspense.
And while it was Chandler's last involvement with Hollywood, it wasn't his last word on the subject. Chandler wrote a note to Hitchcock after he was let go from the project, and he doesn't exactly mince words. Here's an excerpt:
I could understand you changing your mind about the things you specifically wanted, because some of such changes might have been imposed on you from without. What I cannot understand is your permitting a script which after all had some life and vitality to be reduced to such a flabby mass of clichés, a group of faceless characters, and the kind of dialogue every screen writer is taught not to write—the kind that says everything twice and leaves nothing to be implied by the actor or the camera.
You can read the rest of the letter at this link.
