Playback

By: Raymond Chandler

Narrated by: Full Cast, Toby Stephens

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. In Playback, Marlowe is awakened early in the morning by a phone call from a lawyer. Clyde Umney instructs him to meet the eight o’clock train from Chicago, and shadow one of the passengers. The lady in question, Eleanor King, is beautiful, classy and clearly unhappy. Obediently, Marlowe follows her – all the way to Esmerelda, where she’s going under the name Betty Mayfield and being leaned on by a cheap blackmailer. Stuck doing a sneaky job for people he doesn’t like, Marlowe feels even grubbier than usual: and he’s soon in more trouble than usual too as he comes up against gangsters, hard men and a hitman... Starring Toby Stephens, this exciting dramatisation retains all the verve of Chandler’s last novel.

The British View of Philip Marlowe

The only complaint about this production is its brevity, as the Brits interpret Chandler's 1940's view of Southern California. Very good value when purchased during any of Audible's many sales.

Marlow the Great

Would you listen to Raymond Chandler: Playback (Dramatised) again? Why?

I did in fact do that several times already and will be back again.
Beautiful story, the character that is unforgetable, tough guy with short speech not eager for the money. That is what I do not see a lot around myself

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot is one thing. The atmosphere is the second. Attitudes of characters is third. All of these are keepinng on the edge of your seat.
You do not want to go to work...

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened and/or have read all of them. This is probably the shortest but very mature

Any additional comments?

I would like to hear not abbriged version made in the same way

Hard hitting Chandler. Great radio listen

I've come to enjoy Audible's growing offerings of radio dramatizations. This one is very well performed, retaining the grittiness and fast dialogue of the great Raymond Chandler. Highly recommended for old noir fans.