Ned is Ed but Ed isn’t quite Ned in this movie. I miss my old Ned. This one is a little too cool without being so brutal. His gambling isn’t as important, and he definately had a different thought process when he found that razor in the bathroom. In the book, Ned’s first idea is to kill himself, cutting his throat with the rusted blade. In the film, Ed finds the razor and, suddenly, thinks to go get his lighter out of his coat pocket. Ed is just a little bit too clever.
Scenes are out of order. It is a much more straightforward mystery. Paul is crazier, more unbalanced.
One part I did like was the toothbrushing scene. Brian Donlevy plays Paul Madvig very well, if a little differently. I don’t know, I feel like the movie is more noir than the book. Which is why they call it film noir, I guess. It is very caught up in its noiress, its noirocity. The book was bigger than the overcoats and cigarettes.
Jeff is pretty funny, eh? And Nick is Shad. Looking forwards to finishing and then I’ll say more.