Plot SynopsisUnder the opening company logo and titles, the film opened in wartime Los Angeles.The disorienting opening shot was of a blinding ceiling light and sounds of accusatory voices in a dark shadowy room, and then soon after, a pull-back camera movement revealed the side of the face of tough yet vulnerable, blindfolded gumshoe detective Philip Marlowe (played by 30s musical crooner Powell in a dramatic role switch).In the film""s poignant closing with Nellie, Eva honestly expressed her loneliness, her slight fear and emptiness, and her loss of love.He introduced himself as "an old friend of Peter""s" - she admitted that their relationship was "complicated" and that they were currently broken-up.Always trying to sell jewelry.Then I heard your name and found out you were just one of us.Gaston: Disappointed?Lily: (with a beckoning look up at him) No, proud.Very proud.(He descends to her lips for a kiss)A telephone call for the "countess" unmasks her pretentious, but glorious show of social elitism.Peter escaped back into the ventilation shaft when the power went out, and although he was detected by a few of the bikers, he continued shooting at them and effectively picking them off one by one.