The Big Sleep, 1945 pre-release version, is an earlier version of the 1946 released version of the private detective mystery film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. This version of the movie was never released. It also features Martha Vickers, John Ridgely, Regis Toomey, Charles Waldron, Sonia Darrin, Louis Jean Heydt, Dorothy Malone, and Elisha Cook, Jr. The 1946 released version can be viewed at the following link: https://archive.org/details/1_20210927_20210927_2228

Synopsis: Private detective Philip Marlowe is called to the mansion of a wealthy retired general to investigate allegations of gambling debts incurred by the general's youngest daughter—evidenced by several promissory notes signed by her—and which are being used as leverage in an attempt to blackmail him on his daughter's behalf. Marlowe accepts the general's case; however, as soon as he begins investigating the blackmailer, he stumbles upon a murder, which also potentially implicates the general's daughter, and which could be used to further compromise her. Marlowe's now wider investigation of both the blackmail attempt and the murder soon begins to lead him on a highly circuitous journey—uncovering a tangled web of relationships among a host of potential suspects—involving even more murder and blackmail schemes.