Lady in the Lake

Lady in the Lake is a 1947 American film noir that marked the directorial debut of Robert Montgomery, who also stars in the film. The picture also features Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames and Jayne Meadows. The murder mystery was an adaptation of the 1944 Raymond Chandler novel The Lady in the Lake. The film was Montgomerys last for MetroGoldwynMayer, after eighteen years with the studio.

Tired of the low pay of his profession, hardboiled private detective Phillip Marlowe Robert Montgomery submits a murder story to Kingsby Publications. He is invited to the publishers offices to discuss his work but soon realizes it is merely a ploy. On Christmas Eve, publishing executive Adrienne Fromsett Audrey Totter hires him to locate the wife of her boss, Derace Kingsby Leon Ames.One month earlier, Kingsbys wife, Chrystal, had sent her husband a telegram saying she was heading to Mexico to divorce him and marry a man named Chris Lavery Dick Simmons. But, according to Fromsett, Lavery says he hasnt seen Chrystal for two months shes missing, and the telegraph appears to be a fake. ........

Source: Wikipedia