Farewell, My Lovely was filmed twice, each time under a different title. The first film version was released by RKO in 1941 and starred George Sanders as Philip Marlowe. In an attempt to capitalize on the recent success of the film version of Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, RKO issued the movie under the title The Falcon Takes Over. The following year RKO remade the picture, this time calling it Murder, My Sweet and placing Dick Powell in the starring role.