The Maltese Falcon is one cool (though hard-boiled) detective film. Many consider it a film noir, and it does have many of those elements, but I don't think it is quite as dark and cynical as the typical noir (go google "film noir" if you don't have a clue what I'm talking about).Humphrey Bogart is at his most sly. He's a PI hired to find a lady's missing sister, and it get complicated from there. Everything Sam Spade (Bogart) does is calculated. Even when you think he's finally lost his cool in all the conniving, and hurls a glass across a hotel room, he leaves smiling; Sam's given just the performance he intended.You're never quite sure what he's planning, but you know that he's already two steps ahead. There are several interesting facts about this film. One, is it has three of the cast members of Casablanca (1945) in leading roles: Bogart, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. This was Sydney Greenstreet's first film and the beginning of a sucessful career (he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this film). Perhaps most notably this is John Huston's directorial debut. He was already an established screenwriter (he wrote this film as well) but had never been given the chance to try his hand at directing. The Maltese Falcon marked the beginning of a career that would span four decades and bring us such classics as: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Key Largo (both 1948) to name a few.
1 comment:
Falcon is one of those films it's hard to admit you've never seen. I saw it only just last year! Then I dropped the title at a party, and some chick thought I was very hip.
Anyways, film is kinda like art - it's hard to break into if you're a know-nothing. Those pretentious guys at Movies Worth Seeing always act soo surprised if you haven't seen that one movie...
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