144. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Running Time: 101 minutes
Directed By: John Huston
Written By: John Huston, from novel by Dashiell Hammett
Main Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook Jr.

THE ARRIVAL OF FILM NOIR

On this day, as all of the movie going community can't stop spouting about "Inception", Christopher Nolan's newest film, I took the time to continue my journey through cinema and watch my next film, "The Maltese Falcon". While the film wasn't bad at all, I was even more excited to realize the arrival of a genre that I haven't had a chance to really get to know...film noir.

Bogart plays Sam Spade, a private detective, who upon the films opening is visited by the classy, elegant Brigid O' Shaughnessy. Although she doesn't give her real name at first, O'Shaughnessy claims to be searching for her sister, who she believes has gotten herself mixed up with a man by the name of Thursby. Sam and his partner Miles Archer agree to help the woman and Archer goes out later that night to tail Thursby. During the tailing, Archer is shot and killed and later that evening, Thursby is killed. When Sam finds out about the killings, he gets in touch with O'Shaughnessy, and this is when she confesses a few things, including her true identity, but the rest seems to be a muddled mix of facts and lies that O'Shaughnessy can't stop feeding Spade.

When he gets back to his office, Spade is visited by another character, Joel Cairo. Cairo is in search of an artifact and is prepared to offer Spade a reward if he can help him find it. The artifact that he is searching for is none other than our title piece, the Maltese Falcon. There's also talk of a "fat man" and in the meanwhile, Spade has recognized that he himself is being tailed by a rather shady looking fellow. On top of ALL that, Spade is also being questioned by the police, as they believe he may have had something to do with one, if not both of, the Thrusby/Archer killings. Eventually, the "fat man" is revealed to be Kasper Gutman, a man who has been searching, to no avail, for the falcon for seventeen years. It seems that the falcon was originally intended for Charles V of Spain, and through the years was stolen and changed hands more times than we know. When the dust settles the gift originally intended for Charles V ends up in the hands of big city sleuth Sam Spade, but how will Spade use the artifact to his advantage and who can he trust, if anybody?

The one thing that I really like about "The Maltese Falcon" is the fact that we always know just as much as Sam Spade. I'm not ashamed to admit that this movie is a little confusing, as we the viewer, along with Spade, try to figure out who killed who, why and what angle everyone is playing. As Sam Spade works his way along the seedy, noir-esque streets of the city, every piece of information he uncovers feeds us, the viewers, with more information to the grand scheme of things. Bogart is great and finally he shows up in the pages of the "1001" playing a hero and not a seedy villain (ie. Angels with Dirty Faces). The confusion of the plot took me out of this a little bit and add on to that the fact that these 1940s actors could really move their mouths when it came to saying their dialogue. I found myself on more than one occasion rewinding the disc, so that I could hear once more a stretch of explanation, usually from Mary Astor. All in all, this was a fun first-noir experience from the "1001" book and a must see for fans of crime, mystery and detective stories.

RATING: 6.5/10 '7' seemed too high, and '6' seemed too low, so that's my explanation for the rating of '6.5'. Also interesting to note that no movie from the 40s thus far, has fallen below a '5'. Great decade so far!

NEXT UP: Sergeant York...Gary Cooper has traded in his Deeds outfit for a York outfit and finally returns to the pages of the "1001".

July 18, 2010 7:13pm