I watched
The Maltese Falcon for the third time a couple of nights ago. My thoughts haven't really change since I wrote a review for it.
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston 1941)
The Maltese Falcon is considered by some to be the first Film Noir of the classic period (1941-1958). The movie has many of the Film Noir hallmark elements: like subdued lighting, dark shadows and low camera angles...Many of the scenes are shot from over-the-shoulder of Humphrey Bogart, giving a first person point of view. And of course we have one of the greatest detectives of all time, Sam Spade...Not to mention a very devious femme fatale Brigid (Mary Astor), who at the time had an equally notorious off screen reputation in Hollywood.
The script written by John Huston was true to the original 1929 Dashiell Hammett novel, even with the wording of the dialogue. If someone loves lots of dialogue
and twist a
nd turns, this movie has it in spades! It's so complex that I was never sure who was up to what and I've now seen it three times.
The end scene where all the main characters are in the apartment going head to toe against each other, goes on for 20 minutes. That would never be done today but it sure works here and held my attention in fact it's one of director John Huston's most emotionally captivating scenes.
What a dream cast. Bogie paired up with Peter Lorrie and Sydney Greenstreet with Mary Astor to boot. That's not even mentioning veteran character actors like Ward Bond, Barton MacLaine and Gladys George.
Watch the Maltese Falcon statuette when Bogie picks it up. He nearly dropped it, it was that heavy. I read it was made out of lead and there are three of them, each worth a million bucks. A million bucks for a hunk of lead, that shows you how beloved this film is.