The Maltese Falcon
• TOP NOTCH (my top choices)
• HONORABLE MENTION (well worth watching)
• YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER (I like them but you might not)
• CLASSICS (Great movies up through the 1960s - many don't have any rating)
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) - PG - CLASSIC
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
Summary - A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
Cautions - It's 1941 so everyone is smoking.
Commentary - Is this one of those films you just never got around to seeing... like Casablanca or Citizen Cane? Just watch the first 10 minutes and if you aren't hooked... well there might be something wrong with you.
This is a landmark film. - the genesis of "film noir" with it's dramatic low camera angles, it's use of high contrast lights and darks and it's asymmetrical compositions of the frame. In this style of film shadows are a character of their own. This film made stars of it's lead actors and most especially Humphrey Bogart. It also launched the career of director John Huston.
The film explores the fruitless and all consuming pursuit of wealth and the vice of greed. It convinces us that even a man as flawed as Sam Spade can be a hero.
Director John Huston became a titan overnight with the release of this film, and it's still easy to see why 70 years later.
• HONORABLE MENTION (well worth watching)
• YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER (I like them but you might not)
• CLASSICS (Great movies up through the 1960s - many don't have any rating)
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
Summary - A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
Cautions - It's 1941 so everyone is smoking.
Commentary - Is this one of those films you just never got around to seeing... like Casablanca or Citizen Cane? Just watch the first 10 minutes and if you aren't hooked... well there might be something wrong with you.
This is a landmark film. - the genesis of "film noir" with it's dramatic low camera angles, it's use of high contrast lights and darks and it's asymmetrical compositions of the frame. In this style of film shadows are a character of their own. This film made stars of it's lead actors and most especially Humphrey Bogart. It also launched the career of director John Huston.
The film explores the fruitless and all consuming pursuit of wealth and the vice of greed. It convinces us that even a man as flawed as Sam Spade can be a hero.
Director John Huston became a titan overnight with the release of this film, and it's still easy to see why 70 years later.
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