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Fred Dobbs and Bob Curtin, two Americans searching for work in Mexico, convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime.
A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement.
A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.
Spade and Archer is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. That's for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn't like Miles much. A knockout, who goes by the name of Miss Wanderly, walks into their office; and by that night everything's changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wanderly is surrounded by dangerous men. There's Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There's Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men -- and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon. Written by
J. Spurlin
There is an inordinate amount of smoking done by the main actors in this film. According to then-studio employee (and future screenwriter) Stuart Jerome, this resulted in a feud between stars Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, and studio head Jack L. Warner. Warner hated to see actors smoking on the screen, fearing it would prompt smokers in the movie audience to step out into the lobby for a cigarette. During filming, Warner told director John Huston that smoking in the film should be kept to a minimum. Bogart and Lorre thought it would be fun to annoy Warner by smoking as often as possible, and got their co-stars, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet, to go along with the joke. During the initial filming of the climactic confrontation, all four actors smoked heavily. After seeing the rushes, Warner furiously called Huston to his office and threatened to fire him from the picture if he didn't tell Bogart and Lorre to knock it off. Realizing their prank had backfired, Bogart and Lorre agreed to stop smoking on camera. However, when the next series of rushes came back, it was obvious that the "lack" of smoking by the actors was taking away from the sinister mood of the scene. Huston went back to Warner and convinced him that the smoking added the right amount of atmospheric tension to the story, arguing that the characters would*smoke cigarettes while waiting nervously for the Maltese Falcon to arrive. See more »
Goofs
Spade refers to the gun as an automatic, yet he is shown a revolver. The gun shown is a Webley-Fosbery automatic. This was a revolver that used the recoil of the shot to turn the cylinder and re-cock the weapon. It was very well made, but susceptible to dirt and fouling and so, as Spade said, "They don't make 'em anymore". However, it was made in two versions, a six-shot .455 and an eight-shot .38 ACP, so it can't actually be an eight-shot .45 as Spade says it is. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Sam Spade:
Yes, sweetheart?
Effie Perine:
There's a girl wants to see you. Her name's Wonderly.
Sam Spade:
A customer?
Effie Perine:
I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway. She's a knockout.
See more »
"The Maltese Falcon" would be nothing without the muscular, cynical, and very entertaining lead performance from Humphrey Bogart. Well, 'nothing' maybe a bit of an overstatement- the film is inventive and interesting otherwise but Bogart's performance makes the film. This film established his career, helping him escape the dozens of cheap crime films he was in prior to this film. It's easy to see why audiences were impressed with his charismatic portrayal of no-nonsense tough guy Sam Spade. I wasn't overly impressed with Mary Astor's performance in the film; she wasn't a compelling love interest and failed to live up to the script's strong characterization. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, however, completely make up for Astor's performance.
This film was John Huston's debut film, and it doesn't really feel like a debut film. It's quite accomplished, actually. The film is heavily stylized, perhaps more than any other film before it. It is also unflinching in its moral ambiguity (it was named the first film in the 'film-noir' genre by French critic Nino Frank, though I think other films qualify such as Howard Hawks' "Scarface") portraying harsh, cruel, cold individuals. Sam Spade is a realistic character, stylized perhaps, but realistic. He is not the perfect John Wayne all-American hero; he is harsh, cold, and even capable of murder. When his partner is killed Spade does not feel much of anything, reacting indifferently to the death and even kissing his widow during their first meeting after he hears the news. John Huston wanted this film to be more character-based and less plot-based than the two previous adaptations of the novel (which he called 'wretched pictures'). The care taken to provide good characterization in the script is clear to the audience. Indeed, "The Maltese Falcon" has a fairly complicated plot and it's easy to understand how a film can get bogged down in the plot and fail to entertain the audience or even tell a good story. Huston made a wise choice in reducing the plot to the background and focusing on the characters and dialogue.
Huston also pays close attention to visual composition of shots, painstakingly recreating the sleazy underbelly of San Francisco. San Francisco is traditionally used in film as a romantic setting, and it is remarkable how drastically different Huston's portrayal of the city is from the norm and how effective it is. Huston, after writing the very fun and smart script, storyboarded every scene in the film and the attention to detail is clear to those viewing the film. Often such meticulous planning carries over to the screen and interrupts the dramatic flow, but not in this case. The film flows exceptionally well and feels much shorter than its 100 minute running time. The result of all the care that went into the film is, by all accounts, excellent entertainment. It's smart, stylish, generally well-acted, and always captivating. "The Maltese Falcon" is surely one of the most promising debut films in history, promise and potential which Huston most certainly delivered on later in his career.
****/4
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"The Maltese Falcon" would be nothing without the muscular, cynical, and very entertaining lead performance from Humphrey Bogart. Well, 'nothing' maybe a bit of an overstatement- the film is inventive and interesting otherwise but Bogart's performance makes the film. This film established his career, helping him escape the dozens of cheap crime films he was in prior to this film. It's easy to see why audiences were impressed with his charismatic portrayal of no-nonsense tough guy Sam Spade. I wasn't overly impressed with Mary Astor's performance in the film; she wasn't a compelling love interest and failed to live up to the script's strong characterization. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, however, completely make up for Astor's performance.
This film was John Huston's debut film, and it doesn't really feel like a debut film. It's quite accomplished, actually. The film is heavily stylized, perhaps more than any other film before it. It is also unflinching in its moral ambiguity (it was named the first film in the 'film-noir' genre by French critic Nino Frank, though I think other films qualify such as Howard Hawks' "Scarface") portraying harsh, cruel, cold individuals. Sam Spade is a realistic character, stylized perhaps, but realistic. He is not the perfect John Wayne all-American hero; he is harsh, cold, and even capable of murder. When his partner is killed Spade does not feel much of anything, reacting indifferently to the death and even kissing his widow during their first meeting after he hears the news. John Huston wanted this film to be more character-based and less plot-based than the two previous adaptations of the novel (which he called 'wretched pictures'). The care taken to provide good characterization in the script is clear to the audience. Indeed, "The Maltese Falcon" has a fairly complicated plot and it's easy to understand how a film can get bogged down in the plot and fail to entertain the audience or even tell a good story. Huston made a wise choice in reducing the plot to the background and focusing on the characters and dialogue.
Huston also pays close attention to visual composition of shots, painstakingly recreating the sleazy underbelly of San Francisco. San Francisco is traditionally used in film as a romantic setting, and it is remarkable how drastically different Huston's portrayal of the city is from the norm and how effective it is. Huston, after writing the very fun and smart script, storyboarded every scene in the film and the attention to detail is clear to those viewing the film. Often such meticulous planning carries over to the screen and interrupts the dramatic flow, but not in this case. The film flows exceptionally well and feels much shorter than its 100 minute running time. The result of all the care that went into the film is, by all accounts, excellent entertainment. It's smart, stylish, generally well-acted, and always captivating. "The Maltese Falcon" is surely one of the most promising debut films in history, promise and potential which Huston most certainly delivered on later in his career.
****/4