Scan and Pan
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Maltese Falcon
It has long been one of my favorite films from the classic era of Hollywood. It's also widely considered to be the first film noir, and many of the conventions of the genre are established in it. Its quality is even more remarkable an achievement when one considers that it's John Huston's first film as a director.
Based on the influential 1930 novel by Dashiell Hammett, Huston's Oscar nominated screenplay is unusually faithful to its literary source for a Hollywood production. He essentially condenses it for the screen and removes material deemed inappropriate by the Production Code--mostly sexual content, particularly the homosexuality of several characters (although the film still manages to imply much of it).
As directorial debuts go, it's a great one, but it was only second best in 1941, which happened to be the same year that Orson Welles' Citizen Kane was released. Both The Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane were nominated for Best Picture, although only Welles earned a Best Director nomination. Neither film won (nor did Welles win as a director).
The production values are high across the board, with the moody cinematography of Arthur Edeson (Frankenstein, Mutiny on the Bounty), the well-designed sets of Robert Haas (Knute Rockne All American) and the score by Adolph Deutsch (They Drive by Night, High Sierra) standing out.
As is usually the case with a great film, one of its many strengths is its cast. Humphrey Bogart is absolutely perfect as private eye Sam Spade. Something I like about Bogart's Spade is what a complete bastard he can be. He's very much an anti-hero. My favorite line comes when Spade slaps Joel Cairo and then tells him, "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it." Then he slaps him a few more times for good measure. He epitomizes the tough guy detective, and one can justifiably say that his performance here is the blueprint for the character type in future film noirs.
Bogart got the job only after George Raft turned down the role because he didn't want to work with a first time director. Ironically, Raft would later turn down the lead role in Casablanca, which again went to Bogart, who turned in another memorable performance. How much different would the careers of both actors have been if Raft had accepted both roles?
The rest of the cast is every bit as good, including Mary Astor as manipulative femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Peter Lorre as the effeminate Cairo, veteran stage actor Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut as the Fat Man (which earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor), Lee Patrick as Spade's secretary Effie, Jerome Cowan as Spade's ill-fated partner, Gladys George as the partner's wife and Spade's lover, and Elisha Cook Jr. as the Fat Man's boy toy and hot-headed gunman Wilmer.
In 1989, the Library of Congress' National Film Registry placed this film on its list of "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films". If one was to compile a list of films worthy of being seen before you die, I'd argue strongly for the inclusion of The Maltese Falcon. "The stuff that dreams are made of", indeed.
It's of interesting note that the film is actually the third adaptation of the novel. In this case, the third time really is the charm. The first adaptation is 1931's The Maltese Falcon with Ricardo Cortez as Spade and Bebe Daniels as Brigid. The second is 1936's Satan Met a Lady, a much looser adaptation done as a comedy, with Warren William and Bette Davis in the main roles (although with different names than in the novel or other films). I haven't seen the 1931 version, something I should rectify soon, because it's currently available on DVD. While the 1936 film isn't a classic, I do enjoy it for its more screwball aspects and Davis having fun as a femme fatale.
I think my next re-watch will be The Thin Man, another adaptation of a Hammett novel.
Keeping with the theme of re-watching DVDs in my collection, I turned my attention to the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon on Saturday night.
It has long been one of my favorite films from the classic era of Hollywood. It's also widely considered to be the first film noir, and many of the conventions of the genre are established in it. Its quality is even more remarkable an achievement when one considers that it's John Huston's first film as a director.
Based on the influential 1930 novel by Dashiell Hammett, Huston's Oscar nominated screenplay is unusually faithful to its literary source for a Hollywood production. He essentially condenses it for the screen and removes material deemed inappropriate by the Production Code--mostly sexual content, particularly the homosexuality of several characters (although the film still manages to imply much of it).
As directorial debuts go, it's a great one, but it was only second best in 1941, which happened to be the same year that Orson Welles' Citizen Kane was released. Both The Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane were nominated for Best Picture, although only Welles earned a Best Director nomination. Neither film won (nor did Welles win as a director).
The production values are high across the board, with the moody cinematography of Arthur Edeson (Frankenstein, Mutiny on the Bounty), the well-designed sets of Robert Haas (Knute Rockne All American) and the score by Adolph Deutsch (They Drive by Night, High Sierra) standing out.
As is usually the case with a great film, one of its many strengths is its cast. Humphrey Bogart is absolutely perfect as private eye Sam Spade. Something I like about Bogart's Spade is what a complete bastard he can be. He's very much an anti-hero. My favorite line comes when Spade slaps Joel Cairo and then tells him, "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it." Then he slaps him a few more times for good measure. He epitomizes the tough guy detective, and one can justifiably say that his performance here is the blueprint for the character type in future film noirs.
Bogart got the job only after George Raft turned down the role because he didn't want to work with a first time director. Ironically, Raft would later turn down the lead role in Casablanca, which again went to Bogart, who turned in another memorable performance. How much different would the careers of both actors have been if Raft had accepted both roles?
The rest of the cast is every bit as good, including Mary Astor as manipulative femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Peter Lorre as the effeminate Cairo, veteran stage actor Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut as the Fat Man (which earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor), Lee Patrick as Spade's secretary Effie, Jerome Cowan as Spade's ill-fated partner, Gladys George as the partner's wife and Spade's lover, and Elisha Cook Jr. as the Fat Man's boy toy and hot-headed gunman Wilmer.
In 1989, the Library of Congress' National Film Registry placed this film on its list of "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films". If one was to compile a list of films worthy of being seen before you die, I'd argue strongly for the inclusion of The Maltese Falcon. "The stuff that dreams are made of", indeed.
It's of interesting note that the film is actually the third adaptation of the novel. In this case, the third time really is the charm. The first adaptation is 1931's The Maltese Falcon with Ricardo Cortez as Spade and Bebe Daniels as Brigid. The second is 1936's Satan Met a Lady, a much looser adaptation done as a comedy, with Warren William and Bette Davis in the main roles (although with different names than in the novel or other films). I haven't seen the 1931 version, something I should rectify soon, because it's currently available on DVD. While the 1936 film isn't a classic, I do enjoy it for its more screwball aspects and Davis having fun as a femme fatale.
I think my next re-watch will be The Thin Man, another adaptation of a Hammett novel.
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