If you wish to see only one film noir in your life, make it this one. Maltese Falcon is one of the best and most important among the Film Noir movies.
We have seen Dick Powell play the part of Chandler’s Marlowe and Meeker’s portrayal of Spillane’s Mike Hammer. None can match the Humphrey Bogart’s rendition of Dashell Hammet’s Sam Spade Bogart as the legendary Spade is hard as nail with his trademark swagger. Despite Bogarts slight build and medium height, Sam Spade appears larger than life. Bogart’s dialog delivery and screen presence makes him every bit as tough as Hammett describes him.
The movie opens with a narration about a mysterious stone statuette, called the Maltese Falcon. Next we are taken to the detective office of Spade and Archer. Seated at the desk is Sam Spade. His secretary informs him that a beautiful woman is there to see him.
Moments later, in walks him a lady who appears to be a damsel in distress. She wants to find her sister, who she tells Spade has eloped with a man named Floyd Thursby. As she is about to employ Spade for the job, his partner Archer walks in.
Archer is mesmerized by the woman, who introduces herself as Ruth Wonderly. Archer volunteers with an air of heroism, to take on the task of finding Thursby.
That very night Spade receives news, that Archer has been murdered. Showing almost no grief, Spade briefly visits the scene of the crime and without bothering to examine Archer’s body, leaves. This suspicious behavior arouses the suspicion of two policemen who question Spade at his office.
Spade later meets with the mysterious woman who visited his office. She admits that she made up the story of a missing sister and tells Spade that her real name is Brigid O’Shaughnessy. Revealing no other details, she insists that Spade still look for the missing Thursby.
After this, a strange little man named Cairo visits Spade at his office and offers him $5000 to locate a black figurine of a bird. The meeting is unusual, in that Cairo pulls a gun on Spade and Spade knocks him down easily. When Cairo regains consciousness, he pulls the gun on Spade, once again and then searches the office. Later that evening, as Spade is on his way to visit Brigid, he realizes that he is tailed by a young man. After easily evading the youth, Spade meets with Brigid and tells her about Cairo. Brigid is familiar with Cairo and tells Spade that he works for the ‘fat man’.
Later, at his hotel, Spade confronts the young man, Wilmer and sets up a meeting with the fat man. The fat man is revealed to be Kasper Gutman, a mysterious individual looking for the bird. Wilmer narrates the History of the back bird statuette. The statuette is revealed to be the Maltese Falcon, a treasured antique with a interesting past. It has been missing for centuries, until it appeared again in Europe recently Gutman tells Spade. This scene has been hailed by critiques like Roger Ebert.
The plot moves quickly with twists and turns, leading to a dramatic end, as Sam puts the pieces together and uncovers the truth.
As mentioned before, this movie is quintessential film noir, complete with the private eye, the femme fatal, the dark plot, the thugs, the cops, the drinking, the smoking and the use of creative photography. One other noteworthy performance is from Mary Astor who plays the dainty Ruth Wonderly and then morphs into the not-so-innocent Brigid O’Shaughnessy Though she is overshadowed by Bogart, Astor shines as both, the concerned sister and the conniving smart, self serving, seducing double-crosser. Yet another superb performance comes from Sydney Greenstreet, playing Kasper Gutman. This performance would earn Gutman an academy award nomination for best supporting actor.
The Maltese Falcon received two other Academy award nominations, one for best picture and the other for best adapted screenplay.The movie is included in AFI’s 100 years, ..100 movies.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet
Direction: John Houston
Here are some quotes from the movie:
Spade to Brigid: “You wont need anybody’s help. You’re good. Especially that throb you get when you say things like ‘Be generous, Mr. Spade’”
Brigid:”I deserved it. The lie was in the way I said it, not in all I said.It’s my own fault if you don’t believe me now.”
Brigid: I’ve always been a liar
Spade:: Dont brag about it
Spade to Wilmer: People loose teeth taking like that. You want to hang around, you need to be polite.
Bay Area Bloke 