The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Pretty Good

Just perfect...

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette. The Maltese Falcon unfortunately does not hold up very well but also is a very slow burning and bland crime thriller noir or whatever you wanna call it. The perfomances weren't anything special either and the cinematography was on that level as well. Perhaps IMDB should change their list with the Top 250 because so far lots of them have been on the overrated side of things than the other way around. (0/10)

Bogart tour-de-force. Except for one important scene near the beginning he is never off the screen, so he hangs the film together. We are only allowed to meet others involved in the plot when Sam Spade meets them and this keeps us wholly dependent on him - keep up with him or even get ahead of him if we're able to. To keep us concentrated on him, the camera never shows us who he's speaking to on the other end of the many phone conversations. I really liked this story-telling device. There are no flashbacks to any of the many important earlier parts of the story. If Sam wasn't there, it's not important for us to see. This is ingeniously done but it does mean explanations of these events have to be told to us instead of being shown to us. And who is telling the truth anyhow? In the confusion we have to trust that Bogart will see us through and eventually reveal the truth. Loved the dramatic camerawork, the low-angled shots and the lighting. But I found the love affairs (the two of them) unconvincing. Because of this the ending for me wasn't as strong as it was meant to be. (7-and-a-half/10)

Most significant for, retrospectively, being considered the first example of 'film noir', it is also Humphrey Bogart's first starring role. Watched today it is fine with some good dialogue but it is slow to start. For current audiences the big entrance of 'knockout' Mary Astor is a real letdown. There is no sign of the lustful lovely and barely a hint of the 'femme fatale' although she does seem to get into the role and is hampered at first with the duplicitous nature of her standing. All is okay and interesting enough to hold the attention and then Peter Lorre enters and the screen lights up. Later it will start to glow when Greenstreet makes his wonderful entry. Bogart who has seemed a bit stiff and awkward with the similarly inhibited Astor is great with the guys, police and all. If his banter with the lady had been as good we would have had a fully fledged 'noir' from the start.

Bogart made his name as a private detective in this one, so the expectations were pretty much high prior to watching. Humprey's being classical Humprey, cool, old school macho trying to wiggle his way out an elaborate scheme revolving around the ancient artifact, but that's pretty much it. Rest of the cast, as the script itself will blend into a classical conspiracy/crime story of that era, with all the right moves and turns, but lacking any kind of innovation at all. „Maltese Falcon" is solid piece of movie history and a classical Bogart's role that made him what he is.