Die Spur des Falken

This one of the all-time grand films , a classic Noir Film with gritty interpretation , atmospheric settings and powerhouse filmmaking , at John Huston's first effort directorial . This is a story as explosive as his blazing automatics . Womanizer Sam Sapade is a two-fisted and cynical private detective operating in the big city . When his secretary tells him the new customer (Mary Astor) waiting outside his office is a knockout, he wastes no time before seeing her. It turns out she's a knockout with money. And she wants to spend it on his services as a private detective . This lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of the notorious private detective . She has some story about wanting to protect her sister. Neither he nor his partner, Miles Archer, believes it. But with the money she's paying, who cares? The job proves to be more dangerous than either of them expected. It involves not just the lovely dame with the dangerous lies, but also the sweaty Casper Gutman (Sidney Greenstreet) , the fey Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) , and the thuggish young Wilmer Cook (Elisha Cook Jr) . Three crooks, and all of them are looking for the statuette of a black bird they call the Maltese Falcon . Spade is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon . As Sam fights to get hold of a black bird ¨the stuff that dreams are made¨ (a line suggested by Humphrey Bogart was voted as the #14 movie quote by the American Film Institute) .

This first-rate and entertaining picture draws its riveting tale and power from the interaction of finely drawn roles as well as drama , emotion and moody atmosphere . This classic mystery thriller follows Dashiell Hammett's book fairly closely otherwise , he also wrote ¨The thin man¨. Twisted film Noir about murders , troubled relationships , treason , dark secrets , including an unforgettable dialog ; being based on the novel ¨The Maltese Falcon¨¨and screen-written by the same Huston . Frustrated at seeing his script for Juárez (1939) rewritten by Paul Muni, the film's star, John Huston vowed that from then on he would direct his own screenplays and therefore not have to see them get meddled with. He was fortunate in that he had a staunch ally in the form of producer Henry Blanke who was happy to fulfill Huston's wish. Word-for-word and scene-for-scene virtually the same as the original novel. It packs a good realization , an original script , haunting atmosphere , intriguing events ; for that reason madness and murder prevail .The climactic confrontation scene lasts nearly 20 minutes, one-fifth of the entire running time of the film. It involves all five principal characters, and filming required over one full week . Here Bogart is extraordinary and as cool as ever ; he plays as the tough-talking P.I. Although George Raft was originally cast as Sam Spade , he allegedly turned it down because it was "not an important picture," taking advantage of a clause in his contract that said he did not have to work on remakes . For decades this film could not be legally shown on US television stations because of its underlying suggestions of "illicit" sexual activity among the characters (i.e., O'Shaughnessy's promiscuity, indications that Joel Cairo was a homosexual). Much of the movie is filmed over Humphrey Bogart's shoulder so that the audience can be in on his point of view. His scenes with Mary Astor are awesome and at their best compared to those he subsequently shared with Lauren Bacall in ¨Dark passage¨ , ¨Key Largo¨ , ¨The big sleep¨ and ¨To have and to have not¨ . The couple Bogart-Astor throws in enough sparks to ignite several lighters . This was the first pairing of cynical Humphrey Bogart and Femme Fatale Mary Astor . Mary Astor's off-screen notoriety was instrumental in her casting , she had been in several scandals concerning affairs she had been involved in during her marriage. And she was having an affair with John Huston during the making of the film. Magnificent support cast , here was the first pairing of Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, who would go on to make nine more movies together. Exciting as well as complex film , possessing a mysterious and fascinating blend of gripping thriller , serenity , baroque suspense in which especially stands out the portentous performances , evocative cinematography in black and white by Arthur Edeson and magnificent musical score by the classic Adolph Deutsch . And also shown in horrible computer-colored version . The motion picture was masterfully directed by John Huston ; filming was completed in two months at a cost of less than $300,000.

A former version in 1931 by Roy Del Ruth , it was also pretty good starred by Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly , Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade , Dudley Digges as Casper Gutman and Una Merkel as Effie Perine . In fact , Warner Bros. planned to change the name of the film to "The Gent from Frisco" because the novel's title had already been used for this The Maltese Falcon (1931) , the studio eventually agreed to keep the original title at John Huston's insistence.

I love this movie. I didn't love it until I'd watched it a couple of times.

And I didn't love it quite so much until I'd read Harvey Greenberg's "Movies on Your Mind."

But I now think that, within the strictures of its budget, it's about as good as it can get. Sam Spade is a marvelous character in this film. He gives practically nothing away, while gathering information from others simply by letting them talk, kind of like a shrink.

And it's hard to believe that they could have found a cast that fit the templates of the novel so perfectly. Sidney Greenstreet IS the "fat man." Peter Lorre IS the queer. My nomination for best scene: When Greenstreet attempts to peel off the black enamel from the captured bird and finds that it's nothing but lead and begins to hack away at it, as if it were alive and he were trying to kill it. Nothing is more amusing than a fat man lipid with rage.

If you see this one, and I hope you do, make note of the phenomenal black and white photography. (I hope you have a good connection.) Watch, for instance, the glissade of the camera when Bogart says, "You have brains. Yes, you do."

In case you're worried about this being too sophisticated for enjoyment by an ordinary audience, I should mention that I showed this (in one connection or another, I forget) to a class of Marines at Camp Lejeune. They enjoyed the hell out of it, especially the scene in which Mary Astor kicks Peter Lorre in the shins.

Don't miss it.

Not only is "The Maltese Falcon" one of the first prototypical examples in what would be the subsequent 10 years of great film noir movies, it's also the first movie in the exemplary directing career of John Huston (from the screenplay he adapted from Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade novel). And, even though Bogart had been acting throughout the '30s in mostly supporting roles opposite great actors (like Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, etc.) and actresses (Bette Davis, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, etc.), this role was to make him a bankable star & lead.

Like many films in the noir genre, the unnecessarily complicated plot devices are secondary to lighting, mood, tone, and the imperfect cast of characters. It's not as absolutely inscrutable as "The Big Sleep," but more or less tied with "Out of the Past" on the hard to follow scale. Mary Astor was an old pro by this time, and she'd said that the motion picture newbie, Sydney Greenstreet, was scared to death during his scenes, though you'd certainly never know it from the result.

Huston managed to find a little cameo appearance for his father, Walter Huston as the mysterious Captain Jacoby. And the matte black statuette of the title is perhaps the ultimate example of what Hitchcock called the "MacGuffin," and as Bogart tells his cop friend at the end: "It's what dreams are made of." Indeed.

"The Maltese Falcon", scripted and directed by Hollywood first-timer John Huston (from Dashiell Hammett's novel), would go on to become an American film classic. Humphrey Bogart chews the scenery in his star-making turn as acid-tongued private eye Sam Spade, whose association with the beautiful and aloof Brigid O'Shaughnessy (Mary Astor), neurotic Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), and morbidly obese Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet, in his Oscar-nominated screen debut) over the recovery of the title object, sets in motion a movie experience that is as much crackling as it is dazzling. While much of the action and dialogue is considerably dated by modern standards, the film's essential power to mystify and entrance remains undiminished despite its age. While this was the third adaptation of Hammett's story (the first was made in 1931 and the second was "Satan Met a Lady" (1936)), this is also the best remembered and most praised, due largely in part to Bogart's seemingly effortless portrayal of the tough but softhearted, world-weary hero. Mary Astor and Lee Patrick were, respectively, the definitive femme fatale and girl Friday, and the villianous roles of Cairo, Gutman and Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.) were equally remarkable. What may not be wholly obvious is the fact that these three men have homosexual tendencies (as given in the novel), but just look at what's given: Cairo's delicate speech and manner, Wilmer's questionable quick tempered attitude towards Spade (could this be covering up the fact that he finds Spade attractive?) and Gutman's clutching of Spade's arm when Sam arrives at his hotel room. A polished film noir that gave rise to Bogart's mounting popularity. (Sidenote: The character of Sam Spade was originally offered to George Raft, who turned it down. Raft also turned down "Casablanca" (1942), "High Sierra" (1941) and William Wyler's "Dead End" (1937), all of which went to Bogart and helped to boost his star status. Bogart had Raft to thank for his enduring popularity.) A must-see masterpiece. ****

If not, it's pretty damn close. My husband and I are different than most because instead of just looking for movies we tend to find actors we love and then watch all of their movies. We're fans of the star first and then the movie second. Humphrey Bogart had it all. He was authentic, compelling, and could convey so many emotions with just a twinkle or a tinge of doubt, or suspicion, or fear, or lust, or greed, whatever it was he had to convey, he did it with full conviction. If there's a better movie star that ever lived, I can't name them. There may be actors with more range, but not better movie stars. I think actors can be great even if they don't transform as Day-Lewis does. Don't get me wrong, Day-Lewis is a genius, but an actor who is completely authentic and compelling (something going on underneath) is just as interesting to watch as an actor who transforms themselves.