US 101m Dir: John Huston Key Cast: Humphrey Bogart
My Mother, despite growing up in when black and white TVs were still very common, can't stand watching anything in black and white. It's a shame because black and white can really add something to the atmosphere of a film, especially when it's film noir.
Indeed, The Maltese Falcon is considered by some to be the first film noir. It establishes a world of dark streets and hard heroes, of which Sam Spade very much is. Indeed, Spade is a right bastard. He doesn't care when his partner is murdered and is soon kissing his widow. He doesn't seem at all bothered when he floats the idea that a woman who proclaims his love for him might be hanged. He regularly beats people up, including a man largely because he has a 'perfumed handkerchief' which is unsubtle code for homosexual in 40s cinema.
Humphrey Bogart is superb here. Before The Maltese Falcon, Bogart was given endless roles in gangster B-movies but this film propelled him to something more including films like The African Queen and Casablanca. It's difficult to put your finger on quite what Bogart does in his performance which is so good. Perhaps it's the fact he truly understands the character he is playing, a cold detective with his own code.
Though the film is all about Bogart, the supporting cast are great too. Like Bogart, both Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre showed how strong they were as actors and their careers improved, often starring in films together. Mary Astor is great too- even in modern films it's relatively unusual to see a female character who regularly lies and engages in criminal acts but in the early 40s it was highly unusual.
The other star of the film is director John Huston. Incredibly this was Huston's first film something which you really can't tell from watching it. He understood Dashiell Hammett's novel far better than the directors of the two previous adaptations, ensuring Sam Spade was not watered down and even using much of the novel's dialogue.
His direction is also brilliant and revolutionary. Like Citizen Kane which was being made at the same time, Huston took great thought over composition and camera movement. The best example of this is an unbroken seven minute take where the camera moves all other the place and the entire cast and crew involved had to be pitch perfect for it to work. It's utterly superb and something most people wouldn't even notice (I am a little obsessed with camera shots though).
The plot is unnecessary here. It's basically a series of conversations between the excellent characters in this shady world with occasional bouts of violence interspersed. Why the characters are having to interact and negotiate with each is irrelevant, it's the way they do so that makes the film.
My Mum is really missing out.
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