Huston, J. (1941) The Maltese Falcon is a personal favourite of my mine with the amazing skills of Humphery Bogart in his role as Spade the detective it was always a challenge but fitted his characteristics ideally. His potential was recognised by the director, the importance of his talent cannot be underestimated as his fresh outlook and spirit brought out his characteristics into his character. This importance is shown in the trailer below.
“The Maltese Falcon from the offset was regarded as yet another standard Warner Brothers detective melodrama with $81,000 B-movie budget and a six week shooting schedule” (The Rough Guide to Film*pg 133) The film really gave birth to noir through the formidable partnership of director Huston and Bogart but this was clearly what destiny had planned as the first actor George Raft cast for the role of Spade turned the opportunity down. The pair set the standard for subsequent private eye and detective movies according to the New York Times.
The Second World War played an instrumental role in the way critics saw what they would now call Film Noir as the two founders if you like for the term “film noir” Nino Frank and Jean-Pierre Chartier were prevented from seeing the films which we today would market as classic noir, works such as “The Maltese Falcon” “Double Indemnity” “Laura” and many more. These classics appeared on screens in the French cinemas of Paris in 1946. After viewing the films Frank claimed “these movies were a new genre distinct from the preceding crime movies.”Chartier commented "Les Americains aussi font les films noirs" ("The Americans are also making dark films") this leads me to believe that there was a general feeling of surprise from the pair that Hollywood had turned a corner when representing Noir.
This new generation is assigned to the Maltese Falcon and is my reason for archiving this work of art for prosperity. The movie itself wrote the book for crime and mystery in noir and should be remembered as a triumph of Bogart and some of the most famous lines in history.
I agree ...the Maltese Falcon is a real classic of a super-film and i just love the amount of unusual facts you can find about it's stars .
ReplyDelete"Humphrey Bogart played a killer with a tortured soul and a sense of morality—a departure from the one-dimensional thugs he had portrayed earlier. His performance as detective Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941), John Huston’s adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett detective thriller, helped make the film a classic."
"After creating a unique genre of character actor stardom with Sydney Greenstreet in the classic “The Maltese Falcon” (1941), Lorre was cast opposite the massive British actor in ten Warner films over the next six years. It would be the most successful and happiest period of Lorre’s life. Lorre dubbed Greenstreet, ‘The Old Man’ and Lorre was ‘Puck’. The two performers were completely different actors and personalities, but perfectly melded as akin to rote opposites in a successful marriage."
"Sidney Greenstreet. Educated, mysterious and utterly ruthless The Fat Man, who will stop at nothing to possess the Falcon, was unforgettably played by the English actor Sidney Greenstreet. Born in 1879 - noted stage actor Greenstreet made his screen debut in 'The Maltese Falcon' at the age of 61, and was nominated for an Academy Award! The scene where he tries to get Spade to take the drugged drink was his first in front of a camera! He appeared with Bogart in three other films, 'Across the Pacific', 'Casablanca' and 'Passage to Marseilles'. At over 350 pounds, he was so large that his entire wardrobe for the film had to be specially manufactured. Sidney Greenstreet died in 1954."
The idea of the film starring George Raft , which was the original choice , but he declined.....would this movie had been such a classic ..? who knows .....but with Bogart ...we have a masterpiece.