Wedneydays Film Review - The Maltese Falcon 1941

The Malteese Falcon 1941

 

"The Maltese Falcon", in this case the 1941 remake of the 1931 film based upon the novel of the same name, was produced by Warner Bros. and written/directed by John Houston. 

Cast:

Samuel Spade: Humphrey Bogart

Brigid O'Shaughnessy: Mary Astor

Joel Cairo: Peter Lorre

Kasper Gutman: Sydney Greenstreet

Miles Archer: Jerome Cowan

Wilmer Cook: Elisha Cook Jr.     

The story begins with private detective Sam Spade, who runs a detective agentcy with his partner Miles Archer. One day a new client walks through the door. The young, beautiful woman introduces herself as Ruth Wonderly. She asks the detectives for assistance in a difficult matter. Her sister, she says, is missing. She has tracked the sister to San Francisco, but the young woman is with her boyfriend, Floyd Thursby, who has a violent nature. Miles Archer agrees to join the woman, when she is to meet Thursby this same night. That night Miles Archer is shot. Sam Spade arrives at the crime scene, but quickly learns that the police is suspecting him, because he once had an affair with Archer's wife Iva. Samuel Spade also learns that the true identity of Miss Wonderly is infact Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and that the reason for her visit is something complety differrent. The situation becomes even more intense, when a criminal named Joel Cairo shows up at his office with an offer, a request and a gun. Spade also notices a young man following him in the streets. Before to long Spade finds himself with three clients: O'Shaughnessy, Cairo and "The Fat Man", who all wish him to recover at mysterious black figure of a bird. 

"The Maltese Falcon" is a wondeful mysterious film, which dragges you in to the story. If English is not your native lauguage however, you might want to watch this with subtitles as the dialog is sometimes mumbled - especially by Bogart. The setting is very well done and contributes nicely to the mood of the film. Even though Humphrey Bogart does the main character of Sam Spade well, the major acting performances are by Mary Astor and Peter Lorre. Mary Astor is right at home in the part of this femme fatale. She succeeds in making this character very threedimentional, and even though the feeling of both Spade and the audience towards O'Shaughnessy shift back and forth from being on her side to suspicion and contempt, she still maintains some of our sympathy - even in O'Shaughnessy's darkest hours. 

Peter Lorre is brilliant in the role of the eccentric and mysterious Joel Cairo, who is also a major participant in the comedy which sometimes appears. His experience as an actor is a very positive thing for this film. Also he is very threedimentional compared to other minor character and even Samuel Spade. 

The film is simply a "must" for vintage film lovers, and very recommedable - and everybody likes a good crime mystery!