The Maltese Falcon Film Review

Film Review: The Maltese Falcon

Director John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon features the actor Humphrey Bogart in one of his iconic starring roles as the hardboiled detective Sam Spade. The film is an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s book of the same name, but is famous less for its plot than its atmospheric rendition of the mystery. The Maltese Falcon melds a traditional crime plot of murder, missing persons, and mistaken identity with that of the legendary bird of the title, a figure so valuable, people will do anything to find it.
The film begins with a mysterious and ultimately untrustworthy woman claiming that she is looking for her missing sister. She employs Spade and his partner Miles Archer to find her sister, who she says is seeing a man named Floyd Thursby. Both Archer and Thursby are later found dead. Eventually, the woman Brigid O’Shaughnessy, is implicated in both murders—she wanted Thursby dead and framed Archer. Before Spade can discover the beautiful woman’s treachery, however, he learns of the machinations of a number of criminal gangs (who he ultimately thwarts) to get the precious falcon.
The film is in black-and-white, and features rapid, staccato, witty dialogue. Although created during an era of censorship, Spade’s unsentimental view of death, violence, and his skepticism about O’Shaughnessy’s character all underline the realism of the piece. On the other hand, the various criminals played by character actors like Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre often function as over-the-top caricatures. This adds to the constant sense of menace that characterizes the film. Also, the dull grey falcon is no ordinary treasure, and looks like something mysterious and otherworldly. Although the villains are ultimately apprehended, on screen they are shown leaving in pursuit of the falcon, gleeful that they have escaped, and the viewer is left with a sense that there is no assurance that evil will inevitably be punished and good inevitably rewarded. The shots of the film are often from unusual angles and the film is shot in very low lighting which further exacerbates its sense of menace. The viewer always feels as if something is amiss and the world seems to be perpetually in night, even when it is daytime.
The Maltese Falcon also flirts with taboos like homosexuality that could not be openly discussed in the Hollywood of its era. Within seconds of his first appearance, the audience learns that Peter Lorre’s character Joel Cairo has a perm, carries a cane he fondles suggestively (he touches its phallic tip to his lips), and scents his card with perfume that smells like gardenias. The camera focuses on his shining ring, perfectly manicured hands, and his glittering eyes. Cairo’s voice is soft and measured, which makes his production of a small, delicate handgun all the more shocking. He threatens to kill Spade if he is not permitted to search Spade’s office and Spade’s bemusement, including the fact that he continues to smoke with his hands behind his neck, serves to make the audience admire Spade more, even while Cairo’s villainy seems equally impressive and unflappable in its own way. The audience learns that this is a world in which anything can happen and both bad and good characters expect to face death on a daily basis. Spade easily dispatches Cairo with a few blows.
The Maltese Falcon illustrates the power of stylized storytelling over plot. The viewer is less concerned about finding out where the falcon is versus enjoying the parade of characters and the witty, morose style of Sam Spade when solving crime. The story also seems very modern, because there are no truly good characters in the film. The film ends with the two romantic leads betraying one another and the most honorable relationship is the one between the thieves, founded in greed.
Reference
Huston, John. (1941). The Maltese falcon. USA: Warner Brothers.