The Maltese Falcon [Blu-ray]

Overview

After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in 1941--or, rather, John Huston, a long-established screenwriter making his directorial debut, got it right, simply by adhering as closely as possible to the original. Taking over from a recalcitrant George Raft, Humphrey Bogart achieved true stardom as Sam Spade, a hard-boiled San Francisco private eye who can be as unscrupulous as the next guy but also adheres to his own personal code of honor. Into the offices of the Spade & Archer detective agency sweeps a Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor), who offers a large retainer to Sam and his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) if they'll protect her from someone named Floyd Thursby. The detectives believe neither Miss Wonderly nor her story, but they believe her money. Since Archer saw her first, he takes the case -- and later that evening he is shot to death, as is the mysterious Thursby. Miss Wonderly's real name turns out to be Brigid O'Shaughnessey, and, as the story continues, Sam is also introduced to the effeminate Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and the fat, erudite Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet, in his film debut). It turns out that Brigid, Cairo and Gutman are all international scoundrels, all involved in the search for a foot-high, jewel-encrusted statuette in the shape of a falcon. Though both Cairo and Gutman offer Spade small fortunes to find the "black bird," they are obviously willing to commit mayhem and murder towards that goal: Gutman, for example, drugs Spade and allows his "gunsel" Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.) to kick and beat the unconscious detective. This classic film noir detective yarn gets better with each viewing, which is more than can be said for the first two Maltese Falcons and the ill-advised 1975 "sequel" The Black Bird.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/05/2010
UPC:	0883929118250
Original Release:	1941
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Home Video
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	5,119

Special Features

Commentary by Bogart Biographer Eric Lax; Featurette The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird Breakdowns of 1941: Studio Blooper Reel; Makeup Tests; Becoming Attractions: The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart ; Warner Night at the Movies 1941 Short Subjects Gallery:; Newsreel ; Musical Short The Gay Parisian; 2 Classic Cartoons: Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt and Meet John Doughboy; Trailers of This Movie, 1941's Sergeant York and 1936's Previous Falcon Movie Adaptation, Satan Met a Lady; ; Audio-Only Bonus: 3 Radio Show Adaptations; 2 Featuring the Movie's Original Stars, Plus Another Starring Edward G. Robinson

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Humphrey Bogart	Sam Spade
Mary Astor	Brigid O'Shaughnessy
Peter Lorre	Joel Cairo
Sydney Greenstreet	Kasper Gutman
Gladys George	Iva Archer
Barton MacLane	Det. Lt. Dundy
Lee Patrick	Effie Perine
Ward Bond	Det. Tom Polhaus
Jerome Cowan	Miles Archer
Elisha Cook Jr.	Wilmer Cook
Walter Huston	Capt. Jacobi
James Burke	Luke
Murray Alper	Frank Richman
John Hamilton	Bryan
Emory Parnell	Mate of the La Paloma
Robert E. Homans	Policeman,Policeman
Creighton Hale	Stenographer
Charles Drake	Reporter
William Hopper	Reporter
Hank Mann	Reporter
Jack Mower	Announcer
Chester Gan	Bit Part
Elisha Cook	Actor
Adolph Deutsch	Composer

Technical Credits

John Huston

John Huston	Director,Screenwriter
Hal Wallis	Producer,Producer
Henry Blanke	Producer
Oliver S. Garretson	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Adapting Dashiell Hammett's novel -- and staying as close to the original story as the Production Code allowed -- first-time director John Huston turned The Maltese Falcon into a movie often considered the first film noir. In his star-making performance as Sam Spade, Humphrey Bogart embodied the coolly ruthless private eye who recognizes the dark side of humanity, in all its greedy perversity, and who feels its temptations, especially when they are embodied by a woman. While Huston's mostly straightforward visual approach renders The Maltese Falcon an instance of early noir more in its hardboiled attitude than in the chiaroscuro style common to other films noirs, the collection of venal characters, colorfully played by Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook, Jr.; Mary Astor's femme fatale; and Bogart's morally relativistic Spade pointed the way to the mid-1940s flowering of noir in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944), Otto Preminger's Laura (1944), and Howard Hawks's The Big Sleep (1946). A critical as well as popular success, The Maltese Falcon was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay, establishing Huston as a formidable dual talent and Bogart as the archetypal detective antihero.