The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Star Rating- 2
Length of Film- 101 minutes
Director- John Huston
Cast- Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan, Elisha Cook Jr., James Burke, Murray Alper, & John Hamilton
Oscar Nomination- Hal B. Walls (Best Picture), John Huston (Screenplay), Sydney Greenstreet ( Actor in Support Role)


 


This is going to be a quick post. This was not a good movie. It was all very...beige. It's not because it was a black and white film, but Bogart and Astor were a snooze. There was NO excitement.

In my opinion, this movie shouldn't be on the list, but I understand WHY it is on the list of 1,001 movies. It was the FIRST "Film Noir" film and it was the first mystery film where the dame was the murderer. It started a new generation.

Here are some fun facts of film courtesy of "The Greatest Movies Ever" book by Gail Kinn & Jim Piazza

*More than once, Spade makes derogatory references to Wilmer's presumed homosexuality (because he carried a perfumed hand kerchief). In fact, he refers to Wilmer as a gunsel, a term that the censors assumed was a slang reference to a gunman. Gunsel is actually a vulgar Yiddish term for homosexual.

*Two "Maltese Falcons" we're used in the film. The first one is on display in the movie museum at Warner Bros. Studios, it's tail feathers dented from when Bogart dropped it.