[3FM] The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The best, and most famous, of the three existing screen adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's detective novel.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033870/

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013139-maltese_falcon/

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 ...


I decided a little while ago to try to make 3 frame movies out of some old black and white classics. This is the first, and it's a fairly straightforward look: (1) The "Fat Man" tells Spade the story of the Falcon statuette and offers him "a great deal of money" for possession of it; (2) the bird is delivered, but discovered to be a fake; (3) Spade turns on his manipulative, lying client, who he has learned was also guilty of murder, and tells her he won't shield her from the police.

My favorite thing about this story is how honestly and unromantically the Spade character is presented. In the beginning we learn that he has had no scruples about carrying on with his office partner's wife, and we are left to believe that if he'd received the promised fortune for procuring the Falcon, he might have been persuaded to turn a blind eye to his client's crimes. But through this moral morass we are made to like and identify with him.


Coming soon: Casablanca, and The Big Sleep.

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