Sam
Spade. An iconic figure in both American cinema as well as American
literary fiction. Dashiell Hammett's famed detective cemented stardom
for screen legend Humphrey Bogart and Hammett's famed story, The Maltese Falcon, offered a solid directorial debut for legendary filmmaker John Huston. Considered by some the first film noir, The Maltese Falcon
was an early 1940's crime drama produced at Warner Brothers, master of
this film genre, with an eclectic array of tough talking, fast moving
oddball characters who come together with one common goal....possession
of a priceless black falcon statue.
Moving at a
lightning pace, the film is a masterpiece of mystery, crime, tough
dialogue and suspense. Warners had made two less successful versions in
the 1930's, one under the original title in 1931, then as Satan Met a Lady
in 1936 with young Bette Davis (Davis counted this version among her
worst films). The 1941 Huston version is a tight, sophisticated and
complicated film, well received by critics and audiences alike and
faithful to Hammett's book.
The story revolves around a
small statue of a falcon, whose history dates back centuries and whose
value certain parties place higher than human life. Bogart plays
detective Sam Spade, who is drawn into the intrigue regarding the
recovery of the sculpture by the beautiful and lethal Brigid
O'Shaunessey (Mary Astor). Brigid's false tale of a missing sister gets
private dick Slade on the trail of the valuable bird, only to meet
others also in hot pursuit of the object, including notably iconic
Hammett characters weaselly and effete Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre);
youthful killer Wilmer (Elisha Cook, Jr.); and menacing "Fatman" Gutman
(Sydney Greenstreet).
Like
many other screenwriters cum directors of the day, Huston, as
screenwriter, tired of others directing ~ and rewriting~ his work,
sought and was granted by the powers that be (aka Jack Warner), the task
of bringing the third version of the famed crime thriller to the
screen. Bogart, for the second time in less than a year lucked out
thanks to the poor judgement of star George Raft. Months earlier Raft
refused the role of Roy "Mad Dog" Earle in Warner's High Sierra. Bogart's casting in the Earle role was the impetus for his starring career and when Raft refused the role of Spade in Falcon,
Bogart was again given his cast-off, made it his own and became a star.
The role of femme fatale Brigid O'Shaunessey was originally set to be
played by Warner contract player Geraldine Fitzgerald. However,
Fitzgerald went east to take a job on the stage and Mary Astor was
delighted to take the juicy part of deceptive O'Shaunessey. Along with
her Oscar winning role later the same year in The Great Lie, her part in The Maltese Falcon would be her most famous (on screen anyway, as she had a very colorful offscreen life).
Everyone
else in the cast is simply superb. Greenstreet, over sixty and roughly
300 lbs., made an unforgettable film debut as the baleful and bloated
Kasper Gutman, code name "The Fat Man". In Falcon, he
skillfully perfected the portly prototype of villain that he would
portray throughout his film career. Cook truly looks like he's about to
lose it, as gunsel Wilmer, with crazed look in his eyes and cold blooded
murder in his heart. He and fellow Falcon co-star Lee Patrick (who plays Bogart's trusted secretary Effie) appeared in a 1970's spoof of the film called The Black Bird.
Actor Walter Huston, father of the film's director, made an unbilled
(and unpaid) cameo, as a victim of the statues lethal value.
The Maltese Falcon
has been copied, spoofed and parodied, but the style and success of the
Huston film cannot be duplicated. The parts of his masterpiece fit too
perfectly together. Bogart became as synonymous with Sam Spade as he
would with Casablanca's Rick a year later, and the
professional and personal bond forged between he and director Huston
would remain strong until Bogart's death in 1957.
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