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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: 10/5/2010
Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Year: 1941
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The Movie:
The Maltese Falcon was made into two different feature films before John Huston took his stab at bringing Dashiell Hammet's novel of the same name to the big screen in 1941. Huston's directorial debut stars Humphrey Bogart as a private detective named Sam Spade who doesn't always like working with his partner, Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) at the agency they run together. That said, he's not too happy to find him dead after he takes on a case involving a beautiful blonde named Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor) who hires him to follow a man for her. A few twists and turns later and there's more murder as Spade winds up trying to figure out how all of this connects to three big time criminals - Kasper Gutman better known as The Fat Man (Sydney Greenstreet), his sneaky assistant Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), and a hood named Wilmer (Elisha Cook, Jr.) - and the pursuit of a bird status known as The Maltese Falcon.
A very literal adaptation of Hanmmet's book, Huston's film is about as tense and mysterious as they come. Casting Bogart as Spade was the perfect touch (the role was originally offered to George Raft who turned it down because he didn't want to star in a remake) as he so sincerely embodies the character both with his screen presence and his attitude. Picturing anyone else playing the role is tough, as Bogart's performance here, like his work on Casablanca, has become not just a legendary performance but literally a part of American popular culture. Bogart's Spade is consummately cool, tougher than anyone you know, and appreciably human.
On the flip side of that coin is Mary Astor as the film's femme fatale. Playing her role with that dangerous icy coolness that only a classic Hollywood beauty can bring to a movie like this, she's absolutely gorgeous here and it's all too easy to see how Spade gets drawn into her unlikely problem. She's charming, sophisticated, and all too easy on the eyes.
If Bogart and Astor weren't enough to make the picture, there's the three core supporting players, each of whom turns in some of their best work on this picture. Sydney Greenstreet is excellent in his part here as is Cook but of the three it's not all too surprisingly Peter Lorre who really stands out. His strange looks and quirky mannerisms are enough on their own but the strength of his acting here really speaks for itself and makes him more than just a weird guy in the background. Really, Huston could not have asked for a better group of actors to work with on this picture.
Shot with a great eye for shadow and detail by cinematographer Arthur Edeson and benefitting immensely from a tight score from composer Adolph Deutsch, Huston manages to keep the tension on the upswing throughout the film. From the initial set up to the first murder through to the big reveal at the end, rarely does a film grip the audience as efficiently as The Maltese Falcon. The film was pretty edgy stuff for its time, inferring not so subtly that Wilmer and Cairo are gay and working some impressive sexual tension into a few key scenes. It's the story and the performances that keep us coming back to this one, however. It's just so rich in tension and suspense and so beautifully shot and remarkably well acted that once it starts, you can't turn it off.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Warner Brothers presents The Maltese Falcon in an excellent 1.37.1 fullframe transfer in full 1080p high definition with VC-1 encoding in glorious black and white, just as it should be. In short, the transfer is really good. There's a welcome coat of fine film grain present throughout but no serious print damage to note and the improvement in detail, contrast and clarity compared to previous standard definition DVD releases is instantly noticeable, especially in close up shots. Texture, too, is very obviously improved over previous offerings. Blacks are nice and strong while whites look smooth and natural, never too hot and never showing any evidence of blooming. There are no noticeable problems with mpeg compression or edge enhancement to complain about. There are moments in the film where maybe a little bit more could have been done to clean it up just a bit, but this is nitpicking, really. Generally speaking, the film is in very good shape here and fans ought to pretty happy with the visuals as it really nails the gritty tone of the picture.
The English language DTS-HD Mono track, which comes with an optional Spanish Dolby Digital Mono track, English closed captioning, and French and Spanish subtitles, is nice and clear. There is some hiss present that you're going to notice if you're paying attention but other than that, things sound quite good. Dialogue is always easy to follow, there are no problems with any distortion to note, and the score has an appropriate amount of emphasis put on it when the movie calls for it. For an older movie, the audio here is very good.
Warner Brothers have carried over all of the extras from the three disc DVD release that came out a few years ago except for the earlier versions of the movie (which is a pretty legitimate gripe). That said, here you're going to find an excellent commentary track from Humphrey Bogart biographer Eric Lax that does a great job of telling you all you'll need to know about Bogart's involvement in the film, where he was at during this time in his life, and how it would affect his later career.
Also included is an excellent featurette entitled The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird (32:05) which covers the making of the film in a fair bit of detail by way of interviews with various movie mogul types and celebrities who wax poetically about their appreciation for the picture. More behind the scenes information would have been welcome, but if nothing else this segment does a good job of explaining the film's importance.
Rounding out the extras are Breakdowns of 1941a studio blooper reel, some makeup tests, a collection of Humphrey Bogart trailers, the Warner Night At The Movies 1941 short subjects gallery (a vintage newsreel, a musical short entitled The Gay Parisian, and a pair of vintage cartoons - Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt and Meet John Doughboy), trailers for the feature and for 1941's Sergeant York and 1936's Satan Met a Lady, and the three radio adaptations of the story. Menus and chapter stops are also included. It would have been nice to see the alternate versions of the movie included here or some new content, but that didn't happen. That said, what's here is good, particularly Lax's informative commentary track.
The Final Word:
The omission of the earlier versions of the film aside, this is a pretty impressive release from start to finish and the improved audio and video are certainly reason enough for fans of Huston's remarkably tense and consummately cool classic picture to want to upgrade. The movie itself remains one of the greatest detective stories to come out of Hollywood's golden age and a high point in the careers of both its director and its leading man.