The Maltese Falcon
USA, 1941
Director: John Huston
Screenwriter: John Huston, based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett
Genre: Film noir / detective thriller
Soundtrack composer: Adolph Deutsch
Editing: Thomas Richards
Production: Warner Bros.
Main cast:
Humphrey Bogart (Sam Spade)
Mary Astor (Brigid O’Shaughnessy)
Gladys George (Iva Archer)
Peter Lorre (Joel Cairo)
Sydney Greenstreet (Kaspar Gutman)
Lee Patrick (Effie Perine)
Ward Bond (Detective Tom Polhaus)
Barton MacLane (Lieutenant Dundy)
Jerome Cowan (Miles Archer)
Elisha Cook Jr. (Wilmer Cook)
Plot
Private detective Sam Spade and his partner Miles Archer receive a visit at their San Francisco agency from a woman who asks them to watch over a certain Floyd Thursby—supposedly the suspect in her sister’s disappearance.
That same night, both Thursby and Miles are murdered. Sam realizes that the woman who hired them is hiding many things (the “missing sister” was just a story), and goes to see her to discover the truth. Even the name she gave him at first turns out to be false. Her real name is Brigid O’Shaughnessy.
Meanwhile, the police begin to suspect Sam as the perpetrator of the crimes, and they conduct an exhaustive investigation, harassing him with interrogations and constant surveillance. One clue is the more than friendly relationship that the detective seems to have with the wife (now widow) of his late partner…
Meanwhile, a strange character named Joel Cairo enters the scene, searching for a valuable falcon-shaped statuette. Cairo believes that it is in Sam’s possession. Apparently, Thursby was its last owner, and Cairo knows that on the night of his death, Sam’s partner was following him.
Pulling on the thread, Sam will discover that Cairo, Brigid, and Thursby worked together and that, on behalf of a shady, obese millionaire, they had seized the statuette in distant Istanbul.
It is a figure of a falcon that in the 16th century had been a gift from the Knights of Malta to the Spanish King Charles V, but before reaching the monarch it was stolen in the Mediterranean by Barbary pirates, changing hands many times until the present day.
Now, the Maltese falcon is missing. Sam will try to find it, in order to solve the murders, prove his innocence, and shed some light on the plot surrounding the valuable and mysterious figure…
Commentary
A solid and sordid film noir with a dark and pessimistic tone, which stands out for its amorality.
This great detective classic is based on a work by Dashiell Hammett, creator of the literary character Sam Spade, who is the protagonist of several of his stories. The Sam Spade played here by Humphrey Bogart fits the usual archetype of the private detective: tough, determined, cynical, calculating, taciturn but temperamental, skilled with women, and also with enemies—but… How to recognize enemies? How to know who to trust?
One of the most notable characteristics of the film is that all the characters are quite unpleasant. At first, even the protagonist, who does not seem to care in the least about the death of his partner. Although later on we see that Spade does have a commendable code of honor and that he knows how to solve the case with courage and astute diplomacy. Knowing how to negotiate is vitally important to getting your way, as the film shows us.
As for the rest of the characters involved, they are despicable: for their lack of scruples and the ease with which they are willing to manipulate and betray. All this to obtain an object that is supposedly very valuable. The sinister rich man Kasper Gutman is willing to pay an exorbitant price for this object. What does he really want the figure for? What secrets does the falcon really hide?
The figure of the black falcon, believed to be filled with jewels, becomes a true obsession for those involved in the case. An obsession that extends across time and space, through generations. Never having reached its rightful owner, the object passed from hand to hand, from pirates to smugglers, merchants, and thieves. It provoked envy, greed, and betrayal over the centuries, even on an intercontinental level. And the figure of the Maltese Falcon (a Templar item) takes its toll in blood, like an idol. The trio of thieves who stole it in Istanbul shortly before the action in this film begins are only pawns in the hierarchical scale.
Dashiell Hammett, creator of the character Sam Spade, was also the author of the 1929 novel Red Harvest, in which a lone hero (or antihero) takes advantage of the confrontation between criminal gangs, contributing to their mutual weakening. This same premise would later be used by both Kurosawa for his “Yojimbo” and Leone for his “A Fistful of Dollars.”
The Maltese Falcon was John Huston’s first film as a director. Few people know that it is actually a remake, as a first feature film based on the novel was released in 1931. Apparently, Warner Bros. saw great commercial potential in the story, as less than 10 years had passed when this film was made—apparently, Huston’s version is more faithful to the original novel. Huston and Bogart would collaborate again somewhat later in the excellent “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948).
Incidentally, there are important thematic and symbolic parallels between these two Huston films, as the characters are driven by greed, their lust for wealth corrupts them, and the prospect of getting their hands on the “treasure” (or the “falcon”) triggers tragedies among those who are too attached to material goods. This seems to be the message of both films. The “falcon” is like an idol (perhaps Horus?), an illusion, a vain dream.
The disturbing and repulsive Joel Cairo is played by Peter Lorre, known among other titles for his role in M (Fritz Lang, 1931). It is said that Sydney Greenstreet, the actor who plays the huge Kasper Gutman and who often played villains in films of the 1940s, inspired the appearance of the character Kingpin, the crime boss in the Spider-Man comics.
Felix Hahlbrock Ponce
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