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Maltese Falcon (1941) Intro
Directed by: John Huston Starring: Humphery Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet Studio: Warner Bros. My IMDB Rating: 8 The Maltese Falcon Intro:
Todays feature, The Maltese Falcon, is based on a 1930 serialized novel of the same name written by Dashell Hammett & was released by Warner Bros on October 3rd, 1941. The story had been made into a film twice before, in 1931 as The Maltese Falcon & in 1936 as Satan Meets a Lady. The fist film, made before the restrictive Production Code was instituted in 1934, contains much more risqué language, sexual inuendo & overt homosexual themes. Humphrey Bogart, who stars as iconic private investigator Sam Spade, had been a minor star throughout the 1930’s, but with the release of High Sierra, earlier in 1941, he was ascendant, beat out the more famous, but wooden George Raft for the part & The Maltese Falcon catapulted him to super star status. As a point of reference, Bogart actually made more films (38) before he was a star than the rest of his career (35). The term Bogarting is actually taken from Bogart’s penchant for letting a cigarette dangle on his lip as it burned down. Bogart died in 1957 at age 57 & was later named the greatest movie star by the American Film Institute. John Huston made his directorial debut on the film, after Warner Bros promised him the job only if his script for High Sierra became a hit, which it did. Huston would go on to be nominated 5 times for Best Director, 8 times for Best screenplay & once for Best Supporting Actor, winning both his Oscars for writing & directing Bogart & Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen, the 4th of 5 films he & Bogart would make together. Huston also wrote the script for The Maltese Falcon, shot the film in sequential order, bringing it in under the $300,000 budget he was assigned. He also fought against the title the studio wanted to use, The Gent from Frisco, successfully lobbying for maintaining Hammett’s title & ignoring the 1931 version. |
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Mary Astor, who stars as Brigid O’Shaughnessy, had been acting in films since 1921, when she was just 14 & signed a featured player contract at Warner Bros in 1932. Her personal life over shadowed her professional life, however, due to 1935 divorce proceedings from her second husband that brought to light a VERY intimate diary. In the diary, known as ‘the purple diary’ Astor chronicled in, great detail, her affair with playwright George S. Kauffman, including when, where & how many times they had sex, noting in particular Kauffman’s stamina & repeatability! Her husband leaked the details to the press, creating a sensation & nearly causing Astor to lose custody of her daughter. Fortunately, her husband’s response to Mary leaving him was to bed a string of dancing girls, which also came to light at trial & Mary retained custody. All this did nothing to curtail her career & Astor continued to work regularly until retiring in 1964. During filming of the Maltese Falcon, incidentally, she had a torrid affair with director Huston. She won her only Oscar for The Great Lie in 1942 & appears in 2 of my favorite films, Red Dust (’32) & The Palm Beach Story (’42). Today (9/25/19) is the 32nd anniversary of her death. She was 81.
The Maltese Falcon, like Casablanca, which would be released 16 months later, was famously known for it’s stellar supporting cast, as both Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre appear in both films. Greenstreet, at 61 years old, was making his film debut as Casper Gutman & was deathly afraid of the camera, so much so he had Astor hold his hand on his first take. Lorre, who plays Joel Cairo, was well known in America for a series of Mr. Moto films in the ‘30’s, made his film debut in Germany in 1931 as a serial child killer in M. This was the first pairing of Greenstreet & Lorre, but they would go onto appear together in 8 more films during the 1940’s.
Notoriously cheap Warner Bros made Bogart provide his own wardrobe, which was common practice for the studio. They made 3 of the iconic Falcon statues, using 2 in the film itself. Bogart dropped & dented one, which precipitated the need for the second. 1 of the 2 actually used in the film was auctioned off for $4 million dollars in 2013. After the film was a hit Warner wanted a sequel, but balked at the $5,000 fee that Hammett demanded, killing the project. One of items that slipped passed the censors is the use of the word “Gunsal, “ which censors believed meant “gunman”, but actually was slang for “catamite” which was a Yiddish word describing a younger man kept for the sexual pleasure of an older man.
15 years after The Maltese Falcon was released it was identified as the first significant Film Noir by a pair of French Film critics, in their book A Panorama of American Film Noir. The book set about to explain what the French saw as a fundamental change in certain American Films before, during & just after WWII; films that were more somber, violent, nihilistic & with certain stylistic flourishes that hadn’t been seen in America. Check out Top10filmlists.com for a list of the Top10 Films Noir, its best directors & an thumbnail overview of what Film Noir is. In 1998, the American Film Institute named The Maltese Falcon the 23rd best film ever made. Also starring Film Noir everyman Elisha Cook, Jr, let’s go watch The Maltese Falcon!!
The Maltese Falcon, like Casablanca, which would be released 16 months later, was famously known for it’s stellar supporting cast, as both Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre appear in both films. Greenstreet, at 61 years old, was making his film debut as Casper Gutman & was deathly afraid of the camera, so much so he had Astor hold his hand on his first take. Lorre, who plays Joel Cairo, was well known in America for a series of Mr. Moto films in the ‘30’s, made his film debut in Germany in 1931 as a serial child killer in M. This was the first pairing of Greenstreet & Lorre, but they would go onto appear together in 8 more films during the 1940’s.
Notoriously cheap Warner Bros made Bogart provide his own wardrobe, which was common practice for the studio. They made 3 of the iconic Falcon statues, using 2 in the film itself. Bogart dropped & dented one, which precipitated the need for the second. 1 of the 2 actually used in the film was auctioned off for $4 million dollars in 2013. After the film was a hit Warner wanted a sequel, but balked at the $5,000 fee that Hammett demanded, killing the project. One of items that slipped passed the censors is the use of the word “Gunsal, “ which censors believed meant “gunman”, but actually was slang for “catamite” which was a Yiddish word describing a younger man kept for the sexual pleasure of an older man.
15 years after The Maltese Falcon was released it was identified as the first significant Film Noir by a pair of French Film critics, in their book A Panorama of American Film Noir. The book set about to explain what the French saw as a fundamental change in certain American Films before, during & just after WWII; films that were more somber, violent, nihilistic & with certain stylistic flourishes that hadn’t been seen in America. Check out Top10filmlists.com for a list of the Top10 Films Noir, its best directors & an thumbnail overview of what Film Noir is. In 1998, the American Film Institute named The Maltese Falcon the 23rd best film ever made. Also starring Film Noir everyman Elisha Cook, Jr, let’s go watch The Maltese Falcon!!
