#15 THE MALTESE FALCON
" Let's talk about the black bird, by all means."
What can be said about, The Maltese Falcon, that hasn't already been said? Rather than add to further extrapolation I will take a personal approach to my review of a film I have loved for decades.
I referred to the low-budget, gritty, bare bones, Detour as the House Whiskey of film noir. The Maltese Falcon is the comfort food of film noir. It's pasta fazool (fagioli), farina with butter, sugar, cinnamon (or cinamonmonmon as we'd intentionally mispronounce) and chocolate ice-box cake. For others it can be beans and rice, mac and cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich or a tuna salad on white bread. Comfort food enhances the good times of the past and pushes the not so good times further back into the recesses of our memories.
Saturday mornings as a kid growing up in the 50's were for watching Howdy Doody, Ruff And Reddy, and then football at a tiny lot next to the Hackensack Pastry Shop that was across the street from the neighborhood fire house. Then it was back home for a late afternoon movie; either a cowboy or war movie or some mystery crime film with cops and robbers. It was on one of those Saturdays I saw, The Maltese Falcon.
I referred to the low-budget, gritty, bare bones, Detour as the House Whiskey of film noir. The Maltese Falcon is the comfort food of film noir. It's pasta fazool (fagioli), farina with butter, sugar, cinnamon (or cinamonmonmon as we'd intentionally mispronounce) and chocolate ice-box cake. For others it can be beans and rice, mac and cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich or a tuna salad on white bread. Comfort food enhances the good times of the past and pushes the not so good times further back into the recesses of our memories.
Saturday mornings as a kid growing up in the 50's were for watching Howdy Doody, Ruff And Reddy, and then football at a tiny lot next to the Hackensack Pastry Shop that was across the street from the neighborhood fire house. Then it was back home for a late afternoon movie; either a cowboy or war movie or some mystery crime film with cops and robbers. It was on one of those Saturdays I saw, The Maltese Falcon.
Subsequent viewings have not diminished my fondness for the movie. The Maltese Falcon is one of the few films I can watch year after year. I’ll probably watch it again when I’m done with this review. It was a different type of crime film than that of Michael Shayne, Boston Blackie, and Charlie Chan.
Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade was not your typical detective and didn't look like your typical good guy. He wasn't clean cut and didn't look all that happy to be where he was. Spade was as much a wise guy as anyone. He didn't commit any crimes, but looked as if he could. Spade was not above cutting corners or breaking the law to get a job done. Spade was what would later be called an anti-hero. My elementary school, ol' Broadway P.S.#1, was a bastion of anti-heroes.
Nor was he one of those smiling, flirtatious jocular good guy detectives who gave girls nicknames like, ‘Kansas’ and took a condescending attitude toward them (under the guise of paternal concern),before realizing he loves the doll. Spade had a lot of women interested in him. He is sleeping with his partner's wife and probably played patty-cake with his secretary Effie Perrine. There's an edge to Spade not found in other private detectives, even Phillip Marlowe. Spade is as comfortable on the other side of the rail road tracks as Nick Charles is in the parlors of high society.
Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade was not your typical detective and didn't look like your typical good guy. He wasn't clean cut and didn't look all that happy to be where he was. Spade was as much a wise guy as anyone. He didn't commit any crimes, but looked as if he could. Spade was not above cutting corners or breaking the law to get a job done. Spade was what would later be called an anti-hero. My elementary school, ol' Broadway P.S.#1, was a bastion of anti-heroes.
Nor was he one of those smiling, flirtatious jocular good guy detectives who gave girls nicknames like, ‘Kansas’ and took a condescending attitude toward them (under the guise of paternal concern),before realizing he loves the doll. Spade had a lot of women interested in him. He is sleeping with his partner's wife and probably played patty-cake with his secretary Effie Perrine. There's an edge to Spade not found in other private detectives, even Phillip Marlowe. Spade is as comfortable on the other side of the rail road tracks as Nick Charles is in the parlors of high society.
Just as the lead detective was cut from a different mold so too were the bad guys who didn’t look as if they came from central casting. When one thinks of a classic or a personal favorite film one invariably thinks, ‘I can't imagine anyone else playing that role.’ I cannot think of any actor who could have replaced Elisha Cook, Jr, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.
A noir will often have a subversive element that, because of the code, must be subtle. The book was still popular, and many who saw the film back then had no trouble understanding the sexuality of Gutman and his crew. While the movie had to hint the book did not. Hammett has Effie announce the arrival of Joel Cairo by giving Spade an engraved card and telling him: "This guy is queer." Hammett then goes on to describe Cairo: "...Cairo was a dark, small-boned man...He held a black derby hat in a chamois gloved hand and came toward Spade with short, mincing, bobbing steps. The fragrance of chypre came with him."
Try reading that without visualizing Peter Lorre. The effete appearance and mannerisms leave no doubt about Joel Cairo, and by extension Wilmer Cook and Gutman.
And the others? As far as I was concerned Wilmer was a sad sack of a body-guard. He wore an over-coat two sizes too big, and didn't get the memo that when your name is Wilmer you better be able to fight. And he wasn't very good for a guy who's supposed to know his way around guns, he was a gunsel after all, (which I thought was a step above a mere thug with a gun). These days everyone seems to know, 'gunsel,' was a Yiddish term for the kept boy of a pederast. Cairo, and Wilmer were as different from the garden variety type of crook as Spade was to the run of the mill good guy private eye, and it all made a favorable impression on me.
A noir will often have a subversive element that, because of the code, must be subtle. The book was still popular, and many who saw the film back then had no trouble understanding the sexuality of Gutman and his crew. While the movie had to hint the book did not. Hammett has Effie announce the arrival of Joel Cairo by giving Spade an engraved card and telling him: "This guy is queer." Hammett then goes on to describe Cairo: "...Cairo was a dark, small-boned man...He held a black derby hat in a chamois gloved hand and came toward Spade with short, mincing, bobbing steps. The fragrance of chypre came with him."
Try reading that without visualizing Peter Lorre. The effete appearance and mannerisms leave no doubt about Joel Cairo, and by extension Wilmer Cook and Gutman.
And the others? As far as I was concerned Wilmer was a sad sack of a body-guard. He wore an over-coat two sizes too big, and didn't get the memo that when your name is Wilmer you better be able to fight. And he wasn't very good for a guy who's supposed to know his way around guns, he was a gunsel after all, (which I thought was a step above a mere thug with a gun). These days everyone seems to know, 'gunsel,' was a Yiddish term for the kept boy of a pederast. Cairo, and Wilmer were as different from the garden variety type of crook as Spade was to the run of the mill good guy private eye, and it all made a favorable impression on me.
And that takes us to the Fat Man. The award for most anticipated introduction of a character usually goes to Orson Welles’ Harry Lime in, The Third Man. I won’t dispute the anticipation part, but the award for most satisfying realization of seeing an anticipated character belongs to Sydney Greenstreet’s Kaspar Gutman. When we finally see the much discussed Harry Lime it is the familiar face of Orson Welles. Not so with the Fat Man.
Greenstreet was not a familiar face. His screen anonymity added another layer of mystery to the film. Directors use newcomers or experienced character actors in supporting roles when they want nothing to distract from their story. Do we see, for example Kurz in, Apocalypse Now, or do we see Marlon Brando playing Kurz? A reverse example of this is the casting of Lauren Bacall in, The Big Sleep. The intention there was to cash in on her relationship with Humphrey Bogart. There is no need to hide or disguise Greenstreet, as is often the case with a big star; we see Gutman in daylight and close up. Greenstreet’s portrayal of this international man of mystery goes beyond what we imagined him to be. This may be heresy but in my opinion, Sydney Greenstreet is the only indispensible actor in the film.
If you were to take out one of the five leads (Cairo, Spade, Gutman, Wilmer and O’Shaughnessey) Greenstreet’s exclusion would have had the biggest impact on the film. No one could have played Spade better than Bogart and I will rave about Bogart’s performance further down. But, Gutman gave The Maltese Falcon a uniquely exotic and dangerously different aspect to the movie. No one could have matched Greenstreet's laughter, the jocular tone and his joie de vivre. Thirty years on the stage trained his voice to reach the very last row of the playhouse, and it resonates throughout the entire film. His enunciation was perfect and his timing impeccable. If you take out Greenstreet, The Maltese Falcon becomes another of Bogart’s great performances to go along with, High Sierra, The Treasure Of Sierra Madre, and so on. A lesser actor as Sam Spade and we still get a very good movie. It seems everyone of Greenstreet's appearances results in an iconic Hollywood scene:
"I distrust a man who says "when." He's got to be careful not to drink too much, because he's not to be trusted when he does. Well, sir, here's to plain speaking and clear understanding."
"I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk… No beating about the bush. Right to the point. Let's talk about the black bird, by all means."
"I feel towards Wilmer here just exactly as if he were my own son. Really, I do."
"Well, Wilmer, I'm sorry indeed to lose you, but I want you to know I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon."
I state unequivocally and without hesitation, had I to choose between keeping either Bogart or Greenstreet it would be Sydney. But, we have them both, and I for one, am thankful.
Greenstreet was not a familiar face. His screen anonymity added another layer of mystery to the film. Directors use newcomers or experienced character actors in supporting roles when they want nothing to distract from their story. Do we see, for example Kurz in, Apocalypse Now, or do we see Marlon Brando playing Kurz? A reverse example of this is the casting of Lauren Bacall in, The Big Sleep. The intention there was to cash in on her relationship with Humphrey Bogart. There is no need to hide or disguise Greenstreet, as is often the case with a big star; we see Gutman in daylight and close up. Greenstreet’s portrayal of this international man of mystery goes beyond what we imagined him to be. This may be heresy but in my opinion, Sydney Greenstreet is the only indispensible actor in the film.
If you were to take out one of the five leads (Cairo, Spade, Gutman, Wilmer and O’Shaughnessey) Greenstreet’s exclusion would have had the biggest impact on the film. No one could have played Spade better than Bogart and I will rave about Bogart’s performance further down. But, Gutman gave The Maltese Falcon a uniquely exotic and dangerously different aspect to the movie. No one could have matched Greenstreet's laughter, the jocular tone and his joie de vivre. Thirty years on the stage trained his voice to reach the very last row of the playhouse, and it resonates throughout the entire film. His enunciation was perfect and his timing impeccable. If you take out Greenstreet, The Maltese Falcon becomes another of Bogart’s great performances to go along with, High Sierra, The Treasure Of Sierra Madre, and so on. A lesser actor as Sam Spade and we still get a very good movie. It seems everyone of Greenstreet's appearances results in an iconic Hollywood scene:
"I distrust a man who says "when." He's got to be careful not to drink too much, because he's not to be trusted when he does. Well, sir, here's to plain speaking and clear understanding."
"I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk… No beating about the bush. Right to the point. Let's talk about the black bird, by all means."
"I feel towards Wilmer here just exactly as if he were my own son. Really, I do."
"Well, Wilmer, I'm sorry indeed to lose you, but I want you to know I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon."
I state unequivocally and without hesitation, had I to choose between keeping either Bogart or Greenstreet it would be Sydney. But, we have them both, and I for one, am thankful.
The most compelling part of the movie was the global quest for the black bird. One of the best birthday presents I ever got, along with a Davey Crockett hat and rifle, was a globe that had the oceans in black. I’d give it a good spin, and lightly place my finger on it. Wherever it stopped was a cause for me to study it at the library, across from good Ol' Broadway P.S.#1.
It was Gutman’s long recitation of the search for the bird, spoken as one would deliver a Shakespearean solliquay, that had me hooked forever. In retrospect it brings to mind the search for ‘v’ in Thomas Pynchon’s novel of the same letter. Here is some of the background of the black bird regaled by Greenstreet that had me mesmerized: It began way back with:
Add to that a sea captain who knocks on the door and delivers the Falcon then drops dead and it was the beginning of beautiful cinematic friendship. To make it even better, The Maltese Falcon, despite its disparate characters, the foreign intrigue and international shenanigans, was still a mystery/crime film with one good guy and a bunch of bad guys and a simple enough plot for me to understand. It was after all a bunch of guys chasing lost treasure.
It was Gutman’s long recitation of the search for the bird, spoken as one would deliver a Shakespearean solliquay, that had me hooked forever. In retrospect it brings to mind the search for ‘v’ in Thomas Pynchon’s novel of the same letter. Here is some of the background of the black bird regaled by Greenstreet that had me mesmerized: It began way back with:
- The Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, later known as the Knights of Rhodes then Crusaders.
- In 1539, crusading Knights persuaded Emperor Charles V to give them the island of Malta.
- The Knights sent to the Emperor a glorious golden falcon crusted from head to foot with the finest jewels in their coffers.
- A famous admiral of buccaneers took the Knights' galley and the bird. In 1713, it turned up in Sicily. In 1840, it appeared in Paris.
- Then, in 1923, a Greek dealer named Charilaos Konstantinides found it in an obscure shop.
- Gutman was in London when he read Charilaos had been murdered and his establishment burglarized.
- It took Gutman 17 years to locate that bird.
- He traced it to the home of a Russian general, one Kemidov,
- He sent agents to get it. Well, they got it but he doesn't.
Add to that a sea captain who knocks on the door and delivers the Falcon then drops dead and it was the beginning of beautiful cinematic friendship. To make it even better, The Maltese Falcon, despite its disparate characters, the foreign intrigue and international shenanigans, was still a mystery/crime film with one good guy and a bunch of bad guys and a simple enough plot for me to understand. It was after all a bunch of guys chasing lost treasure.
An eight year old appreciates good acting as much as anyone. We knew Them, Invaders From Mars, and The Thing were a step above the usual science fiction movie, and Shane, The Ox-Bow Incident and Ft. Apache were much better than the usual oat burners, and a big reason were the actors. And it's the acting, along with my other reasons that puts, The Maltese Falcon as one of the best movies of cinematic history.
Bogart, Astor, and Lorre each had over 12 years of film experience, Astor had twenty. It was Greenstreet's first film appearance but he had 30 years of stage experience.
Lorre was a major star in Germany, notably M. Lorre's diminutive stature, soft spoken voice and a European accent that was definitely not Western European kept him gainfully employed.
Elisha Cook, Jr. topped the list of a large and incredibly talented pool of character actors. Film buffs argue over his best role as they would a leading actor. Was it in, Phantom Lady, Born To Kill, The Killing, or Shane? It's been said any movie with him is worth seeing.
Mary Astor's career can be traced to the silents. This is her most famous role, something that many might say is true for all the leads. Some have said a prettier girl should have played Ms. O'Shaughnessy. I say no. Brigid has not only been around the proverbial block she's been around proverbial blocks in a score of countries. She has a shop worn look that fits in well with Gutman and associates. And let me not forget John Huston. I'm hard pressed to think of a better directorial debut. John Huston had the ability to give all of his characters, regardless of the size of their role, an identifiably unique persona, as is evidenced in The Asphalt Jungle.
Bogart, Astor, and Lorre each had over 12 years of film experience, Astor had twenty. It was Greenstreet's first film appearance but he had 30 years of stage experience.
Lorre was a major star in Germany, notably M. Lorre's diminutive stature, soft spoken voice and a European accent that was definitely not Western European kept him gainfully employed.
Elisha Cook, Jr. topped the list of a large and incredibly talented pool of character actors. Film buffs argue over his best role as they would a leading actor. Was it in, Phantom Lady, Born To Kill, The Killing, or Shane? It's been said any movie with him is worth seeing.
Mary Astor's career can be traced to the silents. This is her most famous role, something that many might say is true for all the leads. Some have said a prettier girl should have played Ms. O'Shaughnessy. I say no. Brigid has not only been around the proverbial block she's been around proverbial blocks in a score of countries. She has a shop worn look that fits in well with Gutman and associates. And let me not forget John Huston. I'm hard pressed to think of a better directorial debut. John Huston had the ability to give all of his characters, regardless of the size of their role, an identifiably unique persona, as is evidenced in The Asphalt Jungle.
The film was the culmination of a perfect storm when it came to Bogart’s film career. He had been in a score of memorable films with memorable performances as, The Petrified Forest, Black Legion, Dead End, and Angel’s With Dirty Faces. He overshadowed George Raft despite being second billed in, They Drive By Night, and was fantastic in High Sierra. It led to, The Maltese Falcon and a role it seemed he was to born to play; Sam Spade. The Maltese Falcon was the catalyst that propelled Bogart into one of Hollywood's iconic legends.
I don’t know if there is such a thing as a perfect performance, but his Spade is as close as possible. He gets most of the screen time, and navigates through the film the way an expert sailor does a sail boat. Bogart takes on one skillful actor after another in one scene after another and never falters. The true mark of a great athlete is not how he performs against the bad teams, but when he's facing the good teams, and that is the same for an actor. I cite as only one example the denouement. A staple in crime films is when the detective gathers all of the suspects in the same room. Then, with a cop or two nearby, he moves from suspect to suspect before he reveals the identity of the perpetrator.
In this film there are differences. Spade doesn't gather the suspects. He is brought there at gunpoint. Everyone except Spade is guilty of something and he's dealing with murderers. He's on his own and with one misstep Spade’s life is forfeit. He controls the room the way a lion tamer does a cage full of the big cats. He is never put off his game and is in such control he sees through Gutman's small time scam of pocketing some of Spade's payment while still keeping focus on the big picture.
His performance is natural and easy, like seeing a centerfielder gracefully glide to make a catch that lesser players would have to struggle to catch. Bogart's performance in, The Maltese Falcon is arguably the best in his career.
I don’t know if there is such a thing as a perfect performance, but his Spade is as close as possible. He gets most of the screen time, and navigates through the film the way an expert sailor does a sail boat. Bogart takes on one skillful actor after another in one scene after another and never falters. The true mark of a great athlete is not how he performs against the bad teams, but when he's facing the good teams, and that is the same for an actor. I cite as only one example the denouement. A staple in crime films is when the detective gathers all of the suspects in the same room. Then, with a cop or two nearby, he moves from suspect to suspect before he reveals the identity of the perpetrator.
In this film there are differences. Spade doesn't gather the suspects. He is brought there at gunpoint. Everyone except Spade is guilty of something and he's dealing with murderers. He's on his own and with one misstep Spade’s life is forfeit. He controls the room the way a lion tamer does a cage full of the big cats. He is never put off his game and is in such control he sees through Gutman's small time scam of pocketing some of Spade's payment while still keeping focus on the big picture.
His performance is natural and easy, like seeing a centerfielder gracefully glide to make a catch that lesser players would have to struggle to catch. Bogart's performance in, The Maltese Falcon is arguably the best in his career.
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When it comes to noir, films with private detectives start out with several points against them. The protagonist is not going to be doomed to a fate he can’t escape. He is on the right side of the law. He’s usually too smart to be taken in by the femme fatale and by film's end will bring the film’s bad guy to justice.
The Maltese Falcon gets points for its bona fide dime and pulp fiction roots, as it was serialized in the esteemed, Black Mask Magazine. It’s nice, but not essential for a film noir to have a femme fatale. A noir fatale has to be more than a murderess. She has to have men, or a man willing to do what they ordinarily would not do. Maybe the Brigid O'Shaughnessy of ten years ago on other continents was a femme fatale but not in this film.
She's barking up the wrong tree with Gutman, Lorre and Cook, Jr. She doesn't get any fatale points when it comes to Miles. He was a skirt chaser who asked only that the 'skirt' have a pulse. Cairo delivers her a figurative slap in the face when he reminds her he had more success in seducing someone than she did. She did use her femme fatale wiles however to get Spade to wait for her when she gets out in twenty years, unless she’s hanged of course.
Spade is a low rent private eye who struggles to pay the rent. He's someone the working class could relate. The idea of identifying with a less than perfect, hard nosed protagonist is a trademark of film noir and although he's not doomed, there's little indication his life is going to be vastly improved at the end of the film. Most important however is it showed Hollywood there was a market for a new type of crime film, with a new type of detective. It is $how Bu$ine$$ remember.
The Maltese Falcon gets points for its bona fide dime and pulp fiction roots, as it was serialized in the esteemed, Black Mask Magazine. It’s nice, but not essential for a film noir to have a femme fatale. A noir fatale has to be more than a murderess. She has to have men, or a man willing to do what they ordinarily would not do. Maybe the Brigid O'Shaughnessy of ten years ago on other continents was a femme fatale but not in this film.
She's barking up the wrong tree with Gutman, Lorre and Cook, Jr. She doesn't get any fatale points when it comes to Miles. He was a skirt chaser who asked only that the 'skirt' have a pulse. Cairo delivers her a figurative slap in the face when he reminds her he had more success in seducing someone than she did. She did use her femme fatale wiles however to get Spade to wait for her when she gets out in twenty years, unless she’s hanged of course.
Spade is a low rent private eye who struggles to pay the rent. He's someone the working class could relate. The idea of identifying with a less than perfect, hard nosed protagonist is a trademark of film noir and although he's not doomed, there's little indication his life is going to be vastly improved at the end of the film. Most important however is it showed Hollywood there was a market for a new type of crime film, with a new type of detective. It is $how Bu$ine$$ remember.
Ol' Broadway P.S. #1 is long gone; torn down and replaced by a community sports center named after my Uncle's brother. Vic's store is still there, but not Vic or his sons. The city built a long overdue plaque for the Revolutionary War patriots that once were buried where we played football. The Hackensack Pastry Shop is there with different owners with South American pastries to go along with the Italian delicacies. The fire house is still there. Me and a school buddy, under the pretense of writing a school report, got ourselves a tour of the place, (the volunteer was a young guy who knew what we were doing.) He showed us around and asked if we wanted to slide down the fire pole. We gauged the distance from where we’d jump and grab the pole, and looked down at the concrete floor below. My buddy said no. I was glad. Because if he said yes, I would have had to say yes.
But The Maltese Falcon is still here and if I choose I can be on our couch in our tiny living room with our tiny TV In front of a window where stood the bird cage with Dad’s parakeet, Pete, which I now understand was a reminder of the time he kept pigeons on a tenement roof in New York City; just like Brando did he told me when we watched, On The Waterfront.
Such is the magic of movies.
But The Maltese Falcon is still here and if I choose I can be on our couch in our tiny living room with our tiny TV In front of a window where stood the bird cage with Dad’s parakeet, Pete, which I now understand was a reminder of the time he kept pigeons on a tenement roof in New York City; just like Brando did he told me when we watched, On The Waterfront.
Such is the magic of movies.