An early example of the film noir genre comes to us in part thanks to the directorial debut of John Huston in his movie The Maltese Falcon (1941). Based on the 1930 book The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett and indebted to The Maltese Falcon (1931) movie that it remade with Huston himself writing the screenplay, this National Film Registry inaugural inductee is the object of our review this day.
The film opens in San Francisco, California with prospective customer Ruth Wonderly presenting herself to private investigator Miles Archer to find her missing sister. Wonderly’s sister had supposedly gone missing from the sisters’ New York home, having come to San Francisco with Floyd Thursby. Hours later, Archer’s private investigator partner, Sam Spade as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, learns from the police that Archer had been killed. Mary Astor and Jerome Cowan portrayed Ruth Wonderly and Miles Archer, respectively.
Police Detective Tom Polhaus and Lieutenant Dundy, portrayed by Ward Bond and Barton MacLane, respectively, inform Spade that Thursby, too, has been killed. Spade, who had previously found that Wonderly had mysteriously checked out of her hotel in the intervening period, is suspected of having killed Thursby as retribution for the latter’s supposed killing of Archer. Gladys George portrayed Iva Archer, the widow of Sam Spade’s deceased partner, Miles Archer.
The next day, the plot thickens as Sam Spade meets with Ruth Wonderly; Wonderly has taken to calling herself Brigid O’Shaughnessy. Admitting to Spade that Floyd Thursby was her partner, we learn that the fiction of a missing sister from the previous day had been fabricated. Spade agrees to investigate the killings despite O’Shaughnessy telling Spade that Thursby likely was Archer’s killer without knowing who had killed her former partner. Joel Cairo, as portrayed by Peter Lorre, eventually hires Spade to find the Maltese Falcon, the film’s MacGuffin.
A complicated subplot surrounding the desire to obtain the MacGuffin reveals connections between Brigid O’Shaughnessy and Joel Cairo; Cairo and O’Shaughnessy demonstrate displeasure over Kaspar Gutman’s pursuit of the very same MacGuffin. Gutman, as portrayed by Sydney Greenstreet, is assisted by Wilmer Cook. Elisha Cook Jr. portrayed Wilmer Cook. An unburdening of the different strands by Spade foils the further pursuit of the MacGuffin to Istanbul, Turkey, points to the murderer and brings the possibility of a romantic entanglement for Spade and O’Shaughnessy to resolution.
The mystery and crime of The Maltese Falcon hold up well enough to current storytelling, despite the plotting of the story being a bit dated for being nearly 80-years old at the time of this writing. I grant The Maltese Falcon as written and directed by the John Huston 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Saturday, December 2, 2023
Matt Lynn Digital 