Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Peter Lorre in the John Huston movie ‘The Maltese Falcon’

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.

(From left, Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade and Jerome Cowan as Miles Archer in the John Huston movie The Maltese Falcon).

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.

(From left, Lee Patrick as Effie Perine and Gladys George as Iva Archer in the John Huston movie The Maltese Falcon).

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.

(From left, Ward Bond as Detective Tom Polhaus, Barton MacLane as Lieutenant Dundy and Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in the John Huston movie The Maltese Falcon).

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.

(From left, Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Mary Astor as Ruth Wonderly/Brigid O’Shaughnessy and Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman in the John Huston movie The Maltese Falcon).

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.

(From left, Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade and Elisha Cook Jr. as Wilmer Cook in the John Huston movie The Maltese Falcon).

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

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid and the Michael Curtiz movie ‘Casablanca’

Drama, romance and war are themes of today’s movie review as we review a second straight film with actor Peter Lorre in a starring role. A decidedly international cast with World War Two tension underpinning the story and the lived experiences for much of the cast, we look to the Michael Curtiz directed film Casablanca (1942).

(From left, Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari and Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in the Michael Curtiz film Casablanca).

The film opens in December, 1941 with American expatriate Rick Blaine, as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, operating a bar and gambling parlor in Casablanca, Morocco. While ostensibly playing a neutral part in world affairs, Blaine’s bar counts German and Vichy French military officers among its patrons. An important fiction offered to Blaine in this setting is access to this notion of “letters of transit,” which are more valuable than gold to refugees stranded in Casablanca with a desire to leave the political threats to their lives dictated by being present in Europe and North Africa. Peter Lorre, as Signor Ugarte, had a hand in assisting the movement of black market materials like the all-important “letters of transit.”

(From left, Paul Henreid as Victor Laszlo and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in the Michael Curtiz film Casablanca).

There are affairs of the heart at play for Rick Blaine, which in part is animated by the romantic feelings he shares with Ilsa Lund, as portrayed by Ingrid Bergman. Lund is accompanied by her renowned Czech resistance leader and fugitive Victor Laszlo, as portrayed by Paul Henreid. Blaine spots the couple, and learns of the couples need for letters of transit, after Ilsa asks piano player Sam to play the song As Time Goes By in Blaine’s bar. Sam, friend and piano player for same, was portrayed by Dooley Wilson.

(From left, Conrad Veidt as Major Heinrich Strasser and Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault in the Michael Curtiz movie Casablanca).

German Major Heinrich Strasser, as portrayed by Conrad Veidt, knows full well that Laszlo and Lund are seeking “letters of transit” for passage of to America, which Strasser intends to thwart. It is here that we learn that Rick’s friendly business rival, Signor Ferrari as portrayed by Sydney Greenstreet, suspects that Blaine is in possession of the “letters of transit.” The depth of Strasser’s moves to thwart what amounts to Blaine’s means to helping Laszlo and Lund reveal dramatic, romantic and war-provoked tension between all these parties. French Vichy Captain Louis Renault, as portrayed by Claude Rains, has no sympathy for the safety of Laszlo or Lund.

(From left, Dooley Wilson as Sam, Madeleine Lebeau as Yvonne and Leonid Kinskey as Sascha, the Russian bartender infatuated with Yvonne in the Michael Curtiz film Casablanca).

In the midst of this, Russian bartender Sascha, as portrayed by Leonid Kinskey, develops feelings for French refugee Yvonne, as portrayed by Madeleine Lebeau. Yvonne was seeking “letters of transit” in the middle of the events above for her husband and her, briefly having feelings with and for Rick Blaine in this window. When thinking who should receive the two letters of transit in his hands, Blaine clearly had options. The depth and fullness for how the emotional depth of the many threads of feeling resolve themselves is where the true feet of this movie are felt.

(From left, Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine and Peter Lorre as Signor Ugarte in the Michael Curtiz film Casablanca).

It was at the intersection of the competing idealism and cynicism of the respective romance, drama, and warring elements of the tensions in Casablanca that the Rick Blaine character lived. That there is a feeling that redeems a sense of the human spirit in many of the threads for the film that the film won three Academy Awards, for Outstanding Motion Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It is for much of these reasons that we grant Casablanca as directed by Michael Curtiz 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, September 8, 2021