The Maltese Falcon (1941)
“The stuff that dreams are made of,” is the most memorable and quotable line from The Maltese Falcon, but this two-hour, dialogue-heavy film noir has a lot more to it than a sentence fragment mumbled by Humphrey Bogart. If you need three good reasons to see them: John Huston’s directorial debut, Humphrey Bogart’s first “trenchcoat” character, and Mary Astor’s famous turn as a femme fatale. The fourth reason doesn’t count, since if you blink you’ll miss it. Walter Huston, for good luck in his son’s debut, puts in a cameo.
John Huston, previously establishing himself as a screenwriter and the son of famous actor Walter, put on his director’s cap and pioneered one of the earliest noir films. All the canted angles, shadowy lighting, and close, careful framing that you’ve come to know and love can be traced back to a handful of films in the early ’40s, one of which being The Maltese Falcon. For his leading man, a man who had to come across as “too cool for school” before that phrase was invented, who was selfish, used as often as he was taken, and treated ladies like dames, John Huston cast Humphrey Bogart. This was Humph’s big break, since prior to the anti-hero Sam Spade, he was always cast as straight villains, as in The Petrified Forest, Brother Orchid, and The Roaring Twenties. Because of John Huston, Humph was elevated to Hollywood royalty. He went on to Casablanca, The Big Sleep, and other “trenchcoat” characters that were all variations of Sam Spade and all placed on a pedestal by the male population because he didn’t need a woman to feel good about himself.
Mary Astor, a beautiful, vulnerable client who comes to Humph and his partner Jerome Cowan for help, gives a wonderfully memorable performance. She’s obviously hiding something, but until the movie progresses, the audience don’t know what it is. Humph catches on, but pretty soon after, romance gets in the way. 1941 was Mary Astor’s year for good acting, since she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Great Lie. Check out both if you want to see a range of her acting. Also included in the supporting cast are Sydney Greenstreet in his first movie, who was known to pair up with Humph in later films, Gladys George, a tool to show Humph’s coldness towards women, Peter Lorre, who’s just weird and creepy, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Elisha Cook Jr., before his television career, and Ward Bond, who’s just everywhere, isn’t he?
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Cinema Central Seleus B" for posting!
More Mary Astor movies here!
More Ward Bond movies here!
More Walter Huston movies here!
John Huston, previously establishing himself as a screenwriter and the son of famous actor Walter, put on his director’s cap and pioneered one of the earliest noir films. All the canted angles, shadowy lighting, and close, careful framing that you’ve come to know and love can be traced back to a handful of films in the early ’40s, one of which being The Maltese Falcon. For his leading man, a man who had to come across as “too cool for school” before that phrase was invented, who was selfish, used as often as he was taken, and treated ladies like dames, John Huston cast Humphrey Bogart. This was Humph’s big break, since prior to the anti-hero Sam Spade, he was always cast as straight villains, as in The Petrified Forest, Brother Orchid, and The Roaring Twenties. Because of John Huston, Humph was elevated to Hollywood royalty. He went on to Casablanca, The Big Sleep, and other “trenchcoat” characters that were all variations of Sam Spade and all placed on a pedestal by the male population because he didn’t need a woman to feel good about himself.
Mary Astor, a beautiful, vulnerable client who comes to Humph and his partner Jerome Cowan for help, gives a wonderfully memorable performance. She’s obviously hiding something, but until the movie progresses, the audience don’t know what it is. Humph catches on, but pretty soon after, romance gets in the way. 1941 was Mary Astor’s year for good acting, since she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Great Lie. Check out both if you want to see a range of her acting. Also included in the supporting cast are Sydney Greenstreet in his first movie, who was known to pair up with Humph in later films, Gladys George, a tool to show Humph’s coldness towards women, Peter Lorre, who’s just weird and creepy, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Elisha Cook Jr., before his television career, and Ward Bond, who’s just everywhere, isn’t he?
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Cinema Central Seleus B" for posting!
More Mary Astor movies here!
More Ward Bond movies here!
More Walter Huston movies here!