The Maltese Falcon(1941) Directed by John HustonHuston’s detective thriller (and impressive de
The Maltese Falcon(1941) Directed by John HustonHuston’s detective thriller (and impressive debut) is a bona fide classic, but it’s most enjoyable when private detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) matches wits with portly thief Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) and effete dandy Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), a deadly pair of fortune hunters in a feverish quest for a valuable statuette called the “black bird.” The aptly-named Gutman offers phony sophistication and a wise-old-owl act, in the process establishing a prototype for screen villainy by demonstrating the five Cs of the criminal mastermind: courtly, calculating, cunning, cruel, and chatty. When he intones in a phony aristocratic accent to Spade, “By gad, sir, you are a character,” it’s a charming case of the pot flattering the kettle.Meanwhile Gutman’s, um, “partner,” Cairo nervously rattles off inept threats and homoerotic affectations, all of which amuse Spade. The private eye’s smirking recognition of this pair’s numerous shortcomings provides a joy that is a hallmark of film noir: watching small, desperate men do small, desperate things. Cairo (as only Lorre could convey) is never smaller than when he shrieks his displeasure at Gutman’s error in judgment: “You imbecile! You bloated ee-diot. You stupid fat-head you!Smallness of character doesn’t stop Kasper Gutman from waxing loopy and grandiose, boasting to Spade: “I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking’s something you can’t do judiciously, unless you keep in practice. I’ll tell you right out, I am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.” Spade undercuts that pompous blather with “Swell. Let’s talk about the bird.” This talkative hero-versus-villain standoff would be co-opted decades later for the entire James Bond series and its countless imitators. What would never be imitated is the marvelous, legendary chemistry between Greenstreet and Lorre, the pairing of whom is a grand legacy of Warner Bros.’ golden era. -- source link
#film noir#the forties#motion pictures