The Maltese Falcon [Blu-ray]
by John Huston
![The Maltese Falcon [Blu-ray]](/images/The-Maltese-Falcon-Blu-ray-B0020MMRC0-L.jpg)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Gladys George, Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter LorreDirector: John Huston
Brand: Warner Brothers
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), DTS-HD High Res Audio; French (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), DTS-HD High Res Audio
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Full Screen, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.37:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2010-10-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Maltese Falcon [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: A Cast That Dreams Are Made of
Summary: 5 Stars
The granddaddy of the modern detective film, John Huston's 1941 "The Maltese Falcon", the third version of the Hammett source material, features a byzantine plot and a cast that cinematic dreams are made of. Although Bogart had played both sides of the law before, never had he combined them in one such flawed but compelling character as Sam Spade. Spade is the decidedly anti-heroic hero of the film, not above adultery, fornication and homophobia, but still devoted to a flexible code of honor: one's partner's death must be avenged, even if he is a lecher and you were sleeping with his wife.
Bogart's morally complex character is evenly matched by those of Mary Astor (in the performance of her long career), whose permutations from seemingly innocent schoolgirl to manipulative and treacherous vixen are afforded three different names, none of which may be true. Using sex as but one in her formidable arsenal, Astor's chameleonic characters intrigue the police, the detectives and the gang of supremely inept but deadly thieves headed by Sydney Greenstreet, who embodies both greed and the desire to dominate in equal measure. His fellow travellers, incarnated by Peter Lorre, with a whiff of gardenia, and Elisha Cook, Jr. as a baby faced and completely insecure gunsel, are the victims of Spade's sexist taunting and mockery. The five actors are perfectly cast and totally irreplaceable, five cards dealt by the hand of Fate or a Deity with a particularly wicked and perverse sense of humor.
The Blu-ray version is scrubbed free of speckles and the vivid black and white contrasts in this full screen film have never looked better. John Huston, making a most auspicious directorial debut, began to forge, in his alliance with Bogart, one of the most powerful director/actor partnerships the cinematic world would ever see. The brilliant script, direction, performances and ambience of "The Maltese Falcon" in this lovingly rendered Warner Blu-ray merit repeated viewings. If you want only one private eye movie in your collection, this is the one to get.
Summary of The Maltese Falcon [Blu-ray]
A gallery of high-living lowlifes will stop at nothing to get their sweaty hands on a jewel-encrusted falcon. Detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) wants to find out why--and who'll take the fall for his partner's murder. An all-star cast (including Sydney Greenstreet, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook Jr.) joins Bogart in this crackling mystery masterwork written for the screen (from Dashiell Hammett's novel) and directed by John Huston. This nominee for 3 Academy Awards00Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Greenstreet) and Screenplay (Huston)--catapulted Bogart to stardom and launched Huston?s directorial career. All with a bird and a bang!Still the tightest, sharpest, and most cynical of Hollywood's official deathless classics, bracingly tough even by post-Tarantino standards. Humphrey Bogart is Dashiell Hammett's definitive private eye, Sam Spade, struggling to keep his hard-boiled cool as the double-crosses pile up around his ankles. The plot, which dances all around the stolen Middle Eastern statuette of the title, is too baroque to try to follow, and it doesn't make a bit of difference. The dialogue, much of it lifted straight from Hammett, is delivered with whip-crack speed and sneering ferocity, as Bogie faces off against Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, fends off the duplicitous advances of Mary Astor, and roughs up a cringing "gunsel" played by Elisha Cook Jr. It's an action movie of sorts, at least by implication: the characters always seem keyed up, right on the verge of erupting into violence. This is a turning-point picture in several respects: John Huston (The African Queen) made his directorial debut here in 1941, and Bogart, who had mostly played bad guys, was a last-minute substitution for George Raft, who must have been kicking himself for years afterward. This is the role that made Bogart a star and established his trend-setting (and still influential) antihero persona. --David Chute
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