Generally regarded as the first
example of film noir, The Maltese Falcon
is a slick and engaging thriller set in San Fransisco. The low key lighting and
interesting camera angles add to a thrilling story which focuses on the search
for a 16th Century statue. The valuable gold statue was stolen long
ago and has been hunted for years. Its location has finally been tracked to California where several
people are working to discover its exact location. Private Detective Sam Spade
(Humphrey Bogart) becomes entangled in the search along with three unscrupulous
hunters, each of whom is out to outsmart and outwit the others. With several
murders on the books and a number of motives and suspects, Spade is tasked with
not only helping to solve the mysteries but also clearing his own name.
I’d been looking forward to
watching The Maltese Falcon for a
long time and had long heard about how good it was. I’m sad to report then that
the movie failed to live up to my raised expectations despite some genuinely
inventive story and film making craft. Although I wasn’t as disappointed as
when I watched a couple of other classics (Vertigo), I failed to be entranced
by the movie and wavered between gripped astonishment, dull boredom and
everywhere in between.
