The Maltese Falcon is probably the greatest example of emperor's new clothing ever filmed.
Greenstreet, Bond, Cook, and Lorre turn in excellent supporting performances, but Bogart is his usual awful self, and there is no chemistry whatsoever between the leads; they're just two wooden Indians passing in the night.
The plot is awful. It consists mostly of people wandering back and forth between various apartments, offices or hotel rooms with little -- if any -- discernible action, and like most of Dashiell "The Commie" Hammett's "hard boiled dialog" the characters communications consist of absurd phrases that no adults have ever uttered.
"When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it!"
That one leaves me rolling in the isles with gut-splitting laughter at its sheer brainlessness every time I so much as think of it.
The Maltese Fail.
Just plain hideous.
Well, that’s cool. Each to their own, and all that.
Personally, I liked Bogart’s performance quite a bit, and enjoyed the film greatly overall. I do agree, however, that there wasn’t much chemistry between Bogart and Astor. Especially compared to say, Bogey and Bacall in The Big Sleep. I tend to think part of it was Astor was on the downside of her once solid career, her many years of boozing and bed-hopping taking its toll on her. She was 35 or 36 when she did the film, but she looked nearly 50 in a couple of shots.
I have never seen an opinion on The Maltese Falcon like yours so now I’m curious. What are a couple of films that you think are great?
Ha! I expected you to get some flak for that. But in truth, I tend to agree somewhat with your opinion. “The Maltese Falcon” has always underwhelmed me, mostly for the reasons you cited. Ditto “The Big Sleep.”
But I do very much LOVE Bogart’s “High Sierra.”