Posted on 04/17/2015 7:59:15 PM PDT by DemforBush
One of the definitive (some would say THE definitive) films noir tonight.
(Excerpt) Read more at zippcast.com ...
Ping!
The Stranger 7/10
Decision Before Dawn 7.5/10
Plunder Road 6.75/10
The Hitchiker 7/10
Stalag 17 8/10
Kiss of Death8/10
D.O.A.7/10
Breaker Morant 8.5/10
Detour 7/10
Stalingrad 7.7/10
Sleuth 8/10
Evil Roy Slade 7/10
Men in War6.75/10
Five Fingers/Operation Cicero 8/10
Escape From Sobibor 7.5/10
Better Off Dead 7/10
A Christmas Carol 8.25/10
The Earthling7.25/10
The Hill8/10
Ronald Reagan in Tennessee's Partner 7/10
Duel 7.5/10
Attack! 7.5/10.
Scarlet Street8/10.
M8.25/10
Beat The Devil 6.5/10
Kanal7.75/10
Zulu 8.5/10
The Final Countdown 7/10
On a roll. Classic, and worth watching anytime. Thanks!
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film noir based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett.[2][3]
Directed by John Huston, the film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his femme fatale client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with Greenstreet appearing in his film debut. The Maltese Falcon was Huston’s directorial debut and was nominated for three Academy Awards. The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette.
The film premiered on October 3, 1941, in New York City, and was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 1989.[4]
The Maltese Falcon was considered by Roger Ebert to be one of the greatest films ever made[5] and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain as the first major film noir.[6]
The Strand Theatre was opened on April 11, 1914 with the photoplay “The Spoilers” starring William Farnum. It was built for the Mitchel Mark Realty Company and was under the early direction of Samuel “Roxy” Rothapfel. It originally had a seating capacity of 2,989 located in orchestra and a single balcony.
The Strand Theatre began its life with stage shows in addition to movies and also had one of the largest stages in the city in 1914. After stage shows were dropped in 1929, seating was reduced to 2,750. In the late-1930’s stage shows (and vaudeville) were brought back.
After dropping stage shows on July 3, 1951, the Strand Theatre was renamed Warner Theatre, and opened with “Stangers on a Train”. During 1952 to 1953, the theatre closed, was renovated and renamed Warner Cinerama Theatre. Cinerama films moved here from the Broadway Theatre, starting with “This Is Cinerama” in 1953.
In 1963, the auditorium was equipped with a 81 foot wide, 30 feet tall screen to show “Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”. World Premiere’s of 70mm films included “Porgy and Bess”(June 24, 1959), “Exodus”(December 15, 1960), “The Greatest Story Ever Told”(February 15, 1965), “Grand Prix”(December 21, 1966 and “Camelot”(October 25, 1967).
On July 30, 1968, the theatre reopened as a triplex. The Warner Cinerama Theatre with 1,000 seats occupied the main floor. The former balcony became the 1,200 seat Penthouse Theatre. A third theatre built in the old Strand’s stagehouse was also opened, called the Cine Orleans, which had its own entrance on W. 47th Street. In the early-1980’s the Cinerama Theatre and Penthouse Theatre were remodeled and renamed the RKO Warner Twin Theatre.
Unfortunately, on February 8th 1987, after a long and eventful life, one of the greatest movie palaces of New York City closed and was demolished.
Amazingly, this was the third film based on the novel-- there was a 1931 version with Ricardo Cortez, which I've never seen, and a terrible comedy(!) version from 1936 called "Satan Met a Lady," which changes all of the characters' names and changes the falcon to a ram's horn, but otherwise follows the plot of the book pretty closely. Except that it tries to be funny. And isn't.
“I’m a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.”
I can tell that you are a man who likes to talk....
The stuff that dreams are made of.....
My favorite scene is when Bogie slaps Mary Astor and says
“I never saw a dame yet that didn’t understand a good slap in the mouth or a slug from a .45.”
That is a classic, classic Hammett line!!!
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.
Here is a clip of the Maltese Falcon.... : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc2v7izk8w
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.
One of the greatest films ever made; an utter cinematic classic for the ages.
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?
Back in the 70’s, when I was a poor starving student, I used to go to film lectures at the AFI, which had a lovely theater tucked away in the Kennedy Center. I wonder if anyone remembers that? For about a dollar you could see a great film and hear an interesting lecture. One night they showed The Maltise Falcon. During the lecture afterward the speaker pointed out that when Bogart refers to the young thug played by Elisha Cook as a “gunsel” the censors let it go by as a supposed reference to a gunman. In fact, it was Yiddish slang for the femail partner in a homosexual trist.
Turn the dump upside down...
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