The Maltese Falcon

This week, we begin our delve into Film Noir, beginning with The Maltese Falcon. Sam Spade and Miles Archer are private eyes who are hired by the attractive Miss Wanderly to tail a man she believes means her harm. Archer takes up the task and turns up dead the next morning, along with his mark. Spade must unravel the mystery and dadge a few over-zealous lawmen who want to finger him for his partner's murder.

If you're looking for a solid primer into Film Noir, this is a good place to start. Like Casablanca, this movie suffers from some of the sexism of the day. It's not terrible, however, as the soft focus nonsense is no longer saturating the screen. It's got action and suspense, but it does tend to take it's sweet time in making any of that happen. It's not a bad movie, it's just slow (even for an older film).

When it comes down to it, The Maltese Falcon earns a three out of five. It's not a terrible film, but it is severely dated and slow. The suspense was mild at best and the attempts at "conflicted" characters was laughable at times. By the way, if you've been watching the movies I mention, you'll notice the cast is quite familiar. Many of the actors were also in Casablanca!