What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here: http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
The Maltese Falcon is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#23)
100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies (#26)
100 Movie Quotes (#14 - Sam Spade: "The stuff that dreams are made of.")
The Revised Top 100 (#31)
10 Top 10's (#6 Mystery)
I borrowed The Maltese Falcon again from my parents' ever-burgeoning film collection, which is beginning to rival my own in terms of quantity and eclecticism, though I had seen this film before. Back in my college days, when I tried watching the entire AFI Original list (never made it, obviously), the University of Michigan had several summer movie series that they screened all over campus. One movie series featured some classic and foreign films, including this one. I think I saw it first in the conservatory or some such building on the Diag. Truth be told, I only vaguely remember the experience and remembered The Maltese Falcon even less, so, in many ways, revisiting this movie felt like watching it a first time. I could only remember that Humphrey Bogart was in the film, and there was all this hooey about some bird statuette.
Well, this hooey proved to serve up Bogey's star-making role, playing ascerbic private investigator Sam Spade. Spade and his investigating partner are hired by the requisite femme fatale - I say requisite, though, apparently, this is the first film that could ever definitively be called noir, which is interesting and something I did not realize. Miss Wonderly, an alias for Brigid O'Shaughnessey (Mary Astor), tells Spade and Archer that her sister has taken up with a dangerous man and needs to be followed and brought back for her safety. As soon as Archer takes up the case, he meets his maker, and the suspected murderer, an acquaintance of Brigid's, soon follows his fate. Spade, the only known common thread between his partner and the prime suspect in his investigation, becomes the prime suspect in both of their murders. In an effort to keep the heat of the law off his back, he maneuvers amongst the players, Brigid included, and discovers that all of the death and confusion revolves around a legendary golden bird statue in the shape of a falcon, originally from royalty in Malta, and disguised in a crude black enamel. The mystery thickens when Spade realizes that none of the people he encounters, including a man named Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and a man named Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet), are telling the truth about, well, anything. They also are not afraid to use guns when it suits their purpose.
Both times I watched this film, I found that I didn't really get too excited by it. It's a great plot, to be sure, and I wish that I had read the book on which it was based before ever viewing the film because I really struggled with some of the character development. Though, there were no issues concerning Sam Spade. His is one of the most engaging and well-rounded characters in film, and, I feel, that's largely why this film hits the AFI's original and revised lists. His motivations, aside from one key plot-related factoid I refuse to spoil, are clear; his dialogue is snappy, witty, and intelligent; and his presence is charismatic because Bogart was an incredible performer and a true film icon. He's hands-down the best part of the whole film.
The worst part of the film is Brigid. I don't think it's necessarily Mary Astor's fault, but that's hard to know for sure without reading the original book. In the film, her motivations, other than sheer greed, are never clear because her character is always driven to lie - yet, there's no background information provided as to why it has become so necessary for her to chase after the Falcon and lie so much, except for the danger of the quest itself. The film establishes early on that there are no perfect heroes or villains; everyone is morally ambiguous and self-serving, not the least of which includes Spade. Yet, Brigid's story offers no explanations past a few brief and forgettable comments regarding her exploits in pursuit of the Falcon. Maybe it's the year in which it was made, and the archaic sexism of the day, playing on the notion that she is of the weaker sex, that renders this character to such a diminished role, portraying Brigid to be the biggest sinner of the lot - almost an Eve-type, wanton to temptation. While Cairo's involvement is equally glossed over, he's comparatively minor in the grand scheme of the plot. Still, Brigid never feels like a sympathetic character to me because, the way it was written, she offers no reason why she should be sympathetic, even when she finally decides to offer crumbs of the truth.
No technical elements of the film stood out for me. The point-and-shoot direction of John Huston in his directorial debut was fairly straightforward, as were other elements like art direction, costumes, even score. The pace was slow yet even. I think the allure of The Maltese Falcon rests largely on the charisma of Bogey and the allure of the mystery around the titular object - after all, it's the "stuff that dreams are made of." I also think it gets such rankings due to the fact that it was groundbreaking in terms of setting the tempo for those films classified as "film noir" to follow, creating the requisite ingredients by being the first film to employ them.
Because of some of the lackluster character development and the relatively slow pace of the film (for the entertainment value), I'm motivated to rate The Maltese Falcon an 8 for being very good/having minor flaws, but it doesn't pass the test for me. Even after a second viewing, I don't find I like the film in any profound way; perhaps, my dreams are made of other stuff.