34. The Maltese Falcon (1941), dir John Huston
I saw this one with 
lady_lugosi1313 and
planet_andy at the Cottage Road cinema as one of their Classics, and thus accompanied by the usual vintage ads at the start and intermission part-way through, including a lady with an ice-cream tray.
I'm never going to be hugely set on fire by any crime drama - it's just not my thing. But I could see this was a good one. It's all very tightly-plotted, with lots of fine detail in the dialogue and characterisation, so that not a line or action is wasted and you need to keep on your toes to follow everything. The costumes are fab (especially on the ladies), and the cinematography is very effective - although since the effect it is often striving for is a sense of tension, unease or claustrophobia, it isn't quite accurate to call it beautiful. And it's always nice to enjoy the presence of well-beloved faces: for me here, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet in particular.
Apparently for Greenstreet, who is most famous as the proprietor of the rival bar to Rick's in Casablanca, this was his first screen role (though he was already well experienced on the stage), but he certainly seems well at home in front of the cameras. He absolutely owns the scene in his hotel room where he strings Sam along as a prelude to drugging him, as well as the one at the end when Sam finds him and his henchmen waiting in his apartment and they all pass a tense night of confrontation before he finally discovers that the falcon is a fake. I do love me a good villain.
I'm sure there's bucket-loads more which could be said about this film, but that's all I got.
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lady_lugosi1313 and
planet_andy at the Cottage Road cinema as one of their Classics, and thus accompanied by the usual vintage ads at the start and intermission part-way through, including a lady with an ice-cream tray.
I'm never going to be hugely set on fire by any crime drama - it's just not my thing. But I could see this was a good one. It's all very tightly-plotted, with lots of fine detail in the dialogue and characterisation, so that not a line or action is wasted and you need to keep on your toes to follow everything. The costumes are fab (especially on the ladies), and the cinematography is very effective - although since the effect it is often striving for is a sense of tension, unease or claustrophobia, it isn't quite accurate to call it beautiful. And it's always nice to enjoy the presence of well-beloved faces: for me here, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet in particular.
Apparently for Greenstreet, who is most famous as the proprietor of the rival bar to Rick's in Casablanca, this was his first screen role (though he was already well experienced on the stage), but he certainly seems well at home in front of the cameras. He absolutely owns the scene in his hotel room where he strings Sam along as a prelude to drugging him, as well as the one at the end when Sam finds him and his henchmen waiting in his apartment and they all pass a tense night of confrontation before he finally discovers that the falcon is a fake. I do love me a good villain.
I'm sure there's bucket-loads more which could be said about this film, but that's all I got.
Dreamwidth version |
comments | Leave a comment