THE MALTESE FALCON

Director: John Huston (He's done a thing or two over the years)

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet



One of our local stage theaters here in sunny Cleveland, Ohio runs a series of older movies in the summer months. As far as I'm concerned it's just about the perfect environment for a film. First off, they're generally good films, but it doesn't hurt a bit that they're in a beautiful old auditorium aptly called "The Palace". Chandeliers and a massive balcony, 3000 seats, but only a hundred or so patrons perched in the best ones (orchestra center) watching a classic. Yep, this is what's great about movies. There's clapping at the end and laughter at all the right spots, no one's cell phone rang. Maybe this makes me a cinema elitest, but I was in film heaven.



Anyhow, our film that fine evening was the classic Huston film noir, The Maltese Falcon. If you're too young to know Huston (Heck, I only caught the very tail end of his career), think masculine, thinking-man classics. Think The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Asphalt Jungle. Think Key Largo, The Maltese Falcon, The Man Who Would be King, Prizzi's Honor. Think of his astounding performance in Chinatown. There aren't a lot of figures more larger than life in the history of Hollywood, and The Maltese Falcon is what put that supersized figure on the map. The Falcon is, in fact, often considered the genesis of Film Noir, and one of the "greatest", most influencial films of all time. After seeing it on the big screen, I think I'll go along with that criticism ...



What is the Maltese Falcon? Well, like the famous ending line of Boggie: It's "the stuff that dreams are made of" (a phrase adapted from Shakespeare ... the Tempest, I think)