Cheap The Maltese Falcon (Three-Disc Special Edition) (DVD) (John Huston, William Dieterle) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Maltese Falcon (Three-Disc Special Edition)

The Ace of all Sam Spades!
"The stuff that dreams are made of," or, for some, the greatest private eye movie there ever was gets the royal treatment in this "Three-Disc Special Edition." "The Maltese Falcon" has ensnared so many fans in its 65 years- so many that its been lampooned and "Looney-tuned" the world over. It's hard to know where to begin. Let's just say it's here where the whole Humphrey Bogart mystique truely takes hold in his incomparable role as Sam Spade. <
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> Both crafty and shafty, a "hero" only in the sense that he wins the game of "the smarter crook," Bogart is riveting to watch. He's also superbly supported by a steller cast including a heart- aching turn by Mary Astor as Spade's "love interest" and a classic rouge's gallery of criminals including Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre (Bogart's two "Casablanca co-stars). My fave, though is Elisha Cook Jr. as creepy man/child bodyguard, Wilmer who Bogart laughable taunts throughout. <
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> First time director John Huston wisely did not stray from the book as Hammett's prose is fabulously tart ("Shoo her in, darling. Shoo her in.") and orchestrates the dialog and situations in such a frantic pace that you're consistantly jucied even though most of the action consist of few characters on small, dimly lit sets (add a thunderous musical score and you have the perfect example of the Warner Brothers house style). <
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>This dvd edition is indeed historic as it finally, FINALLY, puts all in one package the original, little seen, "good-on-its-own-terms," 1931 version of "The Maltese Falcon" as well as its inferior, thinly veiled 1936 remake "Satan Met a Lady" (co-starring Bette Davis) one . Starring Ricardo Cortez as a slicker, prettier Spade, the original like its 1941 remake follows Hammett's book closely and is fascinating to watch just how much of Huston's version was actually derivative. It's just that Huston built the better mouse trap.

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John Huston's directorial debut
After working as a screenwriter, John Huston was finally allowed to direct a film in 1941 when Warner Brothers chose him to adapt Dashiell Hammett's classic detective novel "The Maltese Falcon." Actually, Warners had already filmed the story before, with rather mixed results. It is a tribute to Huston's abilities that he was able to produce the definitive film version of the story and establish Humphrey Bogart as a major star. <
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>Bogart had, of course, already been steadily growing as an actor, particularly due to his work as gangsters in the legendary "The Petrified Forest" and "High Sierra." In "The Maltese Falcon" Bogart played a private detective and brought a combination of sarcasm and menace to the role. His portrayal of Sam Spade became one of the greatest roles of his career and established his versatility, even if he sometimes complained about being forced to play parts he didn't like (the fate of other major Warners stars such as Bette Davis and Olivia DeHavilland). <
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>It's delightful, however, to watch Bogart's detective matching wits with the likes of Gladys George, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet (in his screen debut at age 61!), Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook, Ward Bond, etc. Huston clearly had a very good cast and he used them well, even challenging the censors with Peter Lorre's prissy Joel Cairo. The onscreen relationships are all rather unusual and remarkable for a 1941 film. <
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>The pacing of the film is also quite good, through skillful use of the camera and careful editing. Huston was innovative in using sets that appear to have real ceilings, something that Orson Welles also did that same year in "Citizen Kane." Although filmed on the Warners lot in Burbank, Huston was able to use some second unit shots of San Francisco and clever intercutting with duplicates of San Francisco scenes to create the illusion that the film was actually filmed entirely in San Francisco. Huston also accurately represented key elements of "the City," as local residents called it, whether it be the use of actual street names or buildings much like those found in San Francisco. <
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>For the first time Huston even utilized his own father, Walter, in a brief but key scene in which the actual statue of the falcon is delivered. Years later, of course, Walter Huston had a major role, again with Bogart, in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." <
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>Perhaps the bird in the story is much like Alfred Hitchcock's "MacGuffin" in so many of his films. While the falcon is supposedly found, only to prove a fake, the really important thing is learning who was responsible for the three murders in the story. As with the original story, Huston manages to keep us guessing, not revealing the final truths until almost the end of the film. Little wonder that many consider this the greatest detective film ever made.

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Well deserved special presentation of an immortal classic
One of the finest detective films ever finds Humphrey Bogart, as private eye Sam Spade, up to his trench coat in greed, deception and murder. Joining Bogie in the search for the priceless "black bird" are Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook, Jr.; John Huston's directorial debut. This collector's set also includes the first two film versions of Dashiell Hammett's thriller: "The Maltese Falcon" (1931), starring Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels and Dudley Digges; and Bette Davis and Warren William in "Satan Met a Lady" (1936). Trivia - The corpse in the office at the beginning of the film lying face down is actually Walter Huston, director John's father!