In the dark of his office, in one specific scene, we hear his phone ring and the subsequent conversation that follows, between someone we assume to be law enforcement and Spade. The man on the phone informs Spade of his partner's death. His reaction is more shocking than the news, because we hear absolutely no remorse, melancholy, regret, anger, or anything of the sort in his voice after learning of the news. We simply hear him continue on as if what he had just learned was that it will rain the next day. In fact, his next phone call is not to the widow of his partner, who he had an affair with, but to his secretary, Effie, informing her of the news and having her inform the widow of her husband’s passing. The fact that he showed absolutely no change in voice or body language proceeding his partner's demise is an evident connection to the Noir private eye character type that tends to show little to no emotion. Spade’s lack of expression, even in the face of his coworker’s death, is an apparent example of his hardboiled characterization, with an impenetrable exoskeleton, which remains consistent in the Noir genre. It is through these character qualities that one can see the discernable fitting of Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and the conventional hardboiled detective of
In the dark of his office, in one specific scene, we hear his phone ring and the subsequent conversation that follows, between someone we assume to be law enforcement and Spade. The man on the phone informs Spade of his partner's death. His reaction is more shocking than the news, because we hear absolutely no remorse, melancholy, regret, anger, or anything of the sort in his voice after learning of the news. We simply hear him continue on as if what he had just learned was that it will rain the next day. In fact, his next phone call is not to the widow of his partner, who he had an affair with, but to his secretary, Effie, informing her of the news and having her inform the widow of her husband’s passing. The fact that he showed absolutely no change in voice or body language proceeding his partner's demise is an evident connection to the Noir private eye character type that tends to show little to no emotion. Spade’s lack of expression, even in the face of his coworker’s death, is an apparent example of his hardboiled characterization, with an impenetrable exoskeleton, which remains consistent in the Noir genre. It is through these character qualities that one can see the discernable fitting of Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and the conventional hardboiled detective of