The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon (1941) is an example of where “we can compare cinema to another related medium: live theater” (Barsam & Monahan, 2016, p.4). Movies of the twentieth century, particularly earlier in the century, did have a “live theater” feel to them, and Falcon in particular, certainly did as a slice-of-life piece. The nitty-gritty streets, the dialog, the guns, the costuming,…

At this point in time, it may seem as if Huston has presented all the inner workings of the relationships within The Maltese Falcon, thus revealing all the complexities of the relationships and its meaning within society. However, with the relationship that blossoms between Samuel Spade and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, Huston further complicates the understanding of characters within the film and continues to unravel new details about the situation between Spade & Archer. The relationship that emerges…

First of all, the principle of the spy universe that the ends justify the means can be observed through the main character Roger Ferris. Indeed, Ferris often sacrifices people or part of his personal life to achieve the ends. For instance, at the beginning of the book Ferris has a source of information whose name is Nizar who needs to get expediated in the United States to be save (p.48). However, Ferris knows that he cannot save this guy, so he takes all the information he needs and promises…

In the opening scene of The Maltese Falcon, Wonderly is presented as a “knock out” and pleads with Spade to help find her strayed sister. This bogus request leads to the death of Archer and Thursby. Wonderly’s mysterious aura and alluring characteristics leads Sam Spade to invest in her…

texts The ‘Hound of the Baskerville’ and The ‘Maltese Falcon’?, which she disagrees with due to its broadness of the topic. She recommends discussing justice between the two texts instead of immorality, which I found is difficult to focus, especially with the amount of research I’ve completed so far. We later found that the research question, To what extent are the moralities of the central characters in ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ and ‘The Maltese Falcon’ comparable?, is more specific in a way…

When analyzing cause and effect within a story, you always find the author asking the questions, who, what, where, when, why and how. In Maltese Falcon by Danshiell Hammett, in the beginning of the story you are given two main characters that are important to the whole plot of the book: Brigid O’Shaughnessy the woman claiming to be looking for her “missing sister” and Detective Spade the man trying to find out who killed his partner. During the whole novel the author gives you clues that point…

comedy and romance to a dark situation. It is often considered a noir film because if this darkness, but it’s lightheartedness, along with other elements, keeps it from falling into the gloomy genre. Released only a year apart, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon share multiple commonalities, which fuels the debate over whether or not Casablanca is a noir film. The most obvious similarity between the two is the three actors who star in both films, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, and Sydney…

The true film noirs used iconology to express the depth of the control and power these women held. Long hair, jewelry, and cigarettes are few examples of the icons used to highlight sexuality. The image of the women were created through their looks and dress codes. For instance, there is a strong emphasis on the eyebrows for the femme fatales’ makeup. Eyebrows play an important role in defining facial expressions. A high arc eyebrow suggests a strong and firm look. When paired with deep red…

In “The Maltese Falcon”, one can identify how Effie Perine, Iva Archer, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy have an important role in the novel and have an impact in Sam Spade’s role as a detective. They all have similar and distinguish characteristics, from appearance to personality and one may infer that these women have been influenced over the flapper era. In this novel, the author does a phenomenal job using these three women to symbolize the true meaning of the roaring 20s. Iva Archer is married to…

Written in 1939 and directed in 1941 respectively, The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and The Maltese Falcon by John Huston are iconic in the detective genre for reinventing what it really means to be a detective in the world of literature. Their main characters are a far cry from the Sherlock Holmes and the Philo Vance type of private eye who never make any mistakes and always get the better of the villain. Instead, their detectives are gritty, hardened, and deeply flawed. However, one detective…