The Maltese Falcon

persona—the wounded, stoical, cynical, charming, vulnerable, self-mocking loner with a code of honor. Despite good reviews, Warner Brothers would not cast him as the leading man. In 1941, George Raft turned down the role of Sam Spade in the film Maltese Falcon and Humphrey Bogart was cast. Bogart’s biography boasts that the casting of Bogart as Sam Spade “was a perfect fit. Bogart’s flawless depiction of private eye Sam Spade, portrayed with an exciting mix of cunning, sexuality, and honor, made…

The French New Wave, also known as La Nouvelle Vague in its home country, France, came to be during the 1950s and 1960s. It was created by a group of French filmmakers who proved that they don’t need mainstream cinema to create and produce successful films. Even if the New Wave wasn’t really a conscious movement it left a legacy with films like À bout de soufflé/Breathless (written and directed by Jean-Luc Goddard). French New Wave rejected the idea of a traditional story in films – they didn’t…

Feminism is defined as the social, political, and economical equality of the sexes. Despite this relatively simplistic ideal, the feminist movement has been anything but simple in the last one hundred years. Beginning with the suffragettes in the early 1900s, this critically important social movement has taken on a life of its own with each generation. Each wave of feminism has brought something new, iconic, and controversial to the table. One surprisingly effective way to do this is to analyze…

The African Queen Directed by John Huston USA, 1951, 105 minutes Reviewed by Margaret Willford Student, Wynford High School, Bucyrus, OH (USA) In 1951, John Huston directed a PG film based off the novel The African Queen by C.S. Forester. John Huston has directed forty-seven other films and a total of two have won oscars, including the African Queen. The African Queen won 1952 Oscar in the category of Best Actor in Leading Role (Humphrey Bogart). Furthermore, The African Queen won 2012 OFTA…

Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner is an endlessly fascinating film to dissect. The film while not popular upon it’s initial release has grown a huge following over the years and has captured the minds of filmmakers, students and scholars alike. Even Sir Ridley Scott himself couldn’t stay away from his film as over the last thirty years he has tinkered with and fine tuned his film into what is now known as “The Final Cut”. The 1982 theatrical cut of the film and the subsequent 2007 release of…

The hard-boiled detective, in noir tradition, is typically depicted as a lone wolf figure, one that upholds morality while balancing the corruption inherent in his line of work. He could be defined by his sexual potency, just as much as by his denial of pleasure. Raymond Chandler, in his 1950 essay, The Simple Art of Murder, outlines this archetype, with an authority appropriate to his foundational authorship. Chandler writes, “He talks as the man of his age talks, that is, with rude wit, a…