THE MALTESE FALCON: 4K UHD Blu-ray (Warner Bros., 1941) Warner Home Video

Often copied, though never equaled, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941) remains the quintessential hard-boiled detective/thrill ride, peerless in its professionalism and an exemplar of what would eventually be coined as ‘film noir’.  The story had been made twice before by Warner Bros. - once in 1931, as a serious detective drama under its original title, then again in 1936 as the laughably bad, Satan Met A Lady, co-starring Bette Davis. Neither version was worthy of author, Dashiell Hammett’s cagey pulp novella, first serialized in The Black Mask magazine. Hammett had based many of the characters in his unscrupulous tale on archetypes encountered while working as a Pinkerton guard. A near fatal bought of tuberculosis put a period to that career. Pinkerton’s loss, but publishing’s gain as Hammett was soon to embark upon his prolific writing career. At the time of Huston’s picture, there was little reason to suspect a third bite at the same apple would appeal to audiences of the day. The Maltese Falcon had failed spectacularly – twice before! And yet, Warner green-lit Huston’s passion project almost willingly – a testament, perhaps to their faith in his early competency as one of the best regarded screenwriters.

In John Huston we have a character study, perhaps as fascinating, as the parallel between Hammett’s steely-eyed gumshoe, Sam Spade and the meteoric rise of this movie’s star, Humphrey Bogart, then, still considered something of a second-stringer despite a decade’s long tenure at the studio as one of their most bankable from ‘murderer’s row’.  Huston’s unhappy childhood was counterbalanced with his enamored respect for his father, Walter Huston’s acting career. Sickly as a youth, Huston emerged from this unlucky epoch as a top-ranking amateur lightweight boxer by the age of fifteen, while suckling a diverse spate of personal interests…not all of them, healthy. While an honorary member of the Mexican cavalry, he wed for the first of 5 times and also began to hone his talents as a writer. And although success came relatively easy, paving the way for Huston’s early script-editor’s contract at Goldwyn, and then, Universal, it also allowed Huston to feed his vices – chiefly, his alcoholism, resulting in a fatal car accident that killed actress, Tosca Roulien and put all but a period to his fledgling career in Hollywood. Exonerated at trial, but traumatized by the experience, Huston aimlessly drifted from London to Paris for the next few years, seemingly lost. But in 1937, he came home, intent on becoming a serious writer. Warner Bros. hired him, attaching Huston’s name to some of their most high-profile product of the day. By the end of the decade, Huston had parlayed his passion into a chance to direct his first feature. Just prior, Huston wrote High Sierra (1941), the picture to significantly elevate Bogart’s stature at the studio. Thus, afforded the opportunity to direct The Maltese Falcon, Huston, after briefly considering George Raft for the lead (Raft turned Huston down because he did not want to appear in a remake) chose Bogart again as his good luck charm.

Despite its edgy scenarios, teetering dangerously close to being banned by Hollywood’s self-governing censorship, Huston found ingenious ways of keeping tight to Dashiell Hammett’s origins, using Hammett’s dialogue wherever possible, and directing in an unvarnished style, true to the novel’s ‘no nonsense’ narrative. Determined to make a success of it, despite being given a miniscule budget of $300,000 and nearly no publicity to herald its release, Huston sketched out the picture, shot-for-shot, right down to camera positions, lighting, and compositional scale. Nothing was left to chance. This time, The Maltese Falcon would benefit also from its unusually strong supporting cast, a who’s who of Warner’s contract players: Mary Astor (capitalizing on the publicity gleaned from lurid details exposed in her diary, leaked during a very public court case) as the femme fatale, Ruth Wonderly/Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Peter Lorre, the effete and oily, Joel Cairo, Lee Patrick as Sam Spade’s loyal secretary, Effie Perine and, in his first movie, 61-yr.-old, Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper ‘the fat man’ Gutman.  In hindsight, it was to Huston’s advantage the first two screen adaptations of The Maltese Falcon had been such critical and financial disasters. There was nowhere to go, but up.

As scripted by Huston, the 41' version of The Maltese Falcon proved to be anything but a tired old retread. The film opens with a foreboding prologue quelled from Huston's own imagination, inferring Spain's Charles V was to have been the recipient of a fabulous, jewel-encrusted statue in the shape of a falcon, until pirates seized the galley on which it was bound. What became of it thereafter was anybody’s guess. From here, the folklore advanced into the concrete, contemporary world of hard-bitten realist; San Franciscan private eye, Sam Spade Sam and his partner, Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) have been retained by Miss Brigid O’Shaughnessy, presumably to find what has become of her runaway sister, Corrine and a man named Floyd Thursby…at least that’s the yarn Miss O’Shaughnessy spins for Sam and Miles. Actually, Brigid is in a mad dash to get her hands on the falcon, concealed in black lead to disguise its true value. But Brigid has competition on her quest - a trio of reprobates who will stop at nothing to get the falcon before anyone else. There is the ‘fat man’, Kasper Gutman, Joel Cairo and gunsel, Wilmer Cook (Elisha Cook Jr.). After Miles is murdered by an unknown assassin, Sam finds himself suspected of the crime by steely Lt. Dundy (Barton MacLaine) and an only slightly more sympathetic, Sgt. Tom Polhouse (Ward Bond).

On the surface, Sam plays it fast and loose with the authorities. But secretly, we suspect his heart runs truer to the law than it does for the flirtatious Brigid - especially since Miles' wife, Iva (Gladys George) has been in Sam’s back pocket for some time. Sam's secretary, Effie Perrine is a pure-hearted/tough gal who worries Sam is in over his head. Indeed, it seems that way as Sam is repeatedly duped by Cairo, then drugged by Gutman in their ruthless determination to let Sam fry for Miles’ murder while conducting their search for the falcon. But what Sam lacks in finesse, at first, he more than makes up with dogged persistence. Gutman strikes a bargain with Sam to locate the falcon. And although Sam agrees to his terms, at every turn the search either turns cold or ends badly. Then, total stranger stumbles into Sam's office, mortally wounded but clutching a mysterious package, stolen from an Asian trawler set ablaze as she rested in port. Could this be the prized falcon? In the penultimate moment of truth, Sam contacts Gutman to arrange for a swap. But he also alerts Dundy and Polhouse revealing to all Brigid as Miles’ killer, her clever façade of tear-stained innocence suddenly dissolving into emotionless recrimination. The falcon, alas, proves a fake. Gutman elects to follow up on another lead. But Sam retreats from the chase. Asked by Polhouse what the fake falcon represents, a weary Sam replies, “the stuff that dreams are made of” as Brigid is carted off to prison.

The Maltese Falcon is a perfect entertainment, its narrative twists and turns made palpable by Huston's rapid fire, sexually-charged dialogue and Bogart’s emblematic turn as the cynical humanist, conflicted in his own lust, greed and cynicism. Sam Spade is hardly a hero cut from the swatch of classic he-men. Yet Bogart transcends Spade's despicable behavior, making it the height of masculinized chic. In doing so, Bogart became an iconoclastic hero for the modern age. After an indentured servitude at WB as their go-to ‘heavy’ who usually bought the farm in the final reel, and at age 42, seemingly long past his prime as a leading man, Humphrey Bogart suddenly, miraculously, and inexplicably, was a superstar. In his screen debut, Sydney Greenstreet proved a formidable foe with his imposing girth, crocodile smile and mirthfully unsettling laugh. Reportedly Greenstreet was such a nervous wreck, he quietly confided to co-star, Mary Astor, he feared he would make a fool of himself. But perhaps the most memorable performance next to Bogart's is Peter Lorre's, who plays Joel Cairo with uncharacteristic comedic finesse. Cairo is hardly a fop. But he is ever the jester of this piece, a thorough departure from Lorre's debut as the haunted child killer in Fritz Lang's startling classic 'M'.

Time for the really good news. Warner Home Video’s newly minted 4K remaster of The Maltese Falcon is every bit a vast improvement over the previously released Blu-ray from 2010. To be clear, the Blu-ray was considered stellar in its day. But the 4K advances markedly in overall image sharpness, deeper contrast, and exquisitely rendered film grain looking indigenous to its source. There is speculation that ‘older’ movies – particularly those shot in B&W – somehow benefit less from a 4K uptick. The Maltese Falcon dispels this theory as pure myth. In 4K it is truly a stunning, reference quality release, head and shoulders above anything Blu-ray can reproduce. Fine textures abound, and detail in hair, skin and clothing could scarcely be better. There is no hint the picture is 82 years young, as age-related artifacts have been completely eradicated. Having seen the movie multiple times – each time, finding something new to admire – I can honestly say, viewing The Maltese Falcon in 4K was like seeing it for the very first time. The DTS dual-mono audio is also an improvement, with Adolph Deutsch’s score really kicking into high gear and dialogue sounding just a tad crisper and more refined throughout.  The 4K disc contains only the previously issued audio commentary from Bogart biographer, Eric Lax. Mercifully, Warner Home Video has also included the 2010 Blu in this package. In addition to Lax’s commentary duplicated, we also get the 40-min. doc, The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird, The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart, a vintage blooper reel, 2 cartoons, and 3 radio adaptations. Bottom line: The Maltese Falcon in 4K is required viewing. It remains Huston and Bogart’s untouchable masterpiece. Very – very – highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

5+

VIDEO/AUDIO

5++

EXTRAS

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