Product Description

Disc One:Sam Spade is a partner in a private-eye firm who finds himself hounded by police when his partner is killed whilst tailing a man. The girl who asked him to follow the man turns out not to be who she says she is and is really involved in something to do with the Maltese Falcon' a gold-encrusted life-sized statue of a falcon the only one of its kind.Disc Two:Adhering closely to Dashiel Hammett's story sleazy detective Sam Spade seeks the whereabouts of a jewel encrusted statuette and his partner's cold-blooded killer unaware the two quests may be related. Well received in its time today it looks like a dress-rehearsal for John Huston's definitive version made ten years later.Disc Three:Sardonic detective Shane thrown out of one town for bringing trouble heads for home and his ex-partner's detective agency. The business is in a sad way and Shane who has had the forethought to provide himself with a 250-dollar commission from an old lady on the train is welcomed with open arms. When pretty Valerie Purvis walks in the next day willing to pay over the odds to put a tail on the man who did her wrong Shane's way with the ladies looks like paying off yet again. But things start to go wrong when his partner is murdered and Shane himself comes home to find his apartment wrecked by a gentlemanly crook who comes back to apologise -- and to tell him a fascinating fairy-story about the fabled Horn of Roland that looks like not being so mythical after all. Miss Purvis wants protection. The police want answers. And all sorts of people want the 'French horn'... but Shane is one jump ahead of everyone all the way. Well almost.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE UPC: 012569676015 Manufacturer No: 67601

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11425 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 178 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Still the tightest, sharpest, and most cynical of Hollywood's official deathless classics, bracingly tough even by post-Tarantino standards. Humphrey Bogart is Dashiell Hammett's definitive private eye, Sam Spade, struggling to keep his hard-boiled cool as the double-crosses pile up around his ankles. The plot, which dances all around the stolen Middle Eastern statuette of the title, is too baroque to try to follow, and it doesn't make a bit of difference. The dialogue, much of it lifted straight from Hammett, is delivered with whip-crack speed and sneering ferocity, as Bogie faces off against Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, fends off the duplicitous advances of Mary Astor, and roughs up a cringing "gunsel" played by Elisha Cook Jr. It's an action movie of sorts, at least by implication: the characters always seem keyed up, right on the verge of erupting into violence. This is a turning-point picture in several respects: John Huston (The African Queen) made his directorial debut here in 1941, and Bogart, who had mostly played bad guys, was a last-minute substitution for George Raft, who must have been kicking himself for years afterward. This is the role that made Bogart a star and established his trend-setting (and still influential) antihero persona. --David Chute

On the DVD
This handsome transfer of John Huston's 1941 masterpiece gets the usual mix of bonus features, with a couple of major additions: the two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's landmark detective novel. Neither gets it right, although both are fun examples of everyday Warner Bros. fare. The 1931 Maltese Falcon, starring Ricardo Cortez as gumshoe Sam Spade, has plenty of cheek but precious little magic--although it's fascinating to hear some of the same verbatim Hammett dialogue later enshrined in Huston's classic. The 1936 Satan Met a Lady pitches the story as a screwball comedy, with Warren William and Bette Davis playing it as though they wandered in from a Thin Man picture.

Other goodies include a historically minded commentary track from Bogart biographer Eric Lax. Three different radio versions of the Falcon are here, two starring Bogart and one with Edward G. Robinson, and a useful half-hour documentary, The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird. Turner Classics host Robert Osborne presents a fun 44 minutes' worth of Bogie coming-attractions trailers. An uncensored collection of bloopers, Breakdowns of 1941, has some hysterical gaffes. Shorts include two Oscar nominees: the cartoon "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt," with Bugs Bunny intruding on the famous poem; and "The Gay Parisian," a colorful and historically valuable performance by the fabled Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo. (Although what Sam Spade would've thought of such a thing can only be imagined.) A humorous cartoon war-effort short, "Meet John Doughboy," gives good flavor of the mood of the era. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

The original 1931 version is really good, too!
The three-disc special edition of the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon contains some very interesting bonus features: the two previous adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's novel, the first also called The Maltese Falcon (though it was renamed Dangerous Female for TV in the '50s to avoid confusion), and the second titled Satan Met a Lady.

Since the 1941 version (directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre) is the one considered "definitive," it's not surprising that relatively few viewers realize that was actually Hollywood's third adaptation of Hammett's classic detective novel.

Satan Met a Lady (directed by William Dieterle and starring Bette Davis and Warren William), is by all accounts a disaster (a very loose adaptation by screenwriter Brown Holmes, who co-wrote this version), but the first Maltese Falcon, filmed in 1931 by director Roy del Ruth, is a terrific alternative for viewers who love the story and would just like to watch a different take on it. (Both films are faithful to the source, with few changes.)

The main difference in tone comes from Ricardo Cortez's portrayal of Sam Spade. Cortez's Spade is much more of a ladies man than Bogart's. In fact, the opening scene of the movie shows a woman leaving Spade's office, adjusting her stockings (later, he is shown picking up sofa cushions from the floor). His roving eye (and hand) also includes his secretary, Effie. Una Merkel plays Effie as if she's not only a willing participant in these shenanigans, but is also quite aware of Spade's other dalliances -- including partner Miles Archer's wife Iva (Thelma Todd) -- and thinks it's funny.

That lightness extends to Cortez, as well. He goes throughout The Maltese Falcon with a huge smirk on his face, as if everything going on around him is endlessly entertaining. And I can imagine why. When Ruth Wonderly (Bebe Daniels) comes into his office, he probably already knows she'll end up naked in his bath, in his bed, and in his kitchen. Cortez displays just the right mix of sleaze and charm.

But the only other actor who gives anything close to as interesting a performance is Dudley Digges as Kasper Gutman. Digges gives the role real grease, making him a truly unlikeable antagonist (Greenstreet always charmed even in his most villainous roles, much like Claude Rains, his costar in Casablanca). And I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Dwight Frye (Renfield in the Lugosi Dracula) shows up briefly as Wilmer Cook. He doesn't say much, but just try to look away when he flashes those psychotic eyes.

This Maltese Falcon was made three years before the enforcement of the Production Code that would whitewash movies for the next thirty years. Thus, there are instances like those mentioned above that did not make it into the "cleaner" 1941 version. One major effect this had is when Mary Astor's Brigid O'Shaughnessy proclaims to Bogart's Spade, "I thought you loved me," it doesn't make a whole lot of sense based on what preceded. Here, when Wonderly (who never reveals herself to be O'Shaughnessy, a plot point I always thought was unnecessarily confusing anyway) says the same words, they hold real meaning.

Though quite entertaining in its own right, the 1931 Maltese Falcon is undoubtedly destined to remain forgotten in the shadow of its later remake. I recommend it, however, due to its lighter and sexier tone, handsomer leading man, and almost completely different approach to the same source material. Fans of pre-Code cinema will especially enjoy it, even if they generally prefer a little more noir in their detective stories.

Film Noir is Born! Excellent Detective Movie but Too Bad About the DVD!
Like a true classic should this movie seems to improve with each successive viewing. The acting is great and so is the directing leaving me unsurprised that it's ranked among the top quarter of the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest American Films list. The only problem I have is with the quality of the DVD; the picture quality isn't very good and the sound quality although Dolby Digital is in Mono. Perhaps with the advent of Blu-Ray, a newer, better restored version will surface with good quality surround sound options perhaps DTS with THX for instance.

Overall, this a a great movie but I'd recommend waiting for a better quality DVD version to come out. Hope it's soon!

the stuff that dreams are made of!
This movie is inimitable.

Terse, convoluted, gritty, and satirical. The scenes of this movie pack a visceral punch rarely matched in classic Hollywood movies.

The plot is confusing, if not incomprehensible at times. However, the basics are pretty straightforward. Sam Spade is a private eye working in San Fransisco with his partner. One afternoon a beautiful, malevolent women walks into Spade's office, paying him and his partner (Miles Archer) to find her sister. She claims her sister is in grave danger. She is, of course, lying. Her real goals are hidden, but slowly revealed as the movie progresses. Unfortunately her little ruse ends up getting Spade's partner killed. Thus is unleashed a complex series of events.
The plot focuses on Spade's attempt to keep up with the criminal elements around him. It seems every one is machiavellian, and the underworld Spade belongs to is byzantine in its betrayals, double-crossings, and machinations. The people he talks to are inveterate liars. One gets vertigo trying to make sense of it all. This makes us all the more amazed that Spade can keep his cool. Oddly, it turns out all the fuss in the movie has to do with the statue of a Maltese Falcon. An object worth killing and dying for.
Spade plays crooked, but deep down inside he is a Kantian. His ethical nature, stoic exterior, and masculine facade, make him irresistable as a protaganist. This is the movie that marked the rise of Bogart the superhuman-and rightfully so.

The Maltese Falcon is a rich movie, with myriad meanings. One of the major themes is the quest for an unattainable object and the havoc such a quest can cause. After all, the dead bodies in this movie accumulated over nothing more than the silly statue of a bird! It is interesting to compare the Maltese Falcon with Don Quixote. Both works contain the mythological heroic quest. However, in Quixote, the quest is needed to sustain life. Without it, Quixote dies. In the Maltese Falcon the quest causes death. When the quest is over, sanity is restored. This is an interesting contrast, and one well worth pondering.

Is the quest worth while? Or, should we stay sane and firmly planted on the sinful streets of the world?

In the end, it is hard to find any flaws in this movie. There are no superfluous scenes, nor is there any hint of condescending directing. Just straight to the point, action and dialogue packed delivery.


Brilliant!