Comments | seldonp38: "THE MALTESE FALCON" (1931) Review

seldonp38

"THE MALTESE FALCON" (1931) Review

Sep 18, 2020 16:14

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dashiell hammett, movies, una merkel, dudley digges, early 20th century, old hollywood, ricardo cortez, literary, bebe daniels

Comments 2

pronker November 9 2020, 02:18:46 UTC

I'm glad to read your review here - I've seen this film some time ago and agree that Otto's performance deserved mention. As for Ricardo, yes he smirks and it's sort of his trademark? If you've seen him in "Mandalay" from 1934 then you'll see a pre-code to blast 'em all away, IMHO. When viewing the 1936 version, I hadn't known it was so comic and kept waiting for it to change, but in its favor it started out funny and kept it up with no serious tonal flip. It was just an unusual take on the story, I thought.

dfordoom February 26 2021, 10:10:34 UTC

It's a pretty decent movie, certainly worth a look. Obviously inferior to the 1941 version but much much better than the 1936 version. And yes, Ricardo Cortez is a pretty effective Sam Spade.