The Maltese Falcon (1941)

“I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon.”

            When I think of a hardboiled detective I think of a man in a suit. He is usually a little disheveled from working long hours and possibly from some drinking to help forget the day or unwind. He does not take any shit from people, he has seen it all and does not have the time. He wants to get from point A to point B without any fuss. My though/idea for a detective comes courtesy of the film version of Dashiell Hammett’s story The Maltese Falcon and it’s lead character Sam Spade. 

            Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) was sitting in his office at his desk when his secretary comes in to tell him that a Mrs. Wonderly (Mary Astor) is there to see him. To put Sam in a better mood the secretary throws it out to him that Mrs. Wonderly is pretty. Same tells his secretary to let the potential new client in. Mrs. Wonderly is indeed very pretty and Sam sits intent listing to her case. Her younger sister has run away with an older man named Floyd Thursby and she needs to bring her sister home. Same takes the case and has Thursby followed by Miles Archer, his partner.

            Very early in the morning Sam receives a call that Archer has been killed and to come down to the scene. Same sees all he can and tells the police detective all he can about his and Archer’s case. Instead of going to tell Archer’s wife about her husband’s murder, Sam sends his secretary to do so.

            Same goes back to his apartment. It is not long before the two detectives from the crime scene come knocking on his door. They question Sam about going to see Archer’s wife and his whereabouts. Same gets impatient wanting to know why he is getting the third degree. Turns out Thursby was killed and they suspect Sam killed him for killing Archer. Without a warrant and without any real evidence against he tells the detectives to get out.

            The next day Sam goes to see Mrs. Wonderly at the apartment she is staying at. She confesses that she is frightened for her life because she is not a very good person and that her real name is actually Brigid O’Shaughnessy. She is also worried that Sam has told the police about her but he has not because he does not know much about her himself. Brigid reveals that she knew Thursby they both just came over from China together with some cargo. She is now afraid that their enemies will be able to track her down.

            Back at the office that night Sam is visited by a shady man named Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre). Joel pulls out a gun on Sam and the detective just laughs and manages to knock Joel out. As Joel is out Sam takes a look through his stuff to see what he can get out the guy who pulled a gun on him. When Joel comes to Sam just tells him to get out.

            Sam goes to Brigid’s place to tell her about her encounter with Joel. She knows who he is. Sam calls Joel to meet him and Brigid at his place to talk. Joel reveals he is looking to buy a sculpture of a falcon off of Brigid. They both mention a person they call The Fat Man.

            In the meantime, Sam notices that he is being followed. After talking to Joel and Brigid Sam tracks down the guy who is tracking him to the hotel where Joel is staying. Sam figures the guy is working for The Fat Man. Sam goes to see The Fat Man (Sydney Greenstreet) who’s name is Kaspar Guttman. Guttman explains the history of the Maltese Falcon and why it is so sought after. As Guttman explains the story of the falcon Sam begins to black out. Guttman had Sam’s drink drugged. Sam comes to hours later on the floor of the room Guttman was staying in.

            Sam pieces together that Brigid was behind giving Guttman a fake falcon and also behind the killings of Archer and Thursby.

            The cast of this film is perfect. I am not a huge fan of Humphrey Bogart but I wound up really liking him in this. To me Bogart as Sam Spade is the ideal detective. Whenever I think of what a typical detective looks like I think of Bogart as Spade. Mary Astor was perfection as Brigid O’Shaughnessy. She is also the ultimate femme fatale in how a femme fatale acts. Brigid was manipulative and that is usually what the femme fatales in Film Noirs are. I think Astor as Brigid set the precedent for femme fatales, not so much in looks (do not get me wrong Astor was a very pretty woman she was not Ava Gardner or Gene Tierney gorgeous) but in her attitude and the way her character was manipulative and how she carried herself. Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet are staples of Warner Bros character actors. They both played the same types of characters over and over again but I never mind seeing them do so because they were so good at it.

            This was director John Huston’s directorial debut. What a debut it was! Huston’s direction is incredible. He filmed the story from different angles. One of my favorite scenes is when the detectives come to speak to Sam. Huston filmed it looking over Sam’s shoulder to get his point of view. That was not normally done. The focus was always on the main character/actor. Scenes like that were usually filmed from a side angle where you can see all the characters/actors. I loved that scene it was genius. You can see the seriousness in the eyes of the detectives and the way Sam does not really react he just sits there calmly and listens.  

            When I first watched The Maltese Falcon I was just beginning my journey into the classic film world. I remember buying it when it was released in a special DVD collection. I also remember not really caring for it very much most likely because I did not really understand it. Years later and having watched so many more classic films since then and appreciating them more, I really liked and enjoyed The Maltese Falcon. Everything about The Maltese Falcon is perfect. The dialogue is straight out of Dashiell Hammett’s novel it is quick and witty and biting and sharp. The direction and the acting is flawless. If you have yet to see The Maltese Falcon do yourself a favor and go watch it as soon as you can. 

Beat the Devil (1953)

“I've got to have money. Doctor's orders are that I must have a lot of money, otherwise I become dull, listless and have trouble with my complexion.”

            There have been quite a few classic films over my five years of running this blog that were unable to grab a hold of my attention. It may be down to my having (legit diagnosed) ADHD that if my attention is not grabbed all is lost. With certain classic films (and even some newer ones) I have no doubt my nonexistent attention span is due to the story. One such classic film that failed to hold me in its power was Beat the Devil.

            Because of the story being somewhat of a bore I barely understood what on earth was happening so this summary will probably be terrible and very brief. You’ve been warned!

            Bill Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart) and his wife Maria (Gina Lollobrigida) are stranded in Italy waiting for a ship to East Africa. Billy is working with some crooks who think they can,make a fortune off some uranium rich land in East Africa. While waiting for the ship Billy meets a young British couple Gwendolen (Jennifer Jones) and Harry Chelm. Gwendolen asks Billy a whole bunch of questions because she finds him interesting and Harry is proper English gentleman. While waiting over a few days Billy and Gwendolen start an affair.

            Quite a bit more stuff happens in between but I am honestly in no mood to write down more of a summary I do not feel like boring the hell outta myself again.

            Beat the Devil, in my opinion, is only saved by Humphrey Bogart and John Huston’s direction and also the mix of drama and comedy. I really liked seeing Humphrey Bogart be funny and light. I am so used to seeing him as this tough guy from Warner Bros. and Sam Spade or Rick Blaine. Billy Dannreuther is one of the best characters I have seen Bogart play just because it is so different than what I am used to seeing him play. Huston’s direction is flawless. I loved the way he filmed some of the scenes from different angles.

            Only watch Beat the Devil if you are a fan of the cast or the director or Film Noir because I found this listed in a masterpost of Film Noirs available to view on YouTube.

 

Dark Passage (1947)

 “I'm hiding.”

“From what?”

“My wife, my friends, my family, everybody.”

“Come on now, it can't be as bad as all that.”

“Well, I tell you what you do. You go up there and spend seven years with my wife, and then if you're still in your right mind, come back down here and tell me about it.”

            No actor ever wants to hide their face. They act so people can see their face and gain attention. As an audience we go to theaters to specific faces. When that specific face we went to the theaters to see is not on screen we may not pay attention or we may feel the film lacks in those scenes. In the 1947 film Dark Passage one of Hollywood’s leading actors, Humphrey Bogart, was cast as the lead in a story where his face is not shown for over an hour. The lead actor’s face not being shown for that long was never even heard of or done before and is not done so much even to this day.

            Vincent Parry (Bogart) has escaped from jail. From first person perspective and a voice over we hear his inner monologue and what he says to other people he encounters. He hitches a ride with someone who asks him too many questions. A radio announcement comes on warning people about Vincent’s escape and his description. The guy pulls over and before he can do anything Vincent punches him out, takes him out of the car and takes his clothes. Another pulls over to the side of the road. A young woman comes out of the car and she wants to help Vincent get away from the cops and back into San Francisco.

            They get into San Francisco past the police. The young woman who has helped Vincent is Irene Jansen. He finds she is helping him because her father was in a similar situation where he was convicted of killing his wife but he was not the real killer. Irene believes that Vincent is innocent that someone set him up for the murder of his wife and wants to help prove his innocence. Irene goes out leaving Vincent alone. A woman comes the door and incessantly knocks. Vincent recognizes the voice and makes her suspicious when he tells her to go away.

            When Irene comes home he tells her he cannot stay with her especially after the visitor who happened to be Madge Rapf (Agnes Moorhead) the woman who accused Vincent of killing his wife. Irene knows who Madge is and purposely came to know her. Vincent has to leave and stay with a friend of his. On the way to his friend’s place in a cab the driver figures out who he is and tells Vincent that he knows a surgeon who specializes in plastic surgery. When the surgery is over Vincent goes back to his friend’s house only to find he has been murdered. He goes back to Irene’s apartment and writes down what has happened and that he needs to stay with her until the bandages can come off.

            A few days later Irene takes the bandages off of Vincent’s face. Now that his face has changed and no one would recognize him Irene feels they can finally be together but Vincent still feels he has to go away so he will not be caught. Irene figures out he is going to South America and she wants to go with him. He tells her she cannot follow him no matter how much she wants to. Sitting in a diner, Vincent asks questions about past events at a race track. A man comes over to Vincent and asks questions. The man is a detective when Vincent realizes this he runs away. He manages to get away and find a room to stay in. Somehow the guy who had picked him up on the road after he escaped tracks Vincent down to the room. The guy tries to blackmail him and get money out of Irene. Vincent gets the best of the guy on the road once again. They get into a fight and in self defense Vincent pushes the guy off a cliff into the ocean. Before the guy falls to his death reveals in so many ways who really murdered Vincent’s wife and friend.

            Vincent goes to see Madge Rapf. Since his face has changed she does not recognize him right away. He tells her who he is and that he knows she is the murderer. She lets him know that she killed his wife because she loved him and the only way they could be together was if the wife was out of the way. When he did not love her back she blamed the murder on him. In one last push to torture Vincent, Madge jumps out the window to her death to make it look like he killed her.

            Vincent makes it out of North America to a place he wrote for Irene to meet him. Irene meets him at a hotel night club and they dance.

            Dark Passage I have had for years on DVD and watched when I first bought it. At the time I first watched the film I do not think I was running this blog so now I am reviewing it. Plus, I am currently enrolled in TCM’s free online program Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir and Dark Passage was one of the films sent out to break down the opening. They send out some questions to create discussion and the one I really liked was do you think if the first person point of view added to the tension of the opening scene. I absolutely think it does because you are looking at the world from the person’s point of view and you are hearing his thoughts and his anxieties and you see the other characters the way the person sees them. I think it the first person point of view was really genius it works very well for the story. Humphrey Bogart was a good choice for the character because he always played a tough guy and to hear this tough guy sound anxious created great tension. Dark Passage is a good film. It is worth watching as an atypical Film Noir and as a Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film. 

The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)

“I have a feeling this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful hatred.”

            Is it me or after Hitchcock made Rebecca in 1940 that so many other “thrillers” during the decade were copied off of it? I put the word thrillers in quotations because no matter how any of those other films were made they could barely compare to Hitchcock’s Rebecca. And their stories of husbands with dead first wives, getting remarried, and then the second finding out he has a dark secret could not even touch Daphne Du Maurier’s story. I do hate the fact that I am comparing other films with the same type of plot to Rebecca since it was such a fantastic film but that is the kind of vibe/thought I got when watching The Two Mrs. Carrolls. Unlike the former film that was truly a thriller in every sense; The Two Mrs. Carrolls was a stinker of epic proportions.

            The film starts with Geoffrey Carroll (Humphrey Bogart) on a fishing trip in Scotland. He is sitting near the water drawing with a woman named Sally (Barbara Stanwyck). We assume (or I assumed) that Sally is his wife until she says that they have only been together for two weeks. It begins to rain. Geoffrey gives Sally his jacket to keep her head dry as she runs to shelter under some rocks. A letter falls from the jacket’s pocket addressed to a Mrs. Carroll. Sally is upset. He tells Sally that he meant to tell her but he just likes her so much he could not bring himself to say anything and he did not want to lose her. She runs away from him.

            Geoffrey goes back home to London. He has a daughter Beatrice as well as a wife. His wife is in her room not feeling too well. Geoffrey tells his daughter Beatrice that he has decided to send her off to school to be with children her own age. He then brings his wife some milk from the kitchen.

            A year later, a man named Charles arrives at a house in the country. It is Geoffrey’s house and he asks if Mrs. Carroll is in. His painting of Death that was modeled on Beatrice’s mother hangs on the wall and Beatrice is sitting on a chair in front of the fireplace. Mrs. Carroll comes downstairs. The Mrs. Carroll who comes down the stairs is Sally. The first Mrs. Carroll had died after being sick. Charles came over to the house to inform Sally that two women from the village, a mother and daughter, plan to stop by to say hello. Sally goes up to Geoffrey in his studio. He feels creatively stuck he has not been able to paint anything in some time. Sally tells them about the mother and daughter coming over to the house. At first he is not excited at the idea but then once he sees the daughter, Cecily, he joins everyone. Turns out Cecily and Geoffrey know each other very well since they flirt with each other when he comes into the village. He is a bit short with her when she asks him to paint her portrait. When Cecily leaves Geoffrey gets a pain in his head and something comes over him. He quickly changes his mind about painting Cecily’s portrait.

            I will now give you a quick rundown of the rest of the story: if you guess that Geoffrey started to poison Sally like he did the first wife you are correct. If you also guessed that Sally figures out what her husband is trying to do to her you are also correct. That is my rundown of the rest of the story.

            I am actually a bit upset at how poor The Two Mrs. Carrolls was. The number one upsetting things about his film is how badly cast and paired Barbara Stanwyck and Humphrey Bogart were. They both deserved so much better. If they had been in a better film with a better story like if they were in a Pre-Code or their characters were rougher, Stanwyck and Bogart’s pairing would have worked. Sally and Geoffrey were just odd roles for them. Damn the studio system! What a pairing that was wasted on a crap story. Also, as soon as their characters came on screen and they were so sweet and nice I was kind of turned off because Sally and Geoffrey are definitely not the types of characters Stanwyck and Bogart played and were great at. They were too nice at the beginning! The Two Mrs. Carrolls was such a letdown. It was such a bore. The plot was so typical. I hate plots that deal with husbands trying to murder their wives. I do realize that The Two Mrs. Carrolls is not exactly like Rebecca but it is similar. It is almost like the writers wanted to put a twist on the earlier film and it fell completely flat. The Two Mrs. Carrolls is a classic film I say to skip unless you really, really like Barbara Stanwyck or Humphrey Bogart.