The Maltese Falcon (1941)
An entertaining detective film noir mystery even by modern standards.
Presentation:
Humphrey Bogart plays his signature skeptical character this time as a private investigator trying to unearth the priceless Maltese Falcon. The film has noir aspects with decent cinematography, but the focus is on its talent and story. For a thriller made in 1941, the pacing and tension does get thrilling especially toward the climax and almost goes toe to toe with modern films in excitement. However, like all of the classic films, the language doesn’t always translate with the reveal of the mystery explicitly spoken as opposed to shown. It’s also revealed so quickly that it will be very easy to miss; you’ll likely have to rewind to fully grasp how the events happened.
Conclusion:
A fun detective mystery thriller with some spy, deception and action elements that resemble the building blocks of a 007 film. If you like classic films, this a one of the more well executed and presented thrillers. But even for casual audiences, you might find yourself absorbed by Bogart’s unstoppable performance.
Sort by
- action 55
- adventure 30
- animation 5
- biographical 23
- chinese 7
- comedy 30
- coming of age 12
- crime 61
- culinary 3
- detective 12
- documentary 6
- drama 168
- driving 6
- experimental 14
- fantasy 20
- french 10
- heist 4
- historical 12
- horror 45
- japanese 5
- korean 10
- lgb 3
- music 6
- mystery 47
- norwegian 1
- psychological 16
- romance 31
- satire 7
- sci-fi 31
- spanish 4
- sports 5
- superhero 2
- suspense 15
- swedish 1
- thai 1
- thriller 79
- war 11
- western 6
- zombie 3
- 🌶 2
- 🌶🌶 23
- 🌶🌶🌶 86
- 🌶🌶🌶🌶 136
- 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 49
Recommendations
The best of Hannibal Lecter.