The Maltese falcon [videorecording] / Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Warner Bros. - First National picture ; directed by John Huston ; screenplay by John Huston ; executive producer, Hal B. Wallis.
Material type:
FilmPublisher number: 1000167360 | Warner Home VideoLanguage: English Original language: English Subtitle language: English, French, Spanish Publication details: Burbank, CA : Warner Home Video, [2010]Edition: Standard versionDescription: 1 videodisc (100 min.) : sd., b&w ; 4 3/4 inISBN: - 0780664752
- 9780780664753
- Maltese falcon (Motion picture : 1941).
- Director of photography, Arthur Edeson ; film editor, Thomas Richards ; music, Adolph Deutsch.
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult DVD
|
Main Library | DVD | DRAMA Maltese | Available | 33111008302768 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in 1941--or, rather, John Huston, a long-established screenwriter making his directorial debut, got it right, simply by adhering as closely as possible to the original. Taking over from a recalcitrant George Raft, Humphrey Bogart achieved true stardom as Sam Spade, a hard-boiled San Francisco private eye who can be as unscrupulous as the next guy but also adheres to his own personal code of honor. Into the offices of the Spade & Archer detective agency sweeps a Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor), who offers a large retainer to Sam and his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) if they'll protect her from someone named Floyd Thursby. The detectives believe neither Miss Wonderly nor her story, but they believe her money. Since Archer saw her first, he takes the case -- and later that evening he is shot to death, as is the mysterious Thursby. Miss Wonderly's real name turns out to be Brigid O'Shaughnessey, and, as the story continues, Sam is also introduced to the effeminate Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and the fat, erudite Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet, in his film debut). It turns out that Brigid, Cairo and Gutman are all international scoundrels, all involved in the search for a foot-high, jewel-encrusted statuette in the shape of a falcon. Though both Cairo and Gutman offer Spade small fortunes to find the "black bird," they are obviously willing to commit mayhem and murder towards that goal: Gutman, for example, drugs Spade and allows his "gunsel" Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.) to kick and beat the unconscious detective. This classic film noir detective yarn gets better with each viewing, which is more than can be said for the first two Maltese Falcons and the ill-advised 1975 "sequel" The Black Bird. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett.
Originally released as a motion picture in 1941.
Special features: Commentary by Bogart biographer Eric Lax; Warner night at the movies 1941 short subjects gallery; newsreel; technicolor musical short "The gay Parisian"; 2 classic cartoons: "Hiawatha's rabbit hunt" and "Meet John Doughboy"; trailers of this movie and 1941's "Sergeant York."
Director of photography, Arthur Edeson ; film editor, Thomas Richards ; music, Adolph Deutsch.
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet.
Detective Sam Spade goes in search of a priceless statuette after the death of his partner.
DVD, full screen presentation; Dolby Digital mono.
English dialogue; French and Spanish subtitles ; closed-captioned.