The Maltese Falcon

DeadYorick · 01-18-2008, 05:34 PM

I own both the Maltese Falcon and Calablanca. Manny Calavera seems to be based on both of Bogarts character's Sam Spade and Rick Blane. So has anyone watched The Maltese Falcon?

squiike · 07-17-2009, 04:47 AM

Yeah, and ive searched alot for movies with the same feel and dark humor as grim fandango.

movies i recommend you are "Body Heat" "Fatal Instinct" "Dead men dont wear plaid". And i think "Basic instinct" were good too.

MeddlingMonk · 08-15-2009, 02:50 PM

I would suggest Murder, My Sweet, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, and Out of the Past.

King Dando · 08-19-2009, 10:47 AM

I bought Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon on DVD a few months ago based solely on the fact that Grim Fandango borrows from them. I hadn't seen them before then, and I rarely ever watch black and white films, but I enjoyed both of them a lot.

Darth InSidious · 08-19-2009, 11:06 AM

"By gad sir, you're a chap worth knowing! HA! HA!"

TMF and Casablanca are awesome. If you liked them you should also try The Big Sleep, which is another Bogart, this time based on Chandler rather than Hammett, and definitely must watch The Third Man, which is by Graham Greene, directed by Carol Reed, stars Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton, and is, all-round, awesome.

King Dando · 08-19-2009, 11:14 AM

I think The Big Sleep and The Third Man are being shown on BBC4 here in the UK on Saturday and Sunday as part of their Noir weekend. This'll be the perfect time for me to check them out =)

EDIT: My mistake; they're showing The Big Combo and Stranger on the Third Floor. I only glanced at the TV listing briefly the other day. They're also showing Farewell, My Lovely, The Lady from Shanghai, Force of Evil and Build My Gallows High among others.

MeddlingMonk · 08-22-2009, 11:15 AM

About The Maltese Falcon itself...a lot of people don't realize there are three film versions of it and the one with Bogart is the third. The first version was called The Maltese Falcon when it was released but when shown on TV it's renamed Dangerous Female to avoid (and cause) confusion. This version was released in 1931 so it has the static quality of early talkies. It stars Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels. This version is slick where the 1941 version is gritty. But in some ways it's more faithful to the novel because it's pre-Code, especially in the scene where the fat man palms the one bill and blames the woman.. In the 1941 version Bogart simply believes Mary Astor when she denies it. In the 1931 version as in the novel Cortez strip searches Daniels before he believes her. But the 1941 is more true to the spirit of the novel. The second version is called Satan Met a Lady (in Dashiell Hamett's novel, Spade is described as looking like a blonde Satan) and is, believe it or not, a comedy. And not a good one. This version stars Warren William and Bette Davis (who in later years called it the worst movie she ever made).

Several film noir movies are based on detective or crime novels, which is why I used hardboiled detective stories as the model for what I did in the GF novelization. Not sure how well that comes through, if at all.