The Maltese Falcon 4K review by Bobby Blakey
Warner Bros studios is currently celebrating their 100th Anniversary and what better time to dip into the vault and release some of their more iconic films on 4K. One of them is the 1941 classic The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, and Sydney Greenstreet from director John Huston making his directorial debut.
The Maltese Falcon follows tough San Francisco private detective Sam Spade in the classic, convoluted story of Spade's involvement with a deadly band of international thieves who will lie, double cross and murder to obtain a small, jewel-encrusted statue known as The Maltese Falcon. Sam Spade's (Bogart) partner, Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan), accepts a job protecting a young woman (Mary Astor). Neither Spade nor Archer believe the woman or the story she tells them, but they do believe her money. Then, when Archer is murdered, Spade's search for the killer drags him in the web of lies and death spun by the desperate people seeking The Maltese Falcon.
Of all the iconic films this is one I knew all about from the cast to the story, but had never actually sat down and watched it. Thankfully with this new release of the classic film I have changed that tragedy and sat down to see what all the fuss was about. First I want to say that I love old Hollywood and how they shot films back then. Everything was just on a different scale and often times felt like a stage production. This one is no different and offers up some great visuals in a story that is compelling even if not always all that exciting.
I get the appeal to this film and love the cast and story, but honestly is pretty slow and not near as good as I had hoped. It’s not bad by any means, but there just isn’t a lot happening until the final moments of
the reveal. Even then it just never fully brings the intrigue and twiststhat I expected from the history of this iconic film. I totally understand its appeal of the time and Bogart’s classic performance, but for me it just doesn’t hold up near as good as I had hoped. I am sure I will get flak for hating on a film this beloved, but it just didn’t bring much to the table for me.
Despite my issues with the film that doesn’t make it any less iconic. This is a film that is worthy of this new 4K treatment and will hopefully not only gives it the visual perfection it deserves, but hopefully will get it out to a whole new generation of film lovers to experience.
Grab your copy of The Maltese Falcon available now on 4K for the first time from Warner Bros.