Tuesday, August 27, 2013

"The MALTESE FALCON (1941), see."

All right.  You've done.  You've officially watched the FIRST film noir ever.  Feel good about yourself.  Feel more legit as you grow in your noir studies.  It's always an impressive thing when a young person can say they've seen a film classic - and this is an important film (plus, you can feel awesome every time you use the phone by the office and look at the Maltese Falcon poster above it).

What'd you think? Does it deserve to be on a top ten noir list? Why or why not? What characteristics of typical noir does it have? Which does it lack? What did you learn that will help you write your noir screenplay?

This is the film that is typically used as an example when people explain what a Mac Guffen is? What was the Mac Guffen in this movie? What did you learn from the film about the nature of a Mac Guffen and how you might use Mac Guffens in your scripts?

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38 comments:

  1. Naomi GossAugust 28, 2013 at 10:05 AM

    Wow. Men in the 40's really enjoyed b-slapping people in the face!
    I definitely think this film deserves to be on every top 10 noir list! A great example to show people who don't know what noir is.
    I liked the importance of the Macguffin and how it drove the entire plot. Without it, there wouldn't really be a story!

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    1. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 12:52 PM

      hahahahaha this made me laugh so hard


      Marina M

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    2. Will_McAllisterAugust 28, 2013 at 8:43 PM

      Me too! Me too.

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    3. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:43 PM

      I feel we have all bonded over this post.

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    4. Marina MSeptember 9, 2013 at 8:54 AM

      lol this class and blog thing is a lot of fun,

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  2. Tyson MarlowAugust 28, 2013 at 12:52 PM

    For being the first classified Noir film I thought it was pretty good. It was longer then it needed to be though.

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  3. UnknownAugust 28, 2013 at 12:53 PM

    I loved it. Definitely one of the easiest ones to sit through. My favorite thing about this film was his Bogarts acting. He was brilliant and made the whole film. It had a lot of noir traits and i cant really think of any it lacked. 5 stars!

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    1. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:50 PM

      Interesting. For me, this film is slower than Kiss Me Deadly. It seems to me, Tony, that you have acclimatized yourself to the genre and the era. That is an important maturation.

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  4. Sydnie HendersonAugust 28, 2013 at 12:55 PM

    There was a lot of good suspense, but sometimes I thought it dragged a little bit. Though I absolutely loved Humphrey Bogart; he drove the film very well.
    The use of shadows was really nice, it made everything seem so dark and mysterious.

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    1. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 12:56 PM

      I agree with the part about it dragging on in some scenes.

      Marina M

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    2. Will_McAllisterAugust 28, 2013 at 8:45 PM

      Mr. Bogart is pretty awesome. He has a screen presence. I think you're both right, some scenes did drag a bit. I'm not sure if that was just a 40s thing, or the director's choice. But, Humphrey is pretty good a punching dudes in the face. I think we can all agree on that.

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  5. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 12:55 PM

    I think this deffinatly should be on the ten ten film noir list because its the very first one, so it obviously deserves some really good recognition.

    Marina M

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    1. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:52 PM

      For you, what made it good?

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    2. Marina MSeptember 9, 2013 at 8:58 AM

      I enjoyed the drama in this one, actually, i think the drama in the other movies are a little over the top, but this one did it really well. It was also just interesting to watch and see what they were thinking up for this new genre, film noir. Honestly, i would probably watch this on my free time. (:

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  6. Tyson MarlowAugust 28, 2013 at 12:55 PM

    Spade was kinda of a jerk, the part that stood out was when Archer died and he kisses Archers' wife then totally blows her off. But she hated her husband so mixed feelings all a round.

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    1. Naomi GossAugust 28, 2013 at 1:01 PM

      Who doesn't enjoy that kind of drama in movies?
      It makes you hate them all.

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  7. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 12:55 PM

    I have to agree on the long part and it actually being no half bad..... is it bad to say I fall asleep for a few minutes while watching the movie. im sorry it was to long. (dea)

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    1. Sydnie HendersonAugust 28, 2013 at 1:00 PM

      I agree that there were parts of the film that didn't really need to be in there, and there was a dragging; but overall I think it was well crafted. Even though it tested my patience a little, but that isn't the film's fault, it's the way we as a modern audience watch things.

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  8. UnknownAugust 28, 2013 at 12:59 PM

    I liked most parts of it but just a tiny bit of the other parts lost my interest.

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    1. Will_McAllisterAugust 28, 2013 at 8:46 PM

      That's fair, Dallas. I'm totally interested, though - what parts did you like, what parts lost your interest? Can you be more specific? You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

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    2. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:54 PM

      Yes, Dallas, please elaborate.

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    3. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:55 PM

      (This is a teacher gang up.)

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  9. Tyson MarlowAugust 28, 2013 at 1:00 PM

    Joel Cairo was played by Peter Lorre, He was also famous for a role in Casablanca and having popped out eyes and raspy voice.

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    1. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:56 PM

      Thanks for the trivia. I totally dig this sort of info!

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    2. Carlos PerdomoAugust 30, 2013 at 7:55 AM

      Also did you know that Peter Lorre has been in more Film Noirs than Humphrey Bogart?

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  10. UnknownAugust 28, 2013 at 1:01 PM

    I'm not sure if it's me being use to watching pre-60's films or how entertaining the film actually was but this film has been the easiest to sit through out of the ones we've watched.
    Definitely showing how important acting is not just in noirs but in movies in general. The protagonist had so much character and was so stylized I could've watched him sit down and eat a cheese cake for an hour and cheer him on every bite.

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    1. Will_McAllisterAugust 28, 2013 at 8:50 PM

      One thing I like about a lot of films from the earlier decades are how character driven they are. You notice trailers of the time were more about showing off the people in the movie and less about explosions and action sequences. People back then didn't need as much action to be satisfied with a film. For them it was more about the cool characters. And, well, as for Mr. Humphrey Bogart, you can't fit much more cool into one single dude. He's oozing with it.

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    2. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:57 PM

      Allen, I appreciate the way you use each film as a chance to learn how to make your own films better. You are always writing about this on the blog.

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  11. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 1:03 PM

    The only thing that bugged me in this film. is that i feel like he lit up a new cigarette every new shot. Wasnt very realistic to me...

    Marina M

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    1. Will_McAllisterAugust 28, 2013 at 8:50 PM

      TONS of smoking. Every character is going to die of lung cancer before they reach old age.

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    2. Marina MSeptember 9, 2013 at 9:02 AM

      The probably already are dead..... :(

      But i just felt like every 5 seconds, "light a new smoke,".. " i didnt finish this smoke so im gunna smoke a new one," ..." new smoke, new, new, new...." Im pretty sure NO ONE smokes like that haha.

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  12. Carlos PerdomoAugust 28, 2013 at 1:03 PM

    I likes it. It seemed to drag on a bit and is not something I could just sit down and watch but I did enjoy it.

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    1. Tyler M.September 16, 2013 at 12:08 PM

      I agree i felt it was kind of long winded and sometime if felt that the plot twist were either a little to complicated or completely unnecessary to begin with. But over all it was a great movie and i could watch it again if i was in a noiry mood.

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  13. UnknownAugust 28, 2013 at 1:05 PM

    this was a great movie i can see why this is a cult classic amongst people who are old enough to have sean it. This movie does deserve to be where it is on noir list it was a great film and had a well orchestrated plot. It has many of the characteristics of typical noir especially the unknowing of which side the protagonist is actually on. all in all the movie was great except for the beginning i found the whole thing with the main character's seaming unceasingness was angering.

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    1. Will_McAllisterAugust 28, 2013 at 8:59 PM

      Glad you liked it, Jacob, and I love how you pulled out a specific example of this film's Noiry-ness (that's not really a word... buuut we're going to pretend it is), by talking about the side flipping protagonist. Nicely done!

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    2. AnonymousAugust 28, 2013 at 9:59 PM

      Jacob: you get extra points for your detailed response!

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  14. Tyler M.September 2, 2013 at 7:53 PM

    Honestly, I have Mixed feelings about the ending. One one hand it was a pretty cool twist that a lot of people wouldn't have seen coming. But on the other hand i felt disappointed because i actually thought they found it.

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  15. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2013 at 5:05 PM

    i didnt find it as interesting as most of the movies we have watched in class but i enjoyed the lead character

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