The Maltese Falcon Three-Disc Special Edition (1941 & 1931 versions / Satan Met a Lady) Reviews

• Warners Doesn't Do It Again

  
  By A14SOHUCCL0606 on 2000-02-21
  Warner Brothers has one of the greatest film catalogs of any studio; yet they don't appear to take their DVD issues very seriously. Who on earth would put "Goodfellas" on two sides of a disc? or not release the "Director's Cut" version of "Eyes Wide Shut" (imagine the added revenue if they had)? or release a slapdash collection of Kubrick's films? or almost never digitally enhance the audio or visual transfer or provide any significant extras? Compared to the deluxe packages that Universal, Criterion, and, even, Paramount has mustered, Warners' issues - all released in cheap and easily breakable snap cases - are a peculiar desecration of a vaunted film legacy.

  Case in point: "The Maltese Falcon". Arguably the greatest detective film ever made, Warners at least releases it with a decent video transfer. Unfortunately, the audio synchronizing is off during the last 15 minutes of the movie (by a second but it's still noticable) and I wasn't able to access all the people on the "Cast and Crew" menu (no, it wasn't a machine error, as I tested on several discs thereafter). Moreover, although I enjoyed the "Trailers of Humphrey Bogart" section, it would have been nice if Warners spent the money to create a documentary history of the film the way they did on Universal's "Casablanca" release.

  Much ink has been spilt praising "The Maltese Falcon" so I won't go into any panegyrics here. It's just a shame that Warners doesn't take this market seriously enough to put more care into the DVD releases of their finest films.
  
  

• One of the few movies that's as good as the book

  
  By A164CEQYM6I9WL on 2000-07-19
  John Huston's directorial debut nails every single possible angle for a great movie: a great hero in Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade, here making a major transition from the gangster roles that made him famous; a great set of villains, from Sydney Greenstreet's ponderous Gutman to Peter Lorre's effeminate Joel Cairo to Elisha Cook's almost cartoonish gunman Wilmer; a great femme fatale in Mary Astor's Brigid O'Shaunessy; a great hunt, in the quest for the fabled Maltese Falcon. Shot scene for scene out of the novel (with some notable cuts of extraneous material, such as a long story Sam tells Brigid while they're waiting, and Gutman's daughter!), "The Maltese Falcon" is utterly clean, economical film-making with no fat whatsoever (except for Gutman, of course). The movie creates a tense atmosphere from its opening shots, with ironic humor simply acting as counterpoint throughout. The final scenes of revelation, where Sam explains to Brigid his personal code of honor, are as emotionally devastating today as they were fifty years ago. The last shots of the movie, as Brigid descends in the elevator quickly to her fate, while Sam takes the stairs, suggests each character is heading to their own private hell, even if at different speeds. A brilliant movie!
  
  

• A Must-Have!

  
  By A60PQSFWSQK8K on 2000-05-17
  Sometimes with a movie everything turns out right. That was the case with this 1941 classic. John Huston's driectorial debut is a masterpiece of film noir, featuring a great performance by Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. Actually, the entire cast is fantastic from top to bottom, with standout performances from Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. The story is a classic tale of greed, murder, and manipulation with some surprising plot twists (surprising if you haven't seen it already). THE MALTESE FALCON is one of those movies that you can watch over and over and find something new each time. The picture and sound quality are actually quite good for a film from 1941 as any flaws are minor and inconsequential. The DVD also features the original theatrical trailer, plus a special feature on trailers from Humphrey Bogart movies. This truly is a must-have! Add this DVD to your collection; you will be glad that you did!
  
  

• The Ace of all Sam Spades!

  
  By A1E8HGPHF98MOV on 2006-08-22
  "The stuff that dreams are made of," or, for some, the greatest private eye movie there ever was gets the royal treatment in this "Three-Disc Special Edition." "The Maltese Falcon" has ensnared so many fans in its 65 years- so many that its been lampooned and "Looney-tuned" the world over. It's hard to know where to begin. Let's just say it's here where the whole Humphrey Bogart mystique truely takes hold in his incomparable role as Sam Spade.
  
  Both crafty and shafty, a "hero" only in the sense that he wins the game of "the smarter crook," Bogart is riveting to watch. He's also superbly supported by a steller cast including a heart- aching turn by Mary Astor as Spade's "love interest" and a classic rouge's gallery of criminals including Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre (Bogart's two "Casablanca co-stars). My fave, though is Elisha Cook Jr. as creepy man/child bodyguard, Wilmer who Bogart laughable taunts throughout.
  
  First time director John Huston wisely did not stray from the book as Hammett's prose is fabulously tart ("Shoo her in, darling. Shoo her in.") and orchestrates the dialog and situations in such a frantic pace that you're consistantly jucied even though most of the action consist of few characters on small, dimly lit sets (add a thunderous musical score and you have the perfect example of the Warner Brothers house style).
  
  This dvd edition is indeed historic as it finally, FINALLY, puts all in one package the original, little seen, "good-on-its-own-terms," 1931 version of "The Maltese Falcon" as well as its inferior, thinly veiled 1936 remake "Satan Met a Lady" (co-starring Bette Davis) one . Starring Ricardo Cortez as a slicker, prettier Spade, the original like its 1941 remake follows Hammett's book closely and is fascinating to watch just how much of Huston's version was actually derivative. It's just that Huston built the better mouse trap.
  
  

• The Greatest Detective Film of All Time

  
  By A2PH5Z4M4UZWOL on 2000-02-19
  "The Maltese Falcon" is perhaps the greatest detective film ever made. It certainly one of the best films ever made. It is populated by great characters-Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), "The Fat Man" (Sidney Greenstreet) and on and on. This is also one of the best written films of all time. The dialogue is snappy, cynical, and funny all at the same time. This movie has not aged at all. Unfortunately, while this is a 5 star movie, the quality of the DVD leaves a lot to be desired. There are so many blips, lines and changes in picture quality from scene to scene (and edit to edit!) that it is very distracting. Frankly, this movie deserves a restoration similar that done on Hitchcock's "Vertigo" and the Criterion Collection's, "The Third Man." I'm afraid, that similar to the CD market, we are going to see poor quality transfers to DVD, followed by new re-mastering and restoration processes that will necessitate the re-release of catalog movies on DVD. Therefore, the customer will have to purchase the same DVD twice to get the picture quality great films, such as this, deserve.
  
  
• Warner Bros. does it yet again.
  By A37NL9EDUT23IV on 2007-03-24
  Again, Warner Bros. continues to rival other studios with their DVD releases of their classic movies. This time, they've pulled out all the stops for the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon, the film that practically invented the film noir genre. Although not as packed with bonus materials like some of their other previous Special Edition, they've still put enough material on here to use THREE discs. The set contains a cardboard slipcase packaging two slim DVD cases. Disc 1 is contained in the first case, and the second case contains discs 2 and 3. I won't go into detail on the movie, because I'm here to review the product itself, not the movie.
  
  The first disc contains the 1941 film noir classic, with a newly restored digital transfer. Digital artifacting is minimal if existent. Some film artifacting, such as occasional slight shakiness is present, but for the most part, the transfer is clean and free from flaws. The audio is presented in its glorious original mono mix, which has been cleaned up for this new transfer. An audio commentary is included, but I have yet to listen to it. Also included is a bonus called Warner Night At The Movies, which allows you to view a gallery of short subjects before The Maltese Falcon - the way you would have in 1941. The short subjects included are informative and/or entertaining and even include a couple of short cartoons. But the restored movie is, of course, the main attraction - and what an attraction!
  
  Disc 2 contains a nice surprise - the first two film versions of The Maltese Falcon! The first one is the pre-code 1931 version starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade and Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly. Although this first version is very similar to the 1941 version, it contains a bit more sexual innuendo and suggestive scenes. For many years after its initial release, the film was not allowed to be shown until the late 60's, when it turned up on TV under the title Dangerous Female. The second film is a thinly veiled screwball comedy take on the story titled Satan Met A Lady, starring Warren William as Ted Shane (Sam Spade) and Bette Davis as Valerie Purvis (Ruth Wonderly/Brigid O'Shaughnessy). Despite having all of the characters' names changed and the object of desire changed to a ram's horn filled with jewels, it's obvious what the source material is. Satan Met A Lady's theatrical trailer is included, but not the trailer for the 1931 film, despite the packaging's claim that both versions' trailers are included. Having all three films on this set is a good idea, in my opinion, because it allows the viewer to decide for themself what their favorite version is. Although in my opinion, the 1941 tops both of them, I highly enjoyed the other two films too. Unlike the 1941 version, these versions have not been restored and definitely show their age, with plenty of dirts, spots, and scratches. They're unlikely to be revisited on DVD anytime soon, so this is about as good as they're going to get treated on DVD.
  
  Disc 3 contains all of the 1941 version's bonus materials. Not as packed as most supplemental material discs in Warner's Special Editions, (In fact, a single-layer disc was used for disc 3, and holds approx. 3.5 GB of data.) the bonuses included are quite excellent and informative. Included is a new documentary on the making and impact of the movie, called One Magnificent Bird. Next is the TCM documentary Becoming Attractions: The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart, which includes theatrical trailers for many of Bogey's classics, such as High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Petrified Forest, and Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. The idea is to show Bogart's progression from B-list bad guy to A-list movie star. Another great bonus is the Breakdowns of 1941 blooper reel, which contains some of the greatest old school actors and actresses, such as Bogart, Bette Davis, and James Cagney, blowing their lines - and often using some pretty salty language that couldn't be shown in theaters at the time. Also included are some Mary Astor makeup tests, although I personally don't see the significance. Finally, rounding out this set are three radio broadcast performances - the Lux Radio Theater performance with Edward G. Robinson, and two featuring Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet, with Peter Lorre also starring in one of the broadcasts. Approx. two hours of great old time radio to listen to.
  
  This set may disappoint the consumer that has been spoiled by 4-Disc sets of Ben-Hur and Gone With The Wind and the 3-Disc set of The Wizard of Oz. Although I'm one of the consumers that has been spoiled with those releases, in my opinion, The Maltese Falcon's 3-Disc Special Edition stands up alongside these releases beautifully. With THREE movies and around four hours of additional bonus materials, this set truly delivers. If you love old movies, Bogey, or film noir, this is a MUST-have for your collection.
  
  
• the stuff that dreams are made of!
  By A2QMLRALDX4U2B on 2008-03-09
  This movie is inimitable.
  
  Terse, convoluted, gritty, and satirical. The scenes of this movie pack a visceral punch rarely matched in classic Hollywood movies.
  
  The plot is confusing, if not incomprehensible at times. However, the basics are pretty straightforward. Sam Spade is a private eye working in San Fransisco with his partner. One afternoon a beautiful, malevolent women walks into Spade's office, paying him and his partner (Miles Archer) to find her sister. She claims her sister is in grave danger. She is, of course, lying. Her real goals are hidden, but slowly revealed as the movie progresses. Unfortunately her little ruse ends up getting Spade's partner killed. Thus is unleashed a complex series of events.
  The plot focuses on Spade's attempt to keep up with the criminal elements around him. It seems every one is machiavellian, and the underworld Spade belongs to is byzantine in its betrayals, double-crossings, and machinations. The people he talks to are inveterate liars. One gets vertigo trying to make sense of it all. This makes us all the more amazed that Spade can keep his cool. Oddly, it turns out all the fuss in the movie has to do with the statue of a Maltese Falcon. An object worth killing and dying for.
  Spade plays crooked, but deep down inside he is a Kantian. His ethical nature, stoic exterior, and masculine facade, make him irresistable as a protaganist. This is the movie that marked the rise of Bogart the superhuman-and rightfully so.
  
  The Maltese Falcon is a rich movie, with myriad meanings. One of the major themes is the quest for an unattainable object and the havoc such a quest can cause. After all, the dead bodies in this movie accumulated over nothing more than the silly statue of a bird! It is interesting to compare the Maltese Falcon with Don Quixote. Both works contain the mythological heroic quest. However, in Quixote, the quest is needed to sustain life. Without it, Quixote dies. In the Maltese Falcon the quest causes death. When the quest is over, sanity is restored. This is an interesting contrast, and one well worth pondering.
  
  Is the quest worth while? Or, should we stay sane and firmly planted on the sinful streets of the world?
  
  In the end, it is hard to find any flaws in this movie. There are no superfluous scenes, nor is there any hint of condescending directing. Just straight to the point, action and dialogue packed delivery.
  
  
  Brilliant!
  
  
• "The uhhh... stuff that dreams are made of."
  By A2B8GXSCB1R05T on 2002-10-26
  "The Maltese Falcon" is such a famous movie, and so often parodied, that it can be difficult to separate your mind from it's history and just enjoy it.  If you can do that, you are in for a treat.

  This if Film Noir at it's finest.  All the dames are dangerously beautiful, and all the detectives are hard-boiled.   Never, ever trust the Fat Man or anyone named Joel Cairo.    Tense, moody and harsh are all adjectives that describe this film.  The dialog is as sharp and as clever as Jane Austin.  "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter." The ending scene is one of cinema's greatest. You just can't go wrong with a true classic of this caliber.

  The DVD is great.  The black and white is crisp and clear, and completely essential to the mood of the flick.  Why anyone ever colorized the Maltese Falcon is beyond me, but here it is completely restored. The extra feature, "Becoming Attractions," is very interesting. It examines the Hollywood selling of Humphrey Bogart from background "heavy" to leading man.
  
  

• BEAUTIFUL DVD, CLASSIC FILM NOIR
  By A3BSS2M2DPPV4T on 2000-05-17
  A classic fabled film from 1941, this story set in San Francisco in the office of Archer and Spade is movie making at it's best. The actors give uniformly great performances and almost eerily seem to be born for their parts: Bogie as Sam Spade; Jerome Cowan as Archer; Greenstreet as Gutman; Elisha Cook as Wilmer; Lee Patrick as Effie and, of course, Peter Lorre as Cairo. Mary Astor briefly revived her fading career (a 1936 red-hot scandal was mostly to blame) and as Brigid O' Shaughnessy she's in her element as the pathological liar; hers is a classic performance. Strangely, this is actually the THIRD filmization of the Dashiell Hammett novel, the others being a 1931 version with Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez (in all fairness, it was adequate) and the poor SATAN MET A LADY,a bizarre 1936 version with Bette Davis (!) and the mealy Warren William.
  
  
• Great film, underwhelming DVD
  By A24D2GLJ0THLM6 on 2000-05-08
  Another DVD for which the makers seemed more concerned with rushing out a DVD than taking the opportunity to clean up the audio and video and make it the definitive release this classic deserves. Picture quality is noticeably inconsistent; audio flutters and is recorded too low--there is white noise during the quieter moments at normal playing volume. A VHS-quality release, but at least it won't degrade with repeated viewings. The extras are worthwhile, except for the ill-conceived cast bios, which fool one into thinking there's supposed to be more, when in fact there's only one bio--Bogart's.
  
  
• My Favorite Detective Movie
  By A37B3O457INKEA on 2002-09-13
  THE MALTESE FALCON is my favorite detective movie of all time. It is considered a classic today because so many different facets of the film's making seem to have come together magically in this one production.

  John Huston was a screenwriter who wanted to remake the old MALTESE FALCON as his first film as a director. He not only did a superb job in his directing debut but also acted as screenwriter.

  The selection of Sydney Greenstreet to fill the role of Kaspar Gutman at age 61 after specializing in playing butlers on Broadway was another fortunate choice. Greenstreet had no previous Hollywood experience.

  The most important decision of all was probably to cast Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade after George Raft had turned down the offer. It helped that the film had an all-star array of actors to complement Bogart. It would be difficult to find more suitable picks than Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Ward Bond and Elisha Cook, Jr. Even a mere cameo appearance by Walter Huston resulted in an unforgettable scene. The director's father portrayed the dying Captain Jacobi of the La Paloma delivering the Falcon to Spade's office.

  THE MALTESE FALCON is certainly not a love story in the style of CASABLANCA. The Bogart characters in both films, however, strike me as being quite similar. I see them both as ordinary men who rise to heroic heights by sticking to a few basic rules of decency - in spite of their many human failings.

  I highly recommend THE MALTESE FALCON and am sure that I will no doubt see it again - and again.
  
  

• John Huston's directorial debut
  By A3GLF9XK4AUAHS on 2006-08-08
  After working as a screenwriter, John Huston was finally allowed to direct a film in 1941 when Warner Brothers chose him to adapt Dashiell Hammett's classic detective novel "The Maltese Falcon." Actually, Warners had already filmed the story before, with rather mixed results. It is a tribute to Huston's abilities that he was able to produce the definitive film version of the story and establish Humphrey Bogart as a major star.
  
  Bogart had, of course, already been steadily growing as an actor, particularly due to his work as gangsters in the legendary "The Petrified Forest" and "High Sierra." In "The Maltese Falcon" Bogart played a private detective and brought a combination of sarcasm and menace to the role. His portrayal of Sam Spade became one of the greatest roles of his career and established his versatility, even if he sometimes complained about being forced to play parts he didn't like (the fate of other major Warners stars such as Bette Davis and Olivia DeHavilland).
  
  It's delightful, however, to watch Bogart's detective matching wits with the likes of Gladys George, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet (in his screen debut at age 61!), Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook, Ward Bond, etc. Huston clearly had a very good cast and he used them well, even challenging the censors with Peter Lorre's prissy Joel Cairo. The onscreen relationships are all rather unusual and remarkable for a 1941 film.
  
  The pacing of the film is also quite good, through skillful use of the camera and careful editing. Huston was innovative in using sets that appear to have real ceilings, something that Orson Welles also did that same year in "Citizen Kane." Although filmed on the Warners lot in Burbank, Huston was able to use some second unit shots of San Francisco and clever intercutting with duplicates of San Francisco scenes to create the illusion that the film was actually filmed entirely in San Francisco. Huston also accurately represented key elements of "the City," as local residents called it, whether it be the use of actual street names or buildings much like those found in San Francisco.
  
  For the first time Huston even utilized his own father, Walter, in a brief but key scene in which the actual statue of the falcon is delivered. Years later, of course, Walter Huston had a major role, again with Bogart, in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
  
  Perhaps the bird in the story is much like Alfred Hitchcock's "MacGuffin" in so many of his films. While the falcon is supposedly found, only to prove a fake, the really important thing is learning who was responsible for the three murders in the story. As with the original story, Huston manages to keep us guessing, not revealing the final truths until almost the end of the film. Little wonder that many consider this the greatest detective film ever made.
  
  
• The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of On DVD
  By ACIBQ6BQ6AWEV on 2002-12-11
  Seldom has any novel been so successfully interpreted on screen: in approaching Dashiell Hammett's seminal private-eye novel, director John Huston not only stayed meticulously true to the plot, he also lifted great chunks on the novel's dialogue directly into the script--and then styled the pace, cinematography, and performances to reflect Hammett's stripped-for-action tone. And the result, to borrow a phrase from the film, is "the stuff that dreams are made of." THE MALTESE FALCON is a iconographic landmark in twentieth century cinema.

  The story is well known. Private eyes Sam Spade and Miles Archer are employed by an attractive but decidedly questionable Brigid O'Shaughnessy to track down a man named Thursby--but within hours of taking the case both Miles Archer and Thursby are shot dead, and Spade finds himself embroiled in a search for a legendary lost treasure: the figure of a falcon, encrusted with jewels.

  The cast is remarkable. Humphrey Bogart made a name for himself first on the stage and then in films with a series of memorable gangster roles, and was fresh from his great success in HIGH SIERRA; Sam Spade, which offered a new twist on his already established persona, was an inspired bit of casting. Mary Astor had been a great star in silent film, but the late twenties and early thirties found her dogged by scandal; perhaps deliberately playing on those memories, she brought a remarkable mixture of toughness, tarnish, and absolute believability to the role of the very, very dangerous Brigid. And the chemistry between Bogart and Astor is a remarkable thing, a simmering sexuality that more glossy casting could have never achieved.

  The supporting cast is equally fine. Although a great star in Europe and the star of a number of 1930s films, Peter Lorre was still something of an unknown quanity in American film; Sidney Greenstreet was a minor stage actor with no screen experience; Elisha Cook was a well-liked but neglected character actor. But THE MALTESE FALCON would fix all three firmly in the public mind, and to some extent all three would continue to play variations of their FALCON roles for the rest of their lives.

  FALCON is particularly noted as one of several films that craftily circumvented the notorious "Production Code" by effectively implying but never directly stating the various sexual relations between the characters. Spade has clearly had an affair with Archer's wife, Iva; Archer is clearly a man on the sexual make, and leaps at the chance to tail Brigid. Lorre's lines effectively expose Brigid as man-hungry, and the script and situations do everything but flatly state that Lorre's character is homosexual. Perhaps most startling is the implied sexual relationship between Sidney Greenstreet and the hoodlum Elisha Cook, and the concluding implication that Lorre may well replace Cook in Greenstreet's affections. Just as the plotlines swirl and twist, so do the layers of innuendo and the tangles of sexual uncertainty--all of it adding to the film's feel of uneasy decadence and grittiness.

  The DVD bonuses are enjoyable but slight--two film trailers and a documentary that uses trailers to show how Warner Bros. marketed Bogart during the 1930s and 1940s. But even if it came without any bonuses the DVD would still be greatly welcomed: although it has not been restored in a computer-corrected sense, this is the finest print I have ever seen of the film, far superior to anything available on VHS. A great film, a true essential, and strongly, strongly recommended.
  
  

• THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF, LOOKS A LITTLE DUSTY
  By A1M9DQDGE07Q0U on 2003-03-11
  This is one of those Humphrey Bogart classics that always draws an audience. Bogart is Sam Spade and here he's in search of a mysterious statue rumored to be encrusted with jewels from the king of Spain. He's got company in the chase - a couple of murderers fronted by the considerable girth of Casper Guttman (Sidney Greenstreet) and a real vixen in the embodiment of Miss O'Shaughnessy (Mary Astor). This is the stuff that dreams are made of!
  Unfortunately Warner Brothers DVD falls short of making the dream sparkle. The years have not been good to this classic and although most of the film exhibits a clarity and contrast level far superior to any version released to home video prior to this, the original film negative is still riddled with camera splices, water stains and scratches. There's also some fine detail shimmering and a hint of edge enhancement, coupled with some digital noise, that makes the print look rather grainy at times. Like Warners release of "The Big Sleep" or "Key Largo", these films need to be revisited by Warner with a completely new digital transfer. The sound is mono and well worn as well, though its sonic characteristics tend to hold up quite well under scrutiny. No extras here - a real shame!
  
  
• Restoration, please?
  By A1Q0DWEWELHG2 on 2004-08-24
  A classic, and essential for any DVD library. But be warned that this is not a restored version. It's a fine print, and the sound is fine as well. However, there are several shots and one whole scene (at the location where Archer's body is found) that seem to have come from a different and poorer-quality print. Not bad enough to spoil your enjoyment, but given the price, fans may want to wait for a complete restoration.
  
  
• Compare and contrast
  By A2YRHIJGRGMB6Q on 2006-11-12
  The 'spotlight' reviews of The Maltese Falcon (1941) are on the money. It remains a remarkably modern, cynical film that holds up very well today. I remember my father talking about seeing it when it first came out, and talking of how, unlike so many other films, it moved like lightning. Mysteries in particular were typically slow moving films with too much comedy thrown in for light relief. The Huston version of The Maltese Falcon changed everything.
  This new deluxe edition is wonderful, in part because it is great to finally have the two earlier versions easily available to watch, at least for a Falconite.
  The Cortez version, yes, is inferior. It is an excellent contrast with the Huston version, in that it follows the story, uses similar dialogue, but in comparison is so...minor. It does have some nice extra scenes, including the ending, and is worth watching, but more as a document from an era. It has its own charms, but remains inferior to the 1941 version.
  The 1935 version, though, is a remarkable disaster. It is terrible, either as a comedy or a mystery. There is pointless shifting of the story line (the Sydney Greenstreet character is a woman, to cite one ridiculous change). The Sam Spade character is a lightweight who does not give a damn about anything, but not because he is cynical--he just comes across as stupid.
  But by far the biggest mistake is the waste of a radiant Bette Davis. One can only imagine what Davis would have been like working in the Huston version--although Mary Astor was totally terrific. The comedy version is an excellent example of Hollywood completely screwing up.
  In this three disk special edition, the extras are both good and bad. I expected to see deleted scenes and bloopers from the Falcon movies--however, I don't remember any in the blooper reel provided. What was the point in seeing James Cagney and Pat O'Brien bloopers? The toons were okay, but so what? I haven't gotten yet to the radio versions, which should be interesting listening. But where is the documentary about the Huston version? About the other versions--the extras are all throwaways, which is annoying.
  The transfers are excellent--I haven't noticed the synchronization problem one reviewer on these pages noticed, so I'll take another look..
  
  
• great film, sloppy dvd
  By on 2001-09-11
  Many know of how much fun this movie is to watch. What is inexcusable is that such a famous, well loved movie would be so sloppily placed on dvd. Among other problems, a scene is actually left out, I can only assume that the people transferring this movie to the dvd were not fans of the movie, had never seen it in the past, and had no idea they left out this scene. The deleted scene is the one whereby Lorre is given back his gun by Bogart, lorre then points it at Bogart yet again-and the dvd fades to black to prepare for the next scene. What is deleted is Bogart laughing at Lorre and saying "Go right ahead (laugh, laugh), You go right ahead" THEN fade to black. I saw this scene in the old RCA video disk (1982?), and I still have the disc, I know it exists. Inexcusable!
  
  
• The birth of Hollywood's original noir anti-hero.
  By A3D6TFYRMIV3ZL on 2004-02-25
  Like few other actors, Humphrey Bogart ruled the Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s - epitome of the handsome, cynical and oh-so lonesome wolf and looking unbeatably cool in his fedora and trenchcoat, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth; endowed with a legendary aura several times larger than his real life stature, and still admired by scores of women wishing they had been born 50+ years earlier, preferably somewhere in California and to parents connected with the movie business, so as to have at least a marginal chance of meeting him. The American Film Institute recently elected him the No. 1 film legend of the 20th century; and looking back, indeed no other actor seems to have been surrounded by the same kind of darkly magical aura as the one surrounding Bogart.
  
  "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), directed by John Huston, based on Dashiell Hammett's 1930 like-named novel and itself also ranking in the top quarter of the AFI's list of the 100 best 20th century movies, laid the groundwork for Bogart's lasting image, by transforming his on-screen persona from the tough, often two-dimensional gangsters he had portrayed before; beginning with the 1936 adaptation of Robert Sherwood's "Petrified Forest" where, like in its 1934 stage production, Bogart had starred opposite Leslie Howard, with Bette Davis as the female lead. Now imbuing his tough guy shell with a softer core, in "The Maltese Falcon" Bogart became not only Hammett's Sam Spade but, moreover, the film noir anti-hero per se; a role that stayed with him throughout the rest of his career, and in which he still remains virtually unparalleled.
  
  The movie's long-famous story centers around the mysterious statute of a falcon made from solid gold, diamonds and other precious stones; the 16th century Maltese Knights' immeasurably precious gift of thanks to Emperor Charles V for the protection he had granted them. Stolen by pirates, blackened on the outside in order to conceal its true value and passed on through the centuries by a number of unsuspecting possessors, it finally attracts the attention of two rivaling pairs of equally cunning, ruthless and high-flying scoundrels, who chase each other and the statue halfway around the world and finally end up in Sam Spade's San Francisco office - not without getting both Spade's partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) and one of their own killed in the process; thus also causing additional grief for Spade, whom the police soon suspect of being behind the murders himself - or at least behind that of Archer - in order to make off with Archer's widow Iva (Gladys George). And of course, it doesn't exactly help that he has had his office sign changed from "Spade & Archer" to "Samuel Spade" within mere hours of his partner's death.
  
  Looking at the movie and its stars' almost mythical fame, it is difficult to imagine that, produced at the height of the studio system era, this was originally just one of the roughly 50 films released by Warner Brothers over the course of one year. But mass production didn't equal low quality; on the contrary, the great care given to all production values, from script-writing to camera work, editing, score and the stars' presentation in the movie itself and in its trailer, was as responsible for its lasting success as were Humphrey Bogart and his outstanding costars; first and foremost Mary Astor as the double-crossing and now partner-less Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet (in their first of several appearances opposite Bogart) as Joel Cairo and Kaspar Guttman, O'Shaughnessy/Astor's competitors for possession of the precious statue, and Elisha Cook, Jr., as Guttman's rough but inept bodyguard Wilmer Cook. Genre-defining and the first truly giant highlight of Bogart's career, "The Maltese Falcon" is an unmissable piece of Hollywood history, captivating you from the first moment you spend in Sam Spade's office all the way to its cynical conclusion, and a thrill to watch over and over again.
  
  Also recommended:
  Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 1 (Casablanca Two-Disc Special Edition / The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Two-Disc Special Edition / They Drive by Night / High Sierra)
  Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The Maltese Falcon Three-Disc Special Edition / Across the Pacific / Action in the North Atlantic / All Through the Night / Passage to Marseille)
  Bogie and Bacall - The Signature Collection (The Big Sleep / Dark Passage / Key Largo / To Have and Have Not)
  Complete Novels: Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man (Library of America #110)
  Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories / The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window (Library of America)
  Brother Orchid
  Bullets or Ballots
  The Postman Always Rings Twice
  Double Indemnity (Universal Legacy Series)
  Chinatown (Special Collector's Edition)
  
  
• Yes, but what about the DVD case(s)?
  By A2TDK8D4HEMUYW on 2006-10-05
  I give this five stars because the film is superb and there are some very nice special features on this new reissue - however, I have some complaints about the actual packaging of the discs. Rather than follow the route of Casablanca, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with the WB "cardboard" fold-out cases, which feel similar to Criterion DVDs and are higher quality, "Maltese Falcon" is just a standard DVD container with three smaller DVD cases inside - the same type of cheap, plastic DVD cases HBO began using for their DVDs of television shows a few years ago. They're the same as the "Arrested Development Season One" discs - it works for television shows because it's a bit easier to maintain, but I honestly think these are very annoying for films and they just don't appear to be as high quality as the standard WB classic reissues from the past few years.
  
  I just wanted to voice a concern over this because I noticed that recently a LOT of DVDs are being re-issued with these flimsy, small, plastic DVD cases. They're smaller than standard cases (which his annoying if you have a DVD collection and like to have them all fit in a row together) and not nearly as nice, either.
  
  
• The original 1931 version is really good, too!
  By A51IK68MWKV5R on 2008-05-06
  The three-disc special edition of the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon contains some very interesting bonus features: the two previous adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's novel, the first also called The Maltese Falcon (though it was renamed Dangerous Female for TV in the '50s to avoid confusion), and the second titled Satan Met a Lady.
  
  Since the 1941 version (directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre) is the one considered "definitive," it's not surprising that relatively few viewers realize that was actually Hollywood's third adaptation of Hammett's classic detective novel.
  
  Satan Met a Lady (directed by William Dieterle and starring Bette Davis and Warren William), is by all accounts a disaster (a very loose adaptation by screenwriter Brown Holmes, who co-wrote this version), but the first Maltese Falcon, filmed in 1931 by director Roy del Ruth, is a terrific alternative for viewers who love the story and would just like to watch a different take on it. (Both films are faithful to the source, with few changes.)
  
  The main difference in tone comes from Ricardo Cortez's portrayal of Sam Spade. Cortez's Spade is much more of a ladies man than Bogart's. In fact, the opening scene of the movie shows a woman leaving Spade's office, adjusting her stockings (later, he is shown picking up sofa cushions from the floor). His roving eye (and hand) also includes his secretary, Effie. Una Merkel plays Effie as if she's not only a willing participant in these shenanigans, but is also quite aware of Spade's other dalliances -- including partner Miles Archer's wife Iva (Thelma Todd) -- and thinks it's funny.
  
  That lightness extends to Cortez, as well. He goes throughout The Maltese Falcon with a huge smirk on his face, as if everything going on around him is endlessly entertaining. And I can imagine why. When Ruth Wonderly (Bebe Daniels) comes into his office, he probably already knows she'll end up naked in his bath, in his bed, and in his kitchen. Cortez displays just the right mix of sleaze and charm.
  
  But the only other actor who gives anything close to as interesting a performance is Dudley Digges as Kasper Gutman. Digges gives the role real grease, making him a truly unlikeable antagonist (Greenstreet always charmed even in his most villainous roles, much like Claude Rains, his costar in Casablanca). And I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Dwight Frye (Renfield in the Lugosi Dracula) shows up briefly as Wilmer Cook. He doesn't say much, but just try to look away when he flashes those psychotic eyes.
  
  This Maltese Falcon was made three years before the enforcement of the Production Code that would whitewash movies for the next thirty years. Thus, there are instances like those mentioned above that did not make it into the "cleaner" 1941 version. One major effect this had is when Mary Astor's Brigid O'Shaughnessy proclaims to Bogart's Spade, "I thought you loved me," it doesn't make a whole lot of sense based on what preceded. Here, when Wonderly (who never reveals herself to be O'Shaughnessy, a plot point I always thought was unnecessarily confusing anyway) says the same words, they hold real meaning.
  
  Though quite entertaining in its own right, the 1931 Maltese Falcon is undoubtedly destined to remain forgotten in the shadow of its later remake. I recommend it, however, due to its lighter and sexier tone, handsomer leading man, and almost completely different approach to the same source material. Fans of pre-Code cinema will especially enjoy it, even if they generally prefer a little more noir in their detective stories.
  
  
• Classic gumshoe tale with a great cast
  By ABN5K7K1TM1QA on 2002-02-22
  This was John Huston's first film and some say his best. It features a most interesting cast led by Humphrey Bogart who, one can see, had a great time playing the devil-may-care and cynical private eye, Sam Spade, a creation of mystery novelist Dashiell Hammett, who also created another cinematic favorite, The Thin Man (1934) (and sequels) starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Playing opposite Bogey as the tearful and treacherous Brigid O'Shaughnessy is Mary Astor, at the time in her mid-thirties and a veteran of many films going back to the silent era. Interestingly enough one of the films was The Runaway Bride (1930). In Hollywood the films never change, they just get make-overs.

  Peter Lorre plays the perfumed and villainous Joel Cairo in a style both humorous and sinister. His distinctive high pitched voice has become a staple of cartoon villains. Sidney Greenstreet, the rotund one, who catches up on his reading while they await the delivery of the falcon, plays Kasper Gutman, art connoisseur and sly crook. Elisha Cook Jr., the eternal little man with a gun, whose face seldom changes expression from that of hurtful vengeance, plays Wilmer Cook, Gutman's bodyguard.

  What makes this film the favorite of so many is the supremely confident manner in which Sam Spade deals with not only the motley assortment of crooks and con artists, but with the police, tearful women and the district attorney. He's a man's man whose rationality and good old fashioned common sense allow him to spot deception in the twinkling of an eye and give him the power to turn his back on love if there are strings attached. The cosmopolitan air and the sophisticated script allow the players full scope and they are fascinating to watch. Astor's fake tears and feigned innocence cause both Bogey and the audience to grin broadly. And the tête-a-têtes among all the characters, but especially between Greenstreet and Bogart and Lorre and Bogart--the big eyes, the greedy grabbing of guns--are the kind of scenes you can watch again and again with pleasure.

  Some see greed as the theme of this film, and indeed John Huston is very good at delineating the psychology of greed--witness also his The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)--but in the existential character of Sam Spade we see an American legend come to life. He is the thinking man of action living life by his wits and an independent code, the kind of man who takes life as it comes but without ever losing his sense of humor, the kind of guy we'd all like to be.

  There are a couple of earlier version of this film, The Maltese Falcon (1931) with Bebe Daniels and Ricado Cortez, and one starring Bette Davis and Warren William called Satan Met a Lady (1936), neither of which I've seen, but I understand that the 1931 version is very good. With help from a script by Truman Capote, Huston made a kind of a spoof in Beat the Devil (1954).

  Incidentally, in this and in The Big Sleep (1946), Bogart never really plays the gumshoe with the kind of hard-nosed disregard for conventional morality as envisioned in the novels, but is politically-corrected for the mass movie audience. Note here however that the first thing Sam Spade does when he gets the guys unconscious is to go through their wallets.

  Bottom line: a classic and a treat. Don't miss it.
  
  

• I had no idea what was going on.
  By A1CIW2OEVAJRM2 on 2002-03-07
  Normally a movie that leaves you with no idea what is going on is terribly annoying. Not this one. It's brilliant. It hails from the era when detective movies were making the transition from sophisticated plots and sharp thinking heros like Sherlock Holmes to the furious action of gun toting thugs and hard-core cops. The Maltese Falcon pioneered film-noir by introducing a small amount of action and mayhem with the hard-nosed hero performing several aggressive moves. But on the whole the murders and action are simply the background to the psychological question of whodunnit and the movie is unburdened by profanity or graphic violence.

  There are several main characters, notably abrasive Humphrey Bogart as tough guy private-eye Sam Spade. He must sort out the mystery behind the murder of his partner, and untangle a complicated web of intrigue involving the beautiful Brigid O'Shaunessy, the mysterious Joel Cairo, the gunman Wilmer Cook, and the obese "Fat Man" Kasper Gutman. In the quest for the fabled and priceless Maltese Falcon, there are several corpses that need to be accounted for. Whoddunit? For 99% of the movie, I had no idea, and was led on a wild goose chase of plot twists and possibilities. The superb plot (based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett) had me well and truly baffled.

  But the deception of artificial tears or false stories does not easily fool the perceptiveness of Sam Spade, nor does opposition quickly repress his confidence. Even the tinge of romance that is present is not overly sappy, because Sam Spade's determined moral principles easily overcome any passions for love or money that have conquered the villains he is pursuing. The hero of The Maltese Falcon is in this sense quite unlike the hero of the legendary Casablanca. His pursuit of truth and justice and immunity to the vices of girls and greed is completely inspiring, and so very unlike the movies of today. When the solution finally came at the end, I was amazed, but quite satisfied. Armed with the solution, I was ready to view and enjoy the whole movie again in a new light. The Maltese Falcon is renowned movie from 1941 that ranks among the greatest detective movies ever, and is a real treat to lovers of mystery today. Like mystery? Go watch it. You'll enjoy it more than once!
  
  

• Knights of Maltese Falcon
  By A1T5QNH3Q4RRZO on 2006-10-17
  An excellent film all around. I'd like to see any of today's directors or actors produce all this complication in a one room setting. I also want to point out that the official Amazon review terms the title "Maltese Falcon" as a "Middle Eastern" treasure. Don't tell any Maltese that! Malta is in the western mediterranean just south of Sicily, hardly near the Middle East. Occupied for centuries by Italy, it was the site of the famous 16th century battle where a smaller contingent of Catholic European knights (9000, most of whom were common islanders) held off a huge seige by 40,000 Mulsim Turks, establishing the order of the Knights of Malta that is still an official Roman Catholic Knightly order. At the time, Spain contolled the island and Charles V gave the island to the Knights of St. John to resist the advance of the Ottoman Turks, who he feared might conquer Rome and end Christianity in Europe. A "Maltese Falcon" therefore would have been a object associated with this period and the Knights of Malta as the Wikipedia quote from below seems to prove.
  
  From Wikipedia;
  
  The Maltese Falcon: When Charles V handed the island over to the Knights, one of the conditions attached to the handover was that the Order would send the King a live falcon as an annual tribute. The jewel-encrusted golden falcon of Dashiell Hammett's novel The Maltese Falcon (adapted by John Huston into a famous 1941 film) is entirely fictitious.
  
  The fact that Malta is part of the British Commonwealth and a member of the European Union as well as its location refutes the idea that Malta is a Middle Eastern or the fictitious falcon statue of the film a Middle Eastern treasure. It is true that like Spain it was occupied by Muslims in the 8th century and the Arabs influenced the Maltese language. It was also under Norman rule in the 12th century and today Matlese and English are the official languages of the island. According to Wikipedia, the islands first occupants in pre-bronze age history seem to have come from the north and established the well known, Central European Goddess culture with a notable temple existing in 3600BC - the oldest free standing structure in the world.
  
  All of this surely shows why the movie, "The Maltese Falcon" was so intriguing. Malta is a very ancient and historically complex island.
  
  
  
  
• One of the ten best films ever made in Hollywood
  By A356RFKNIG043B on 2007-12-27
  I'm so tired of seeing weak new movies; thank god for strong old ones! Here's a masterpiece I've seen at least twenty times in the last three decades, and it never gets old.
  What makes these classic studio pictures great (when they are great....most are not...Hollywood has always been about money before art...when art happens it seems accidental...)? I think it's that there were no special effects, no garish color, no visual tricks to pull out of a hat when things slow down. Dramatic craftsmanship was needed, and was sometimes delivered in spades [insert pun here].
  Two things make the best black and white chestnuts great: a very strong story that's well-paced and develops intelligently, and strongly written characters played by actors who know that stories hinge on character development as much as on plot development. The two should go hand in hand. When they do, real art ensues.
  I love the writing of both Hammett and Chandler; hard-boiled dialogue is hard to beat when it's done well, and they are the masters. Hammett may have invented the modern solipsistic detective with his Continental Op, a long cry from Holmes and Poirot. The Op turned into Sam Spade and the Falcon is all about Spade, and Bogie's innate understanding of this mostly good man stuck in a mostly bad world.
  The dialogue is razor sharp, the direction gemlike in its precision. No wasted lines, no wasted camera movement, no wasted time. The movie starts fast and never lets up. We get some truly classic characters, and the actors make these good roles into masterpieces, especially Lorre and Greenstreet. There are some phenomenally fine shots here; chiaroscuro this sharp rarely comes from outside Europe.
  There is far too much to list in terms of greatness in the Falcon. It is about as good as Hollywood ever got in telling a story and making it entertaining; we can thank mainly Hammett for that. The weltschmerz and hard-bitten cynicism on display here are far too intelligent for films these days.
  Ain't it funny that the best old black and white movies show us so clearly that life is never black and white, while movies in dazzling color tend to make life seem one-dimensional, in a good guy vs. bad guy way? The Falcon has no good guy, just a bunch of people who are all good and bad.
  When I get sick of crappy movies, I put this baby on and am reminded of why I love movies so much in the first place. Like good music and good literature, they take me somewhere new (even if I've been there before) and send me home knowing more about myself and the world than I did when I started. They also remind me that art and love are where you choose to find them, for they are everywhere. Even in the dark corners of life.
  And in the end, shweetheart, only you can make you happy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What is wrong with the last couple of reviewers?
  By A3H98NBBW5H9BR on 1999-08-06
  This is one of the best movies ever made. A great movie because of the acting, writing and directing. In other words, movies should be about telling a story, and telling it well. Too "talky", what the hell do you want, the whole point of this movie was the character of Sam Spade, and how the others involved revolve around him. The script keeps as true to Dashiell Hammett's novel as Hollywood would allow,and Bogart is as close in essence to a literary character as anyone has ever managed. Although in the novel Spade is Blond! Forget about today's anemic crime movies, and watch a classic.
  
  
• One of the best noirs ever
  By on 1999-11-06
  A hardboiled, tough, flat out wonderfully picture. Bogart is wonderful as Sam Spade, the menagerey of secondary characters is first rate, the graet story, with its rich characters and cool as ice dialouge,and it's moody black and white cinematography,(Ted Turner will get his punishment sooner or later for colorizing this film). Perhaps only out classed by Billy Wilder's Double Indemity, The Maltese Falcon is still one of the best detective films ever, and it certainly has one of the best closing lines ever. It's truly the stuff that great entertainment is made of.
  
  
• Classic Hammett, Classic Bogart
  By A3HRBWBN7DH9XV on 2001-01-06
  This movie has it all. It remains the all-time classic detective movie, the most accessible film-noir movie, and Bogart's introduction into mainstream movies. It literally drips with prewar style, and a mastery of black-and-white cinematography.

  The casting was intriguing, particularly Sidney Greenstreet's film debut along with a curly-haired Peter Lorre. Mary Astor made a comeback from Hollywood exile in a big way.

  As with the other DVD restorations I've bought, the richness of the visual print is astounding here. VHS never could translate a true black-to-white spectrum as is seen here. Subtleties in gradation lost in VHS are back in this format. This movie is a great example of a film better done in b/w rather than color. This type of cinematography is lost today, lost because the craftsmen who made these movies are gone. However, at least with these beautiful restorations we can see what we've lost.

  I've been a fan of Hammett for many years and one of my prized possessions is an exact replica of the falcon; try to get one and it'll be a great conversation piece for you, too!
  
  

• Well deserved special presentation of an immortal classic
  By A30J4XGVPPLYB3 on 2006-08-02
  One of the finest detective films ever finds Humphrey Bogart, as private eye Sam Spade, up to his trench coat in greed, deception and murder. Joining Bogie in the search for the priceless "black bird" are Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook, Jr.; John Huston's directorial debut. This collector's set also includes the first two film versions of Dashiell Hammett's thriller: "The Maltese Falcon" (1931), starring Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels and Dudley Digges; and Bette Davis and Warren William in "Satan Met a Lady" (1936). Trivia - The corpse in the office at the beginning of the film lying face down is actually Walter Huston, director John's father!
  
  
• Let's talk about the black bird
  By A2P49WD75WHAG5 on 2003-09-07
  John Huston's 1941 remake of The Maltese Falcon became the definitive version as it opened the doors for the film noir genre. And noir movies opened up with The Glass Key, The Postman Rings Twice, Key Largo, and Dark Passage. The dark mood of these movies were put to best effect with black-and-white film, with dimly lighting in nighttime scenes reflecting the grimness of the genre.

  Sam Spade becomes involved in the search for the title artifact with the introduction of three characters--Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Joel Cairo, and Kaspar Guttman. All three are involved in one way or another with the title object. The cynical Spade though, shows his loyalties to no one, but the one who pays him the most. He is also quick to strike out at anyone menacing him, such as a pistol-wielding Joel Cairo or Wilmer, a hired gun. His steel heart extends to his relationship with his partner, whose wife Iva he has an affair with, and even that is passionless. Only Ebbie, his loyal secretary with a nice personality who can handle Spade, gets the less hard part of his hard edge.

  However, two murders entangled themselves in the web. The first is that of Spade's partner Miles Archer, who charmed by Brigid, offered to shadow a man she wanted followed. The second is Thursby, the object of his hunt. And Spade's caught up also because he is suspected of his partner's murder due to his affair with Iva, and he's got to fend off the police and D.A.'s office.
  Certain camera shots get great mention, such as the shadow of the "Spade and Archer" sign cast from the window to the floor. Another is the bright spotlight effect shown on Miles's surprised face as he gets shot. And the way the camera focuses on the Fat Man's belly shows the weight he has, both physically and in terms of power. The lights and shadows enhance the costumes as well. Most of the characters are dressed in black.

  This was the film that pushed Bogart to film legend status, making it his biggest success since The Petrified Forest. Ahead of him lay greater roles such as Rick (Casablanca), Phil Marlowe (The Big Sleep), Allnutt (The African Queen), Queeg (The Caine Mutiny), and Linus Larrabee (Sabrina).

  Mary Astor (Brigitte) needed this kind of film, especially to counter the 1936 headliner scandal made over her sexual exploits with playwright George Kaufman, made public with the splashing of her diary across newspapers. Sydney Greenstreet as the plummy but dangerous "Fat Man", i.e. Guttman, Peter Lorre as the slightly effeminate Cairo, and Ed Begley Jr. as the neurotic gunsel Wilmer all add to this classic. He speaks in a low but quivering and menacing tone: "Keep on riding me, they'll be picking iron out of your liver."

  Cinematically, a classic, and remember that line, "the stuff that dreams are made of."
  
  

• Black And White Version is Superb!
  By on 2005-10-09
  The Maltese Falcon is a superb movie! I saw it both in it's original black and white and also colorized and the black and white is better and the colorized version looked very fake and the color of skin, eyes, hair, clothes, etc, look so weird and looked like a kid took a crayon or magic marker and colored on the film. It just looks so cheesy and tacky colorised! Well anyway This is an excellent moviue with an outstanding cast, Humphrey Bogart as private eye Sam Spade, Mary Aster as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Guttman (AKA The Fat Man) and Elisha Cook Jr as the neurotic and vicious Wilmer Cook. This is a wonderful mystery and suspence movie with a lot of red herrings. I Highly recommend this black and white DVD
  
  

• Casablanca
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Two-Disc Special Edition)
• Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)
• The Big Sleep
• Double Indemnity (Universal Legacy Series)