Tony Maietta:
Hello. I'm film historian Tony Maietta.

Brad Shreve:
And I'm Brad Shreve, who's just a guy who likes movies.

Tony Maietta:
We discuss movies and television from Hollywood's golden age. We go behind the scenes and share our opinions too.

Brad Shreve:
And of course, being the average guy, my opinions are the ones that matter.

Tony Maietta:
As does your self delusion. Welcome to going Hollywood.

Brad Shreve:
Tony, I have said time and time and time again that I hate comparing a movie to a book.

Brad Shreve:
You have.

Brad Shreve:
But sometimes I just can't avoid it. And this is one of those times. We're talking about the Maltese Falcon.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
And, you know, when I think of the novel and I think of the movie and compare the stories and what they change, do you want to know what really, really pisses me off about this movie? 
Tony Maietta:
Always. 

Brad Shreve:
Absolutely nothing. It's almost verbatim. When I read the book, I'm like, it is. This is connect. It's like word for word. Just obviously little things. Little.

The violence was toned down. Obviously. Homosexuality was turned down. You got to be blind not to see it.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
But there wasn't much change.

Tony Maietta:
Well, you know. You know why that is one of the reasons why that is?

Brad Shreve:
Because it was a brilliant novel.

Tony Maietta:
Because. Well, it was a great novel, but it also made two not very great original films. And we'll get into this more when we talk about the history, the background. But there were two versions of the Maltese Falcon before this mythic, iconic version, and they didn't work. And Howard Hawks told John Huston when he was considering doing this, just shoot the book. So that's why the film is so skews so closely to the book. It's phenomenal. Phenomenal.

Brad Shreve:
Absolutely. And just to get it out there. Sure. I mentioned it the last time we talked about the Maltese Falcon. The Maltese Falcon, we talked about that.

Tony Maietta:
When did we talk about the Maltese Falcon?

Brad Shreve:
Before we talked about noir? And I went off on a tangent.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Brad Shreve:
The novel. The Maltese Falcon was not the first noir novel, but it is really the one that made it explode as a genre in the novels. This movie was not the first noir movie, but it's really the one that made a difference.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. It really.

Brad Shreve:
Gashell Hammett deserves a big pat on the back.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. I, you know, I hate saying things are the first because there's always one that's going to contradict you, so. And, you know, I'm trying not to do that, say this is the first. This is the best, whatever. This certainly set off the noir film genre, this film, because it's 1941, so it's very early in this whole period. And yes, it definitely set off noir genre, but the previous two versions of the Maltese Falcon were not noir at all. And we'll talk about that.

Brad Shreve:
Well, there's the problem right there. Yeah. You can't. Like I said, it's not the first. It's the one that had the impact. You know, the Wright brothers were not the first to fly. There were two guys. There were two guys up in the Northeast.

Brad Shreve:
That's right. That flew, I don't know, a year or two before. I don't know. But. But historians say. But they didn't have an impact, so it doesn't matter. It's the Wright brothers that made the difference.

Tony Maietta:
That's true. That's true. You know what? That's it exactly. This film was not the first, but it's certainly the best. It is certainly the best. And I want to say that I'm so happy you suggested this. First of all, I'm grateful. I'm glad that we're going back into the 40s, because we've been hanging out as we always do.

Tony Maietta:
I love the 70s and 80s. We keep hanging out in the 70s and 80s. That's okay.

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
I was, like, so happy when you suggested. Yes. I'm like, we got to go back because there's so many movies we need to talk about in the 30s, in the 40s. So thank you for that and also thank you for suggesting this, because I had not seen this film in so long, and I forgot what a. And pardon my expression, what a good fucking time this movie is. It is so much fun, this movie. Listener.

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
If you haven't watched the Maltese Falcon in a few times and you have a night in a few years or something and you have an idea or you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it. It is a blast. These characters are a hoot. This movie's a hoot. That's what I would call it.

Brad Shreve:
That is a great word for it. It is a hoot. It is a hoot. And the reason I recommended it, you know, I'm always heavy into noir. I'm perfectly happy. It's been on the list for a while. And again, it's not one of those that either of us. Pooh poohed.

Brad Shreve:
It just kept getting moved. And then when I edited. What was the episode that we. I edited that.

Tony Maietta:
Mildred Pierce.

Brad Shreve:
When I edited Mildred Pierce and I was listening to the discussion about noir, I'm like, why the hell have we not done Maltese Falcon yet? And that's when I came to you and I said, we're doing it.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Pretty mythic. Pretty mythic in. In Hollywood history, because.

Brad Shreve:
And one of my inspirations to. To be a Mr. Writer, so.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, I didn't know that. That's cool. Yeah, that's cool.

Brad Shreve:
That's why I love writing noir.

Tony Maietta:
I'm having a little throaty issues here, which I think is kind of appropriate with noir. So, again, if I sound a little sultry, it's just in keeping with the film, people. I'm just doing it to give you an added dimension to this film. But the Maltese Falcon, this version from Warner Brothers in 1941. And another reason why it is so iconic is it is the movie that finally, finally, finally, after years and years and years and years and years of toiling in the trenches, made Humphrey Bogart a star. Not only a star, but truly, if you look at those lists that those institutions put out, an icon. I think he's number one. Isn't he number one? He's either.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, he is number one as the biggest star in classic Hollywood because of this film and because of a little movie called Casablanca, which he followed this up with. So that's what's wonderful about this movie is this really was the emergence of Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey Bogart had been toiling in films for. And theater for decades. They thought he. They thought he had a comeback. He had his first breakout in the Petrified Forest, which was a play that he did on Broadway with Leslie Howard. And when they were making a film version of the.

Tony Maietta:
Of the Petrified Forest, Leslie Howard insisted that he play the part of Duke Mantee in the Petrified Forest. Warner Brothers did not want him, but Leslie Howard insisted. Bogart was so grateful that when he married Lauren Bacall, they named one of their children Leslie. But still, even after he did the Petrified Forest, he was still just doing character parts. He had only two years before this, played a stable hand in Bette Davis's film Dark Victory. So he was not. He had not established himself. He was slowly.

Tony Maietta:
But this was the movie that truly, truly, he exploded with this film, and he became a very, very big movie star.

Brad Shreve:
Well, he is the Sam Spade hand down. He.

Tony Maietta:
He is.

Brad Shreve:
He nailed it.

Tony Maietta:
He's wonderful.

Brad Shreve:
He's one of those things, you know, I'm going to talk about a terrible film. It's actually one that I've considered bringing up, but I haven't because it really is a bad film. But I keep watching it because I love the novel, and that is Fletch. Yes, I love the novel Fletch. I love Gregory McDonald, the whole series. And so it's like I watch it all the time because they got so much right, but they also got so much wrong. But the one thing they got right was Chevy Chase was Fletch Anybody that reads the book will say, man, they got Fletch. Anybody that reads the Maltese Falcon can look at Humphrey Bogart and say, wow, they got Spade.

Tony Maietta:
No, that's great. Yeah, well, I mean. I mean, that Persona follows him to this day. Everything that we think about Humphrey Bogart is basically Sam Spade. I mean, it's also. It's also Rick and Casablanca. It's also these. He.

Tony Maietta:
He just. That was the perfect fit for him. They couldn't. He couldn't figure out what suit to wear. There were none of these suits fit Humphrey Bogart, but when he put on the suit of Sam Spade, it fit him like a glove. And that's why he became the. The biggest. You know, as I said, number one, I think, in those lists of the greatest film stars of all time.

Tony Maietta:
We also have some other great stars in this. In this film. Brad, do you want me to go through the cast or do you want to run through this cast?

Brad Shreve:
I'll let you go through and I'll toss in my thoughts.

Tony Maietta:
Okay. Second up, we have. Second on the call sheet, we have Mary Aster as Ruth Wonderly, AKA Bridget o', Shaughnessy, AKA a bunch of other aliases. Do you. What do you know about Mary Aster, Brad? Anything?

Brad Shreve:
I don't know a whole lot. I know she won an Oscar, I don't remember which film, for the Great Lie. Big in her time, the Great Lie.

Tony Maietta:
This year, the same year as the Maltese Falcon, she won the best supporting actress Oscar. Yeah. Yeah. Well, here's the really cool, interesting thing about Mary Aster. So Mary Astor started in silent film. She was. As a teenager, and she. Her acting career was kind of a little sporadic.

Tony Maietta:
Up and down, up and down. And then what was really interesting about Mary Aster is, is she had herself a little personal scandal because right before this film came out, her. Her career taken a nosedive because of her turbulent private life and the release of her private diaries. Now, you have to remember this was the time when there were morality clauses in contracts of stars. And let's just say that Mary Astor's diaries pulled no punches on anybody, any of the many people she had affairs with. So it's kind of interesting. So this was a notorious scandal, but what's so wonderful about Mary Aster in this film is. Is the part of Bridget is almost a parody of her real life.

Tony Maietta:
People were aware of these scandals. So, you know, that tainted image woman. That tainted woman image that she had fit perfectly. This character of Bridget, because she's beautiful, she's sweet, she. She's cunning, she's lethal. It's another example of. There were other actresses who were considered for this part, but it's another example of how wonderfully how a smart director like John Huston certainly was pads a character and gives us so much information about a character by casting the right person.

Brad Shreve:
And he did very well. She was great. I like that. She was the femme fatale in the sense that she was the helpless woman on the surface, but wasn't the femme fatale in the long run. She was a pretty strong cookie.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, she was. My favorite moment in this whole film is when she kicks Peter Lorre. It's so unexpected and so funny. Out of the blue, which just kicks him. And that's when you realize, oh, this is not this innocent woman. She is a. No, she is a toughy. She is a tough cookie.

Tony Maietta:
This brain. Bridget o'. Shaughnessy. Yeah, absolutely.

Brad Shreve:
And most femme fatales are not innocent, but they very frequently are portrayed as weak.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
She's not weak.

Tony Maietta:
Right, Right. Well, they fool people.

Brad Shreve:
She's weak when she needs to be for manipulation purposes.

Tony Maietta:
Right, exactly. She's a manipulator. She's a user.

Brad Shreve:
Yep.

Tony Maietta:
We have Gladys George as Iva Archer. We have the wonderful Peter Laurie as Joel Cairo. What do you want to tell me about Peter Lorre? Brad, in this movie,

Brad Shreve:
it is so funny to me that they got away with what they got away with Peter Laurie. He is.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
Listener, if you're not aware in the novel, is pretty clear that Cairo, Peter Laurie's character, is gay. And obviously, with Standards and Practices, they could not do that. The code was in effect. They could not do that in the film. But they didn't hide it at all. Oh, I can't even remember the flower, for God's sakes. What did his business card smell like?

Tony Maietta:
Gardenia.

Brad Shreve:
Gardenia. I knew it started with a G. Okay, so it starts with, you know, the secretary brings Spade, the business card, and Spade smells it and says, it smells like gardenia. And he and the secretary have. Just have a look and you can tell right away.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Then he comes in and the music.

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
You notice the music cue. The music is mincing kind of delightful. Delightful little music cue, which they're. They're telling you, oh, this character's a dandy. Stay tuned.

Brad Shreve:
He is a dandy. And he walks in and he's very prim and proper and takes off his gloves. He's very. Fastidious is the right word that I'm looking for. Very fastidious. A little bit femme in the way he talks or. And the way he fondles his umbrella handle that it just happens to brush across his lips.

Tony Maietta:
That is the biggest clue of all. That is such a. Such a genius move that John Houston put in there. The way he fondles the handle of his umbrella. Puts it up to his lips. Purses his lips a little bit. Yeah. And.

Tony Maietta:
And Henry. And Henry. Humphrey Bogart's attitude towards him is just, you know, he's a sister. He's just. It's been made very clear that this is a. This is a gentleman of questionable sex. And they.

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
You know, it's the pca. This is what they had to do. But it works. It works so much better than coming out and calling him, you know, saying he's a fairy or something like that. It's so much better because it's so much more. It's just better. I can't think of. I can't think of the word right now, but it's just such a better.

Tony Maietta:
It doesn't. They don't beat you over the head with it. You get just enough to know who this character is.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah, exactly. And I don't know if you got this from the film different than in the novel. In the film, I got the feeling they were very lightly implying that Cairo and Gutman were a couple.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, I think. Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
In some manner.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
In the book, it's much more implied that Gutman and Cook. Wilmer Cook are a couple.

Tony Maietta:
Elijah Cook Jr. He was funny. I like. He is great. He is great. He. Yes. Elijah Cook Jr.

Tony Maietta:
As Wilmer Cook, is one of the henchmen. One of Sidney Greenstreet's henchmen, probably the most violent one. And he is just. He does not like Humphrey Bogart. And there are. They have some. One. Remember, that's the scene near the end where he's actually crying.

Tony Maietta:
Did you notice that? He's actually crying. He's so intense and he's so vociferous in his hatred for Humphrey Bogart. The actor actually has a tear now. They could have blown something in his eye to make that happen, but I think it was just from the intensity of his performance. He's a very underrated actor. Elisha Cook Jr. He does a wonderful job in this. Wonderful job in this.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. I'm not familiar with him.

Tony Maietta:
So he did a lot of character parts like this throughout the 40s.

Brad Shreve:
Okay.

Tony Maietta:
A lot of film noir. Lee Patrick, who we talked about just a little bit ago in Mildred Pierce as Effie, who is Sam Spade's right hand, his girl Friday his right hand does everything for him. He's as we talked about, and we talked about murder by death and the parody of Peter. Peter, the parody Peter Falk was doing of Sam Spade and that was Tess Skeffington, who was played by the brilliant Eileen Brennan. So it's, you know, it's that secretary who, who's just a good Joe, you know, she's, she's, she's a good guy. There is absolutely no sexual chemistry at all between them. She is his non sexual life partner, basically. Effie is in this and she's wonderful.

Tony Maietta:
She's wonderful in this. We have Ward Bond as Detective Tom Polehouse. And I think finally we have the incomparable Sydney Greenstreet as Casper Gutman. And I'm just going to let you tell the people about Sidney Green Street. Brad.

Brad Shreve:
Well, Sidney Green street was wonderful in this film and you would never know that this was his film debut.

Tony Maietta:
It was, it was. He was so nervous. He was so nervous that in some of those long speeches, Mary Aster was holding his hand off camera because he was so nervous about that. Sidney Green Street. Yes, you're absolutely right. He was a theater actor and this was his very, very first film. And you would not get that. He was, he was 61 years old and he weighed about between, they say between 280 and 350 pounds.

Brad Shreve:
So he was, I think, closer to 350.

Tony Maietta:
Yes, he was a big, big man. And we have seen this type of character parody. Now, it's cliche, so you have to remember that this was the first time this type of humongous, threatening, distinctive, intimidating character with these abrasive laugh and like big bulging eyes and the way he spoke. He's very fastidious. He's very much like Peter Lorre. He's very fastidious, but he's a very, very large man. And we'll talk a little bit about some of the camera tricks that Houston did to make him appear even larger, even more imposing. But saying that he's also kind of sweet, he's got a, he's got a charm to him.

Tony Maietta:
Sidney Greenstreet. And that's what's so wonderful about that character. Don't you think so?

Brad Shreve:
I do. And it's funny that he was so nervous because he, his character is so inflappable in this film.

Tony Maietta:
He is, he just, and he plays it, he's like almost a dandy kind of, kind of a villain which you think is harmless, but in essence, no, he's lethal. And Sidney Greenstreet began an entire career playing this type of character with this film. So this film was indeed directed by John Huston. It was his very first directing effort. And he also wrote the screenplay, which

Brad Shreve:
also blows my mind that this was his first.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, exactly.

Brad Shreve:
Right out the gate. The man was just amazing.

Tony Maietta:
Well, I mean, he was a very, very celebrated screenwriter, you know, and he wanted to direct. He had written the screenplay for Jezebel for a lot of incredible classic films, and he wanted to direct. He's also the son of Walter Houston, an iconic movie star in the early 30s, who makes a cameo appearance, an uncredited cameo appearance in this movie, which we'll get to, which is so delic. And I think we need to talk about the cinematography by Arthur Edison. And Ernest Haller came in and we talked about noir with Mildred Pierce and how important the cinematography is. Do you want to talk about. Brush up on that a little bit about what noir does with the cinematography, which makes it so different and so important in telling a story like this.

Brad Shreve:
Well, talking about. As far as cinematography goes, it's uncomfortable. Lots of shadows, lots of sharp edges. The rooms, all the sets in this film are small. They're almost cramped for film. I don't think there's a large film, that large scene that I can picture. Maybe a hotel lobby as best that I can think of. The books have a feel that the movies have to do visually, and they.

Brad Shreve:
This movie did it, and subsequent movies did it as well.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. What the thing about film noir is is the. The camera work, the shadows, the odd camera angles, the low lighting, the high contrast. It's a part of the storytelling. The style helps tell the story. It's a storytelling element. And it was also based on the German expressionistic films of the 20s and 30s. That's what they were doing in Germany at this time.

Tony Maietta:
And of course, when so many of the directors in Germany fled to get away from the Nazis, they ended up in Hollywood. And that influence naturally bled into the Hollywood films they were working on. And that's really how film noir, you know, we talked about it being an offshoot of pulps, as we talked about in Mildred Pierce. But it really is a storytelling element. It makes. It helps tell the story, which is so wonderful about this film. You're right. The sets are very small, and there are.

Tony Maietta:
And they are. You don't go outside, and if you are outside, you're on a soundstage and it's pitch black and it's almost always nighttime, because that is what film noir is doing. It's telling you the story. It's helping the director tell the story through this. So, Brad, can you tell us a little bit? Can you give the people a rundown of the synopsis of Dashiell Hammett's Maltese Falcon?

Brad Shreve:
Absolutely. This is. This is pretty quick and easy. Hopefully, as we always say, most of you know it anyway. Sam Spade is half of the PI Agency of Spade and Archer. And it begins when he investigates the murder of his partner Archer, who is murdered. And Sam is horribly distraught over this murder beyond belief.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, he's dead. Oh, okay.

Brad Shreve:
You know, it's what he has to do. You know, it's. Partner died, he has to do it,

Tony Maietta:
you know, but he's also sleeping with his wife. He's also sleeping with his ex partner's wife.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah, exactly. In the stage that was set up is a woman comes in and Miss Wonderly supposedly to hire him for a case and to make it very quick, it draws them into hunt. Hunt for the Maltese Falcon, which is a priceless jeweled statuette from hundreds of years ago worth a million bucks or so. And like any good noir film, everybody lies, everybody's a suspect. Nobody is clean in any way, shape or form, including the heroes, if there are such a thing.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
And they manipulate each other. And in the end, Spade must decide, what does justice mean? Does it. Right. Does it mean doing the. What. What is the right thing to do? Which is very noir. And as with according to his.

Tony Maietta:
According to his personal code, I think that's what's really important is it's. There are no heroes here, there are no villains here. No good guys, no clean cut, good guys, bad guys. Sam Spade is a problematic character, but he lives by. His saving grace is he lives by his own personal moral code, which, you know, includes sleeping with his partner's wife, but also means in the end doing the air quotes right thing.

Brad Shreve:
Yep. And I. One thing I love about noir is you typically do not, but you're not guaranteed a happy ending. And that it's actually one of the downfalls of noir to me, because usually in novels and most short stories, it always, almost always is a dark ending. And nobody's ever happy in the end. And the reason I say it's one of the downfalls is I want to be surprised. I get really tired of happy endings. Hollywood really thinks you need to have a happy ending occasionally, like this film, you get where there's not necessarily a happy ending.

Brad Shreve:
Surprise me, let me know. And I don't want to go too much in my own writing because I don't want to try and compare myself to Dashiell Heimla in any way, shape or form. But one thing I tell my readers plain and clear, don't expect a happy ending, but don't expect a sad ending. Just be surprised. You're not gonna promise anything.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, yeah, but this.

Brad Shreve:
People like romance novels because they want a happy ending. And that's perfectly okay, but that's not me.

Tony Maietta:
I think this has. For first time viewers, this doesn't have a happy ending, but I think it does have a surprise ending.

Brad Shreve:
Yes, that is the happy ending.

Tony Maietta:
Because we find out at the end that the Maltese Falcon, this. This bejeweled, you know, statue that these people have been searching for for decades and decades. It goes back to the 16th century. We get a whole thing at the beginning of the film about what the Maltese Falcon is and where it came from and how it's been searched for years and years. It's mythic. And we find out at the end it's nothing. That's it. These people have been searching for years for this mythic statue, this, of the Maltese Falcon, and it's nothing.

Tony Maietta:
And that's why this end. This film has one of my very favorite last lines ever. I mean, it's right up there with his next film. When he says the beginning of a beautiful friendship in Casablanca, I want you

Brad Shreve:
to say it because you're gonna be wrong like everybody else. But go ahead and say it.

Tony Maietta:
Well, there is a reply to it. Okay. There's a reply to it afterwards. Yes. But Bogart's last line is it's the stuff that dreams are made of. And what is so brilliant about that last line, other than the fact it's incredibly poetic, is that it's giving you the theme of the Maltese Falcon. The theme of this movie is that people sacrifice everything in their life. They have one focus to get one thing.

Tony Maietta:
And it is frequently elusive and illusionary and in the end is nothing. So what he's saying is it's the stuff that dreams are made of. People are dreaming for this. And in the end it's. It turns out to be nothing. And that's life, folks. That's something we all do in life.

Brad Shreve:
Yep. And there is an 80s song that I can't remember the. I can picture the artist that sang it, but I can't remember his name or the. Or the name of the song. But the line, I always remember that from that, that reminds me, this is. Aspirations are in the clouds, but hopes go down the drain.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, it's true. It's Amazing.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah, it's. They are all chasing that shiny thing on the hill and it's not even there.

Tony Maietta:
False gods. Serving.

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
Serving false gods. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
So I'm being very, very nitpicky. Only because I think it's funny, because Tony quoted what everybody quotes, the final line in this film said by Sam Spade, when in reality the final line is by Lt. Dundee, whose response was, yes. Huh?

Tony Maietta:
Yes, exactly. Okay, so let's just do that then. Let's just rewrite film history and say the last. The great last line of the Maltese Falcon. Huh? There you go. But what I love about that last line is also the fact that, you know, the stuff that dreams are made of and is also the stuff of nightmares. Dreams can be nightmares. And that's what this movie is telling us.

Tony Maietta:
And what's really interesting is, is the Falcon is a MacGuffin. Really, before the MacGuffin was invented, the Falcon's a MacGuffin because it serves no real purpose in this movie other than to expose the true natures of these people. That's all.

Brad Shreve:
It hardly makes an appearance in the

Tony Maietta:
film until the very, very end. And remind me to talk about the end of the chief detective, which mirrors this, because it's hysterical. But anyway, it's a symbol. It's a symbol of unattainable love, of money, of power. It's all these things. And that's what's so bright, incredible about this story that Dashiell Hammett crafted and this film version of it. It's. It's.

Tony Maietta:
It. It. It tells you so much. It tells you so much.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah.

Tony Maietta:
That's what I love about this film. I love the fact that these people are all just almost destroying each other with the greed over this object, which turns out to be a whole lot of nothing. It's fantastic.

Brad Shreve:
Yep. We also need to say that another thing that makes this film so noir is the lines. People in noir don't talk like real people, but they talk about. They talk the way people should talk. And, you know, one of my favorites is when spade says to Ms. O', Shaughnessy, Bridget, he says, we didn't believe your story. He's talking about him and Archer. We didn't Believe your story, Ms.

Brad Shreve:
O'. Shaughnessy. We believed your $200.

Tony Maietta:
Cold, cold, cold.

Brad Shreve:
And her favorite line. I was sketching these down because I was just loving them so much. My favorite line of hers is, I haven't lived a good life. I've been bad, worse than you could know.

Tony Maietta:
Which plugs into the whole Mary aster thing. That's why she was such a brilliant choice to play this part.

Brad Shreve:
I was almost expecting to say, I'm not bad. I was just drawn this way.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, it's just so. It's so fascinating. So, you know, Dashiell Hammett, he had actually worked as a private detective in San Francisco. And he used his birth name of Samuel for the story's protagonist, for Sam Spade. And I want to say that Sam Spade, because another one of these things which is just so famous, it's become cliche. This was really the first kind of antihero detective. There had been antiheroes in film before, you know, Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson.

Tony Maietta:
But this was a romantic. This was a romantic antihero. They weren't romantic anti heroes in Little Caesar in those movies they did in the 30s. Bogart. Part of. Bogart's personal. Part of Bogart's appeal is his romanticism, his fatal romanticism. So what happened was Hammett was quarantined with tuberculosis when he wrote this novel.

Tony Maietta:
And it was originally serialized in five parts and it was published in 1930, and Warner Brothers purchased the film rights immediately. And the first film adaption of this book was in 1931. And it was called the Maltese Falcon. It starred ricardo Cortez and B.B. daniels. And what's important about this version is it was pre code. So it included all of the Luder aspects of Hammett's book, including the overt sexuality, including the homosexual subtext and the loaded dialogue and the. And the just, you know, the real meat of the Hammett novel.

Tony Maietta:
In fact, I think there was a scene. I haven't. No, I gotta confess. I've seen clips of the original Maltese Falcon, but I've never seen the whole thing. But I believe there's a scene where Spade strip searches Ruth Wonderly for the missing thousand dollar bill. So, I mean, it's. It's a pre code film. It's.

Tony Maietta:
It's fascinating. And what happened was, is that Warner's wanted to re release the film in 1935. But guess what? The production code was being enforced, so they couldn't re release it. So they decided to remake it. And in one of the oddest choices, they decided to remake it as a comedy and they remade it as a film.

Brad Shreve:
I.

Tony Maietta:
Do you know this?

Brad Shreve:
No. I knew there were two films. I did not know one of them was a comedy. That just stabbed me in the heart.

Tony Maietta:
They remade the film as a comedy. A very loose remake, by the way.

Brad Shreve:
Okay.

Tony Maietta:
And the film was called Satan Met a Lady. And it stars Warren Williams and an actress you might have heard of that we have talked about on this podcast many times, Miss Ruth Elizabeth Davis. Yes. It starred Bette Davis and Warren Williams. And it was one of those long line of films that Davis made in her early career, which she called junk. And it is. She called this movie Junk. And I've seen it, and it is junk.

Tony Maietta:
It's a. Yeah, it's just. It's so silly to think they would kind of structure this as a comedy. It's nuts. Have you ever. You've never seen it, huh?

Brad Shreve:
No, I have not. I haven't seen either the earlier two. And I really. I actually want to. I even want to see the one that. This one that you're talking about. You know, I don't mind if it was done as a comedy as long as it was done like a farce. But I.

Brad Shreve:
I don't know. It bothers me to hear this.

Tony Maietta:
Yes, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. So they decided in 41, another remake was. Was in store, and it was indeed crafted by screenwriter John Huston, who wanted it to be his directorial debut. And as I said, Howard Hawks told him, shoot the book. Because the first two versions of this had been problematic. And everyone's like, why are you doing this movie? Again, it doesn't work. Why are you doing the story? Again, it doesn't work.

Tony Maietta:
And Howard Hawk said, just shoot the book. So John Huston, who, as I said before, had written Jezebel, Sargent York Juarez, he had, most especially, though he had just completed a film in 1941 called High Sierra, which really featured the breakout performance of Humphrey Bogart. Now, I said before that this film was really what made Humphrey Bogart a star. But High Sierra, right before this was his real. What he really got attention for, what really made people sit up and take notice. And he wanted to work with Humphrey Bogart again. However, the original choice to play this part, and then most of the parts that Humphrey Bogart made famous, the original choice was George Raft. Do you know anything about George Raft, Brad?

Brad Shreve:
No, I'm not going to. I'm going to admit that I don't. I know his name and I know I've seen him, but I don't know anything about him.

Tony Maietta:
His most famous role is probably in Some Like It Hot, where he spoofs this kind of gangster character that he played in all these films in the 30s. He basically specialized in playing a gangster.

Brad Shreve:
Okay.

Tony Maietta:
And Humphrey Bogart owes his career to George Raft because George Raft was so picky about his projects and the things he would do. He turned down High Sierra. Bogart got it and it was his first splash. He turned down this part, Bogart got it and it made him a big movie star. And then he turned down Casablanca.

Brad Shreve:
Oh, wow.

Tony Maietta:
And that film made Bogart an icon. So it's just so funny. Bogart truly does deserve. He needs to send, you know, not only Leslie Howard a thank you for the petrified force, but he. I hope he sent George Raft a lot of flowers because he really, really owes his career to George Raft. But George Raft had it in his contract that he wouldn't do remakes. So he wasn't. And he didn't want to work with a first time director, which John Houston was.

Tony Maietta:
And John Huston was thrilled because he wanted to work with Bogart anyway. So this worked out really, really well for them. And you know, since it was Houston's first film and we talked about this, he made sure it was very tightly structured and very quickly shot. In fact, Hal Wallace, who produced this, told during the filming was looking at some rushes and told Houston that Bogart had to talk faster. Now we were talking about the long speeches in this and the monologues and the lines. Bogart has some of the longest monologues in this film. And he spits them out. It's just like a jumble of words.

Tony Maietta:
He gets them out. You understand what every word is. I'm not saying it.

Brad Shreve:
He doesn't.

Tony Maietta:
But he talks faster than I do and you understand every single word he says. And this film is full of these kinds of speeches. And it also moves very fast. That's another important thing. So he was right. And Houston also did a wonderful thing and that he shot the majority of this film in sequence. You know, as we've said before, movies are not usually shot in sequence. You can film apart from the very end of the movie first up, and then you got to go back to the beginning of the movie and then you'll shoot a movie in the middle.

Tony Maietta:
I think more so today because of the fact that you have people with high salaries and you have locations you have to lock in. During the studio era, it wasn't that uncommon that they to shoot movies in sequence, but it was not common. And this is such a gift to an actor because you're able to live the through line of your character as you're acting. You don't have to think, oh, how am I going to feel? You know, four scenes after this scene, oh, I got to get there Emotionally, no. They're going along for the ride, and it really, really helps. And I think it's one of the reasons why these performances are so good and so much fun.

Brad Shreve:
I would agree. I'm going to ask you an unfair question. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's not unfair.

Tony Maietta:
No, go ahead.

Brad Shreve:
Do you think this is Bogart's best role?

Tony Maietta:
No, I don't. I think his best role is the African Corporation Queen. I think he's.

Brad Shreve:
I was gonna say the same thing.

Tony Maietta:
He's the ultimate in the African Queen. However.

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
Doesn't mean I don't love him as Sam Spade. He's. I mean, how many times on this podcast do I say the damn word iconic? I say it all the time. I'm trying not to say it so much, folks, but I can't not say it with this. Sam Spade is an iconic character. When we think of Bogart, we usually think of Casablanca, but it's the same thing. Rick is just a second cousin to Sam Spade. And think about all the people that are in Sam Spade's shadow after Bogart, who tried to be Bogart.

Tony Maietta:
I mean, all the way up to Elliot Gould as Philip Marlowe. I mean, you know, you. You can't not look to Sam Spade as an icon. Humphrey Bogart just had a lot of iconic characters. Once he hit. It was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. The band barely. Rarely had a flop up until his premature death in 57.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah, I was hoping that you would say that. I. The last time I saw the African Queen, which was a number of years ago now, I was really disappointed that it wasn't as great of a film as I remembered. Maybe it was my mood, but I was in awe of his. He just shone in that film. I love him in this role. I absolutely love him in this role. But the African Queen, he knocked out of the park.

Brad Shreve:
Probably Casablanca. You know, my. I tend to poo poo Casablanca. I think it's a great film, but I think it's overrated. I probably look at it with more disdain than it deserves. I don't really have disdain. I just don't think it's as premier as everybody thinks it is. So it's between.

Brad Shreve:
With me, with Bogart, it's this film and African Queen.

Tony Maietta:
This. Yes, Casablanca is definitely the height of the romantic image of Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey Bogart was not. He wasn't Cary Grant. Big surprise there. He was not a typical romantic leading man. And that's what's so brilliant about Humphrey Bogart, is the fact that he Became one.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah.

Tony Maietta:
He is just. I mean, come on, you can't get more romantic than Casablanca. And we'll always have Paris. And here's looking at you, kid. And all that stuff from Casablanca starts in this film. It starts in this movie. And, you know, there's a reason why he's Humphrey Bogart. Absolutely.

Brad Shreve:
And I was watching him in this film and I'm like, you know, this guy, in his own way, was. Was a sex symbol to many. And he looks really tired.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
As he should.

Tony Maietta:
But part of his Persona.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah, yeah. Part of that whole mysterious Persona, that world weary.

Tony Maietta:
World weary, cynical, anti hero. It's one of the reasons why the. The kids in the 60s, the counterculture, discovered him because he. Because what was happening in the 60s, in the disillusionment with everything and everybody kind of like now. And the kids could relate. They're like, that's somebody we can relate to. He doesn't trust authority. He doesn't trust anybody.

Tony Maietta:
He's out for himself. Now. That sounds kind of nihilistic, but still, that's what they identified with. And that's really when he became, you know, in the pantheon Bogart because of his rediscovery in the sixties by the counterculture and by these film kids who were just looking for something because they'd grown up on Leave it to Beaver and silly stuff like that. So, as I said, the film was shot almost entirely in sequence. And some of the things that. Some of the shots that Houston created with his cinematographers, you know, when Sydney Green street has a couple big monologues too. And I'm thinking about the one when Bogart comes to the hotel room, one of the first times, if not the first.

Tony Maietta:
First time we see Sidney Greenstreet and he slips him the mickey and he tells this long story. And the way it's shot, it's shot from below up. And Sidney Green street fills the screen. And Bogart did that on purpose to make him even. Bogart did that. Houston did that on purpose to make him even more imposing and more intimidating. Even though what he's saying is not necessarily threatening. The image of him filling that screen and holding Mary Esther's hand out of camera range because he was so nervous.

Tony Maietta:
It just. It again, part of film noir, it tells the story. This is in the. We are being told by Houston, even though the things he's saying may not be intimidating. Houston is telling us by this style of filming, this is an imposing character. This is an intimidating character. This is somebody to watch out for. I love that scene.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. Yeah, it's just one of so many. Just stand out.

Tony Maietta:
Do you have any scenes that you. That you want to talk about specifically that stand out to you?

Brad Shreve:
Well, there are so many, it's really hard to pinpoint. But if there's one that does, it's because it's the culmination of everything that goes on and everything that we talked about. And that is when the falcon arrives. Great. It finally arrives. Everybody gathers around. You know, it's like almost like Indiana Jones when they found the. The whole.

Brad Shreve:
I was going to say the. Holy crap. You remember Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail, don't you?

Tony Maietta:
Yes, but I want to stop you for one second. Do you know who it was who played Captain Jacoby? Who delivered the falcon? Remember the Falcon? The falcon is delivered and it's wrapped in newspaper and it's delivered by a man who has no lines and who dies.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. I don't know who that was, though.

Tony Maietta:
No, that was Walter Houston. That was Walter Houston. That was John. John Houston's father. That's his. He has no lines. That's his cameo. I think it's.

Tony Maietta:
He did that for his son. His son's first movie. Boy's first movie. Anyway.

Brad Shreve:
Well, that's really interrupted you.

Tony Maietta:
I just had to tell you that.

Brad Shreve:
No, it's the. The. I'm going to go from this scene to the next, which. Because they kind of carry over this scene when there's that obsession. You can see the look on their eyes. They're practically drooling. Because the. It has arrived.

Tony Maietta:
Yes.

Brad Shreve:
But then it turns so quickly to. When it opens up and you just. They're looking at this. This statue and it's just being held up and you can just see the look on their face. And then when Gutman starts carving into it to remove the surface to expose the gold underneath and he discovers it's a fake and that. That feel of elation turns to distress and anger and fury and. Oh, it's. You just feel it.

Brad Shreve:
It just. I can't even explain it. It's the biggest anti climax ever.

Tony Maietta:
That final scene is almost a third of the film and it involves every single major character.

Brad Shreve:
That.

Tony Maietta:
This is another brilliant thing about this story and this is the way this screenplay is crafted. Everybody comes together in the end. All these major characters, Peter Laurie, Sydney Greenstein, Mary Astor, they're all there. Humphrey Bogart. And what's so brilliant about that final scene is exactly it. They are so hyped up. They are almost, like you said, salivating. Finally, here it is.

Tony Maietta:
This thing We've been working for and striving for and cheating for and killing for all these years. Here it is, and it turns out to be nothing. It's so incredible. And all those things. We talked about the theme of this film earlier in the podcast. It's. It's so. Oh, it's gut wrenching.

Tony Maietta:
It's gut wrenching. And then he throws up Mary Aster as a sacrifice and she has to go to jail because she should. She committed murder. She murdered his partner. We find that out.

Brad Shreve:
Murdered two people.

Tony Maietta:
Murdered two people. So. Yes, but that's his own personal code. I mean, that's the ambiguity of this man who was perfectly willing to go along with this whole thing with the, with the Maltese Falcon. But when push comes to shove, I'm not taking the fall for you. But that's okay. I'm Sam Spade. I'm fine.

Brad Shreve:
And the interesting thing is, if it was just Thursby, he would not have turned her in. But I. I don't think. But because it was his partner, there was. It wasn't that he necessarily wanted to. He. There was an obligation. There was part of his moral code.

Tony Maietta:
He has his own personal, strange moral code that he lives by. And that's what so appealing about Sam Spade. I love that last scene. And I. I alluded a little bit to the chief detective, which I want to talk about because I think it's. It's so funny. But, Brad, is there some things you want to say to the people at this point in the podcast? You usually do.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. And actually we're gonna add a little more detail this time. As always, we would love to hear from you, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the show, what you would like us to do as far as movies and TV shows in the future. You can do that by at the bottom of the show notes or in the show notes, actually. I think it's at the top is you click on it and it says text or leave a voicemail. You can text us or as it says, leave a voicemail. If you leave a voicemail, we can actually play that here on the show. If you don't want us to, let us know otherwise we will or may and do that.

Brad Shreve:
And then also we would love it, love it, love it if you would rate and review this podcast because if you enjoy it, let other people know as well, so that they may enjoy it too. And we've had a good number of text messages coming in with movie suggestions as well as voicemail. And folks, we are going to get to you. We're going to. Actually, in an upcoming episode, we're going to address every one of those and even play them on the air.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
And we're gonna talk about some of your suggestions and let you know our thoughts and maybe ask others to chime in.

Tony Maietta:
I was so excited when I saw that we got that voicemail. I was like, somebody finally did it. Somebody finally did it. Yes. And we will. And it will be revealed in a later episode. How's that for a little tease for you? We will reveal it in a later episode. We're so grateful.

Tony Maietta:
I'm so excited by this Brad. I'm encouraged. At this point in my life, I'm encouraged. I might not have a Maltese falcon in my life. Well, I have a couple Maltese falcons, actually. Oh, God. Things just don't turn out the way you think they're going to. But anyway, what is turning out well is your responses and your.

Tony Maietta:
Your enthusiasm, and that really is incredible. That's worth all the Maltese falcons in the world.

Brad Shreve:
And I want to. I want to talk about the enthusiasm because I say consistently over and over again, what we see in the reviews that we get and the comments that we get are people really enthused by the movies that we're doing and the discussions of them and our commentary on them, the differences that we have and people that, you know, that may agree with Tony or may agree with me.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, it's so funny. Everyone usually says they like the information, but they usually agree with you.

Brad Shreve:
Well, they say they have family members.

Tony Maietta:
Family members who are just like Brad.

Brad Shreve:
They listen because they agree with Tony, but they know people that agree with me.

Tony Maietta:
A family full of Brads. That should be a fun Thanksgiving. A fun Thanksgiving. All right, so back to the Maltese Falcon. So, as we said, released in 1941. Now, part of what Houston was doing, this is why John Houston became John Houston. Because he said, I'm going to have a long directing career. He made this thing so cheaply and so tightly.

Tony Maietta:
The budget was under $400,000 for this film. You know, it was a studio. It was a studio film. But even that, even for that, because it had no major. It had no. Bogart was making a splash, but he was not a big star. He had undiscovered talent here. Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet.

Tony Maietta:
He had an actress who had just come off a huge scandal, so she needed the work. So it was not a big budget film, and it made almost $2 million, which in 1941 is a pretty big chunk of change. Tell you right now, it was nominated for three Oscars. It didn't win any. It was nominated for Best Picture. Green street was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. And Houston was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mary Aster, as I said, was not nominated for this film, but she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year for the film the Great Lie.

Tony Maietta:
So I think this film probably she had a pretty good year. And I think that this film has something to do with it. Just as an aside, you've asked me before, did Bette Davis have any female friends because she was such a hard ass? And Mary Aster, who she co starred in the Great Lie with, was one of Bette Davis good friends. So she had two. Olivia de Havilland and Mary Astor. So I want to talk a little bit about the legacy of this film. You know, the film made Humphrey Bogart a bonafide movie star. It may not have been the first, but it certainly jumped.

Tony Maietta:
It certainly started the whole film noir genre. And there have been countless of imitators and homages in the detective genre since this film, since 1941. Did you know, Brad, that in 2021 there was a miniseries called Monsieur Spade? Did you know that?

Brad Shreve:
It doesn't ring a bell. No, I didn't know that. I, you know, I know they've done Sam Spade over the years, but no, I didn't know about that one.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, it's set in 1963 and it's tells the story of Sam Spade, who's played by Clive Owen at 60 as an. As an older gentleman in late middle age.

Brad Shreve:
Interesting idea.

Tony Maietta:
Isn't that interesting? Yeah. So life continues.

Brad Shreve:
That could be good.

Tony Maietta:
But probably my favorite legacy of this movie is what we were talking about before, when, now when Brad and I talked about Murder by Death last year, I said Peter Falk's Humphrey Bogart imitation is peerless. And it was so peerless that they thought, we have to do another film just with Peter Falk. So Neil Simon wrote a film for Peter Falk called the Chief Detective from 1977. And Falk plays Bogart, the. His Bogart character through this entire film. His film, his name is different in Chief Detective, though in the Cheap Detective, his name is now Lou Peckinpah. But the basic premise of the Chief Detective is. Is the Maltese Falcon.

Tony Maietta:
And Casablanca, he puts them both together. So it's really fun and it dips. The film dips into almost all of Bogart's Films of the 40s, but mostly Falcon and Casablanca. And the reason I love it so much, Brad, is because the Mary Aster Part is played by none other than goddess herself, Madeleine Kahn. She is so funny. They take the duplicitous nature of Bridget o' Shaughnessy in the Chief Detective and make her almost split personalities. She comes in in different costumes. At one point, she's dressed like the character from the Corn is Green as Mrs.

Tony Maietta:
Moffat. As Ms. Moffat, and the Corn is Green. Another time, she's dressed like Dietrich. It's hysterical. But they do a spoof on that final scene where the falcon is delivered. And this is the best part. So they're ripping off.

Tony Maietta:
Just as in the Bogart movie, they're ripping off the paper of the fault. And they're just getting so greedy. They open it, open it, open it. And Madeline Kahn says, rip it. Bite it off. I want to be beautiful. I want to be pretty. Hurry up before the stores close.

Tony Maietta:
It's just. It's. It's great. Anyway, that's my little Chief Detective riff. So that was a lot of fun.

Brad Shreve:
I want to talk about the legacy real quick.

Tony Maietta:
Please do.

Brad Shreve:
Because another film, this that was came out this year is Citizen Kane. And you and I both have shared our opinion that. Because continuously, on many lists, Citizen Kane is listed as the greatest movie of all time.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
And I don't want to get into that argument. Some people truly believe it, some don't. But if you want to talk about films that had a legacy, this film, you may not rate it as high, but this film started a whole genre. Now, maybe some would argue it was the Thin man, but it wasn't. I don't think so.

Tony Maietta:
No.

Brad Shreve:
Thin man was hugely popular. It was another Hammett story.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
But it was the Maltese Malkies, the Maltese Falcon, that really, really started that train of noir films and still carries today and is still mimicked today. I would say if you ask young people today which do they know, the Thin man or the Maltese Falcon, Most would have seen the Maltese Falcon. And I think that's probably too. When it comes between this one and Citizen Kane, I agree. So agree. My opinion is this one's out big time. I agree.

Tony Maietta:
I agree with you.

Brad Shreve:
And one more thing about. I'm gonna go to a novel, because Red Harvest is another Dashiell Hammett film that was made little after this one. I believe it's a bad film. There's never been a good rendition of it. It's actually one of Hammett's best novels, probably, I dare say, maybe better than this one. So read the novel. Do not base it on the film. I just had to get that out.

Tony Maietta:
Well, thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that. Well, I think that is the Maltese Falcon. It's amazing, Brad, that we got through this incredibly legendary film in under an hour. You. And it's even more amazing that we got through this podcast episode without me doing my Humphrey Bogart impression. But I'm not.

Brad Shreve:
You can never top Peter Brady.

Tony Maietta:
I'm not going to do that for you. Folks, there's only one thing left to say. So let's not say goodbye, Brad. Let's say pork chops and applesauce. That's so bad. I apologize, everybody.

Brad Shreve:
Oh, no, let's say goodbye, Please. For the love of God, let's please,

Tony Maietta:
for Christ's sake, say goodbye. Goodbye, everybody.