The Maltese Falcon (1941)

I like to watch a black and white film now and then, because film-making was so different back then in the golden era, and also because the films that last to this day have stood the test of time. The Maltese Falcon, starring the great Humphrey Bogart, is one such great film, and often hailed as one of the definitive films of the Film Noir genre.
The Maltese Falcon is a great mystery thriller. Bogart is private detective Sam Spade, a smooth talking veteran of the streets. It is his profession to dig up the dirt of human society, and he can smell a lie a mile off. One morning, the femme fatale in question - Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy - walks in and asks the detective and his partner to follow a man whom the woman claims is holding her sister. Spade soon finds out that O'Shaughnessy is lying, but at the cost of his partner's death. The man they follow also quickly ends up dead, and a lot of suspicion is cast onto Spade.
What begins from here is an intricate mystery that expands and develops so smoothly I was rather disappointed that it was all over so quickly. Indeed, the film is just as smooth as Bogart's character, who utilizes all his wit to play other characters against each other to his benefit. Sometimes he is too smart for his own good, as he ends up unconscious in one scene due to his foes joining together. But he soon picks himself up again, and is back on the trail - the trail, that is, which leads to the Maltese Falcon, a statuette of great value and the centerpiece of all the characters' attention.
There are no sophisticated stunts or long and thrilling action sequences. What The Maltese Falcon relies on, is solely a gripping plot and wonderful characters. The film successfully flushes out a handful of distinct characters, all of whom are instantly fascinating. At the center of it all is Bogart's Spade, who's smart and witty, but perhaps with a soft spot for the girl. Astor's O'Shaughnessy truly exemplifies the phrase femme fatale, which has been used all to often to describe girls that are anything but mysterious. To our delightful frustration, we never know when she's really telling the truth, or it's just another well-conceived lie. Then there's Joel Cairo, played by Peter Lorre, who is perhaps the film's most funny and interesting character, who makes an impression (and steals the show from Bogart) right from his first scene. Finally there's Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman, a 300 pound criminal mastermind, who'll stop at nothing to obtain the statuette. And of course there's also a whole bunch of other supporting characters, in smaller but still vivid roles.
To sum it up, The Maltese Falcon is a great film built upon a host of strong characters and a witty plot that never fails to amaze with every turn. Some 66 years after it was made, it still makes great entertainment. A true classic for all film lovers.
9/10