This is another of those old classics, which I’m sure I saw when I was about 5 years old on TV as a matinee with my mum. I’d never remembered it though.

The film is based on the book by Dashiell Hammett.

Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade a private detective who is engaged by Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) to follow a man named Thursby. It becomes clear very quickly that Sam is not following this man for reasons he was first to believe. With the death of his partner Miles Archer he sets about to find out why this is so important. The story of the treasure of the Maltese Falcon unfolds and Sam finds that there are several others who are desperate to get their hands on it as well.

The murders of his partner, and then Thursby see him a wanted man by police, as he is a prime suspect for these murders.

Sam cleverly gains possession of the Maltese Falcon and then sets about obtaining the truth of the murderers and to sell the piece for a good price to a wealthy collector.

The Maltese Falcon is on every level a great thriller and shows that early filmmaking can produce suspense and excitement on the same level as today.

Humphrey Bogart plays a stunning role and most convincingly.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
The full frame transfer does leave a little to be desired though as this could have been significantly restored for a digital transfer.

As a black and white film the transfer seemed to a little too grey and not enough definition in the deep blacks and bright whites, while still holding a good grey scale. This could have been rectified a little with restoration but does lend itself to some source material problems as well.

Shadow detail was average as a lot of the film is shot at night this would have been difficult to achieve.

There were no significant MPEG artefacts and very little shimmering or a liasing.

The transfer is however taken down with film artefacts. I do expect this from a film of this age but once again this could have been significantly improved with more detailed restoration.

The layer change at 27.38 is basically unnoticeable, but I have to question whether this was needed at all. Surely the film could have been included on a single layer. Not really much of a fault though just an observation.

AUDIO
The Dolby Digital mono soundtrack is quite good and has not been tempered with too much for the sake of highlighting aspects of the film. As far as a mono soundtrack goes this is quite good and doesn’t seem to have that flat feeling you would normally get from a mono soundtrack on an ageing film.

Dialogue was generally clear and Bogey’s dialogue is surprisingly easy to understand given that he has a tendency to mumble.

The soundtrack from Adolph Deutsch is quite good not the best soundtrack I’ve heard from a classic film but it does fit the onscreen action even if it is a little predictable at times.

EXTRAS

Theatrical Trailer

Featurette: Becoming Attractions. A nice collection of Humphrey Bogart film trailers from 1939-1948, which demonstrates his progression and rise in the film industry. Trailers include:

• The Petrified Forest
• Bullets or Ballots
• Return of Doctor X
• High Sierra
• The Maltese Falcon
• All through the Night
• Across the Pacific
• Casablanca
• Passage to Marseilles
• To Have and Have Not
• Dark Passage
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

OVERALL