[fantasyfan]

I listened to The Black Mask version and simultaneously followed it on the published text. Most of the changes did seem pretty cosmetic and not always necessarily an improvement.

I have always loved the film and this is my recent comment on Goodreads.


“The Maltese Falcon is a brilliant “noir” novel and a masterpiece of the genre. Inevitably comparisons with the famous 1941 film come to mind. The latter, of course, is another superb classic. As I read I could hear Humphrey Bogart! He IS Sam Spade and the dialogue between Bogart’s Sam Spade and Sydney Greenstreet’s Gutman is unforgettable easily matching the repartee in the book. Peter Lorre is superb. On the other hand Wilbur is far more menacing in the novel and Mary Astor (IMO) doesn’t quite get the deadly undercurrent of “murderous innocence” in Brigid’s character. The film does do justice to the great dark ending. (Though Hammett adds one more terrific twist at the end.)

“Roger Ebert’s comment on the film works equally well for the novel:

“The moment everyone remembers from The Maltese Falcon comes near the end, when Brigid O'Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) has been collared for murdering Spade's partner. She says she loves Spade. She asks if Sam loves her. She pleads for him to spare her from the law. And he replies, in a speech some people can quote by heart, ‘I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck. . . . The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you.’”

Book or Film? They are both wonderful—read one and watch the other but don’t miss either.“



I suspect that I am an outlier here but I certainly do believe that this novel is a masterpiece of the genre—a superb Hardboiled detective story with strong links to the Noir tradition. Following are some of the reasons I feel this way.

One of the things that particularly impresses me is the dark world these characters inhabit. It is ugly, cruel, unforgiving, and corrupt. Justice, as an ethical system does not seem linked to an abstract concept of Truth but is simply a pragmatic method of keeping the social order kicking over.

It is this type of world that produces the rogue figures who inhabit the underbelly of society. They work on the principle of an opportunistic, pragmatic, relativistic, self-seeking morality in which the end justifies the means. Their great goal is the ultimate heist that will empower their lives and beat the system. In the novel it is the Maltese Falcon which is the Philosopher’s Stone which will transmute their existence. It is so ironic that the gold turns out to be lead!

While all the members of the gang are memorable, I think that Brigid stands out. She is, of course, the femme fatale but she is an extraordinary manipulator. Her beauty and sexuality are combined with an apparent innocence and dependence. This is the means of her empowerment. Perhaps this strange charisma is what so impresses Effie.

Sam Spade is the opposite. He is harsh, brutal, and not a very nice person at all. He has already seduced the wife of his partner and is making overtures to Effie who, until the end, considers him a hero. He is as much a product of society as the villains.

His relationship with Brigid is ambiguous. Perhaps he loves her. What sets him apart from her and the other gang members is that he does have a code. When she attempts to use him at the end he outlines his system to her and the first point he makes is that the code is somehow an act of faith—not an opportunity to get an advantage:

“When a man’s partner is killed he’s supposed to do something above it. It doesn’t make any difference what you thought about him. He was your partner. You’re supposed to do something about it.”

And in the end of it all any “love” Brigid and Sam had remains ambiguous.

“All we’ve got is the fact that maybe you love me and maybe I love you”

It’s a dark bitter conclusion but it is the truth and it is just.