Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Film Noir Analysis: The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is film-noir classic released in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart as Detective Sam Spade and Mary Astor as Miss Wonderly. As many films in the film noir genre, the film is based on the book The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett released in 1929; 12 years prior to the film release.

Unlike most films from other genres, the audience are able to learn the narratives concept just from the opening scene. The film begins with the basic narrative of Miss Wonderly going to ‘Spade & Archer’ to ask them for help on locating her missing sister and getting her away from Floyd Thursby (described by Miss Wonderly as a violent character). Archer then takes it upon himself to shadow Thursby where he is shot and soon after Thursby too is murdered, Spades lack of care towards his partners murder then causes him to be interrogated as a suspect. This forms the enigma of the film, who killed Archer and Thursby?

They open the film with several establishing shots of San Francisco smoothly edited together (continuity editing) directly presenting the key location of the film to the audience. The first shot of the sequence is shown to the right. Following this, the shots delve straight into the narrative where we initially meet protagonist, Detective Sam Spade. Straight away he is presented as a stereo-typical detective for the time with a cigarette in his mouth, slicked back hair, and wearing a formal suit (shown below). The detective

stereo-type was formed back in the late 1800’s with the creation of the character Sherlock Holmes penned by author Arthur Conan-Doyle, a super intelligent character who wore tweed and was very much sophisticated but mysterious. However, as the detective stereotype travelled to America it evolved into a street-smart style detective, paged by the character Phillip Marlow. Spades stereotype was loosely based on Phillip Marlow and he is instantly set out to be a crucial character throughout the narrative, especially as the film uses restricted narration with the audience following Spades’ character and so only know as much as him

Next we meet the only two female characters of the scene. Firstly, Spades’ secretary and then Miss Wonderly both presented as opposites and each taking the role of one of two stereotypical film-noir females. In film-noir the female characters are only usually on the side-lines of the protagonists and are only portrayed as one of two characters; the honest, trusting but naive figure, or the manipulative femme fatale. In this example, Spades’ secretary is the honest trusting figure, and Miss Wonderly is the femme fatale.

The 'spider and the fly' connotation has often been used to outline the role of the femme fatale in film-noir and the tale in which she features. This film very much follows the femme fatale concept where the protagonist (in our case Detective Spade) finds the love and mysteriousness of the femme fatale (Miss Wonderly) irresistible and gets trapped in her increasingly-complex web which inevitably leads to both of their downfalls.

During the scene of Miss Wonderly speaking to the Detective, they use medium close ups regularly focusing on her face where its noticeable that she is avoiding eye contact with the detective and her gaze is always wondering. However, when the camera pulls out to a long shot it is clear the detective is leaning forward and looking straight toward her. This has two connotations, firstly the power play between the two of them with Spade being the dominant character in his body language and Miss Wonderly acting quite passive toward him. But also secondly, it could denote that she is either lieing so her words are not true or she is hiding something from the detective. This gives the impression she is not a straightforward character, and has many layers. Here she is trying to seem sweet, passive and vulnerable however she may not be as innocent as first seemed.

This powerplay is also demonstrated with a low camera angle behind Miss Wonderly consecutively followed by a medium close up of her face. This makes it seem Miss Wonderly is looking up at Spade and Archer (shown to the right) and this idea of her looking up to the two detectives shows her inferiority to them and emphasises the vulnerability she is attempting to display in the scene; it’s almost like when someone is begging or pleaing for something on their knees and they’re looking up at the superior figure.

Throughout the entirety of the film’s opening, low light and key spotlights (known as the term chiaroscuro) are used to create shadows and contrast, particularly when Spade goes back to his apartment and turns on a spotlight beside him. Shadows are also created through the characters costumes, with Detective Spade sporting a stereo-typical trilby hat and Miss Wonderly wearing a sort of fascinator. In film-noir they use harsh lighting and objects to create a sense of depth and overcome the bland black and white. They do so by using a key light, which is the most dominant light, creating contrast on wherever the light is focused and the background. Lighting is important in particular in film-noir as it sets the mood of the seen, the more light-hearted scenes such as the opening in Spade’s office is quite well lit and the shadows created such as the company logo on the wall aren’t ‘menacing’ as such. However in the later scene when he is being interrogated which is much more serious, the lighting becomes a lot more dim and harsh and the shadows are large and defined.

To match the visuals on screen, a soundtrack is also used alongside to build the mood and give the audience more of an insight into the tone of the scene. An example is when Archer is shot and the body is found, very sharp, staccato sounds are heard making the whole scene quite tense and the use of loud brass instruments makes you almost uncomfortable. Whereas at the beginning of the opening during the credits, the music is much more winding and begins to slowly build as we hear strings along with woodwind instruments such as a bassoon which put the audience at ease but also builds excitement for the movie to begin.

Overall, this early example of film noir strictly follows the stereo-typical conventions of the genre such as low-key lighting, characters and narrative while also pathing a way for future productions to follow. It’s a great example of a stereo-typical film-noir while also being entertaining and therefore earns its status as a film-noir classic.