Maltese Falcon

One of the first American film noirs and certainly THE archetype for all detective movies for the next several decades, "The Maltese Falcon" both established Bogart as a true leading man movie star as well as introduce a brilliant new director in John Houston. These two would go on and do several more classic films together over the next decade or so. The main character, hard bitten and cynical private detective Sam Spade, gets drawn into a black hole of lies, double crosses and abject greed with a group of treasure hunters and we go along for the very bumpy ride. The film is based on the earlier classic novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and was unsuccessfully brought to the screen twice before in the previous decade. The iconic dialog, various character tropes and leading-edge filming techniques used to heighten shadow contrasts and odd disturbing camera angles all goes to creating the classic detective noir world we grow to know in so many future movies and TV shows over the next 80 plus years. Warner Bros. does a great job with this 4K Blu-ray presentation. The image is so clean and stable but still filmic with fine film grain, deep blacks, well delineated grayscales and nary a spot of damage. Increased detail in faces, clothing, etc. is very well noticed. The HDR really pops the contrasty specular highlights off of desk lamps, match lights, glistening sweat beads and other small details that go to add an almost 3D feel to the image. The DTS HD-MA 2.0 sound is full and undistorted. Dialog is clear and the music score has good fidelity. Standard earlier special features are ported over on the included Blu-ray disc.This is a must own for anyone building a physical media collection of great, classic cinema and is required viewing of any fan of noir.

This movie should be a must watch for everyone. No it is not a super hero movie, but it does have a neat story and good actors and charactors. Most movie now a days are super hero, cartoon, a movie with a rightoues point (like no one can figure out how to be kind) only hollywood tell us wrong on their part).lol.And we can not make China or Russia be bad cause they need those audiences for the money! But China and Russia can tell us we are bad people. What!

A movie that practically defines what film noir is, stunning upgraded to 4K and Blu-ray. This is a classic movie not to be missed or overlooked.

FORMAT: Blu-Ray UPC: 8-83929-11825-0 RELEASED: 2010-10-05TITLE: The Maltese Falcon (1941) • NR • 1:40:32 Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet John Huston (Director) The movie that many film historians consider to be the very first example of "film noir"! (I personally DON'T agree with that assessment, as there are, in my opinion, MANY earlier examples of film noir — such as, Bogie's own  Dead End  from 1937.) Be that as it may, this is still an EXCELLENT movie — with its collection of odd-ball and/or duplicitous characters, with their various (and, nefarious) motivations, all plotting against one another in order to achieve some nebulous goal! This is the movie that cemented Humphrey Bogart as a superstar actor — and, it also changed John Huston from an erstwhile highly-respected screenwriter (and VERY small-time actor, on the side) into a VERY highly-respected screenwriter, and a MUCH sought-after director (with a slightly-more-frequent bit playing acting career, on the side). Of the MANY great things about this movie, one of the most important, in my opinion, is that EVERYBODY is perfectly cast — and, consequently, EVERY performance is pitch-perfect (Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, speaking of just two great examples of that aforementioned perfect casting, very nearly steal the movie). Another important aspect of this movie is its brilliant dialog — sometimes, while re-watching this movie, for the who-knows-how-many-time, I forget about following the plot and just absorb the wordplay between the characters (with the many snide remarks and sly innuendos). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. See the other reviews for more detail and/or other opinions regarding the plot of the movie.VIDEO: 1.37:1 • B&W • 1080p • VC-1 (28.6 Mbps) Let's get the bad news out of the way off the top: Those of you that have seen Warners' glorious blu-ray presentation of  Casablanca (1942) , and expect that SAME level of visual presentation here, with this release of "The Maltese Falcon" will be disappointed — but, only slightly so. While this movie's image has MANY of the same VERY positive visual attributes as "Casablanca" (namely: excellent contrast and gray-scale, great sharpness and detail, and a total (or, nearly so) absence of artifacts such as black specks, white dots, hair-lines or dropped frames), it also has some negative visual attributes of its own — that were non-existent (or, nearly so) in "Casablanca" (namely: a pervasive, ever-so-slight softness in MANY scenes, and a very few scenes that were overly "contrasty", with very limited gray-scale [yes, I know that film noir is known for its stark, high-contrast cinematography, but these scenes didn't match the appearance of the rest of the movie, and, further, look like they may have originated from less-than-pristine source elements]). OK, that's the "bad" news. Now, for the "good" news: This is still an EXCELLENT transfer to blu-ray. As a person who has owned this movie first on VHS tape and then later on Laser Disc, before purchasing this blu-ray version, I can tell you that this version is a visual revelation, and it looks FANTASTIC! Only a hyper-picky, so-called "videophile" could possibly have a "reason" to condemn the picture quality of this release — the rest of us will simply count our blessings and enjoy the show.AUDIO: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48 KHz, 24-bit) Again, just like with the audio presentation of "Casablanca", the fine sound engineers at Warner Home Video have done extensive clean-up work on the film's soundtrack, because there are no pops, bumps or hiss to speak of. Also, the dialog is very clear and natural sounding, with all voices being clearly defined and easily understood. However, the transfer's dynamic range is fairly limited, and there isn't any deep bass nor any top-end to speak of (though, the musical score does sound better than one would expect under the circumstances). Otherwise, considering the age of the source elements and the fact that this is a monophonic, dialog-driven movie from the early 1940s, this film's soundtrack has VERY good sound quality.EXTRAS: Commentary (by Bogart biographer Eric Lax) 'Making Of' Video (The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird [SD]) Becoming Attractions: The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart [SD] Warner Night at the Movies (interactive featurette [SD]) Gag Reel/Bloopers (Breakdowns of 1941 [SD]) Makeup Tests [SD] Trailers ('The Maltese Falcon' and 'Satan Met a Lady') Three Radio Show Adaptations of 'The Maltese Falcon' [SD = Standard Definition] None of the extras were reviewed.

True art.

This 2-disc set includes a 4K disc with a visually gorgeous restoration of the film and an insightful commentary track; and a bluray disc with a bunch of extras including several excellent documentaries and a lot of stills. Really, a splendid package. I won't talk about the film because literally books have been written about it and it's probably the most important film noir ever made, and the equal of "Casablanca" among Bogart films.

Sometimes sharpness in a transfer is not desirable. In an effort to be a "4K DVD", this transfer picks up a great deal of film grain. Some people will not notice this since the action and script are excellent. Movie buffs may be bothered by the background film grain. Many old movies were not originally filmed with camera stocks that were fine grain due to losses in the theater projection systems which "smoothed out" the film grain. You never get more real resolution than the original, and "up-scaling" a lower resolution negative or print, just creates digital noise. I work with large size images, so image quality is very noticeable to me.

This is another classic done by contract actors who do their usual fine job. Some of these worked on Casablanca.Forgot I had the bluray and bought the 4k version and glad I did.In one scene Astor is wearing pearls and they just don't look real, they practically glow. Like you could touch them. A very decent version of a classic, starring my favorite actor, Bogart. But if you have modest gear you could probably find the bluray ok

Sigue siendo una estupenda película y ahora en 4K se disfruta todavía más.

Awesome talent at its best!

I bought this as a used blu ray. Delivery was speedy & the product ok.The film is as brilliant as always. If you don’t know it, seek it out...Transfer is good and clear. While not to the absolute heights of ‘Criterion Collection’ releases its fine.

It’s a great film in every way. Sam Spade is one of Bogart’s finest performances, & he’s matched by Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook Jr. & more. With brilliant screenwriting & direction by John Huston, The Maltese Falcon will always be a masterpiece.

Been wanting to add this title to my library for a long time. Very good movie and excellent acting.