The Maltese Falcon Analysis

• Compare German Expressionism to Film Noir. What visual elements carried over? 

The gritty contrast in black and white is used in both German Expressionism and Film Noir, which was caused by technology limitations at the time, but exaggerated as a visual element. Oblique and vertical lines were preferred over horizontal in both German Expressionism and Film Noir.

• From where did the hardboiled-detective narrative formula emerge? 

This narrative emerged from the film The Maltese Falcon with Bogart as Sam Spade.

In the hardboiled-detective genre, how is crime generally scripted, and how are crimes generally solved? 

• Describe the relationship between Sam Spade, the private detective, and the police officers in The Maltese Falcon.

 Sam Spade is casual with the police, and jokes around with them despite the fact they are usually at odds with him. He has the tone of an experienced professional, and devises plans to deceive and evade the police constantly. He is very two-faced, but both parties are aware of the deception which happens.


Examine the role of crime in the storylines described in the reading, and in The Maltese Falcon. What relationship does the actual crime have to the plot? What are the central criminal acts in The Maltese Falcon?

 

In what ways is a hardboiled-detective different from a detective like Sherlock Holmes?

The "Sherlock Holmes" detective identifies the criminal who has committed an act against the social and moral boundaries set at the time. By solving the crime the status quo is reestablished, and the social world is no longer in tension. In the hardboiled detective genre, the chaotic world which the private investigator lives in has to be fixed (from his perspective), as he feels morally obligated to improve the world as he works to survive. However, films often end with the world still in chaos.