The Maltese Falcon
I wasn't the biggest fan of this mystery movie because I felt like it was a little too predictable. The key to writing a good detective plot is to have the perfect balance of both surprise and realistic reasoning, and this film lacked suspense. To be honest, I totally could tell that Ms. O'Shaughnessy was lying from the beginning, so Miles's death was pretty expected since I knew something was up.
I also just didn't like the characters. As much as Holmes annoys me, I prefer him to Spade. First of all, Spade's partner DIES and he doesn't even care. He was cheating with Miles's wife which was just totally messed up. Holmes may be arrogant and egotistical, but at least he has morals and respect for Watson and the police. Spade really had no manners, and instead of working with the police and explaining the situation to them, he treated them rudely yet still expected them to be on his side. Lastly, I really hated the way he treated women like objects, as if he was entitled to them. The appearance of romance is something we haven't seen too much of in our previous novels, but this movie was full of it.
One of my favorite parts of mystery novels in general is when the detectives find tangible clues. The dumbbell in The Valley of Fear is a perfect example of this. However, in The Maltese Falcon, Spade relies solely on his own reasoning and there aren't many clues to follow. The only evidence was what he put together in his head, which made the film less engaging for the audience.
The "How to Read a Film" article taught me to look at movies shot by shot, and to pause and analyze scenes often. This tactic definitely helped me comprehend the movie more easily, but overall I just wasn't a fan of it. It reminded me of the second part of The Valley of Fear which focused on gang violence and sketchy activity, which I didn't really like. I prefer classic mysteries with real evidence that is used to catch criminals.
I also just didn't like the characters. As much as Holmes annoys me, I prefer him to Spade. First of all, Spade's partner DIES and he doesn't even care. He was cheating with Miles's wife which was just totally messed up. Holmes may be arrogant and egotistical, but at least he has morals and respect for Watson and the police. Spade really had no manners, and instead of working with the police and explaining the situation to them, he treated them rudely yet still expected them to be on his side. Lastly, I really hated the way he treated women like objects, as if he was entitled to them. The appearance of romance is something we haven't seen too much of in our previous novels, but this movie was full of it.
One of my favorite parts of mystery novels in general is when the detectives find tangible clues. The dumbbell in The Valley of Fear is a perfect example of this. However, in The Maltese Falcon, Spade relies solely on his own reasoning and there aren't many clues to follow. The only evidence was what he put together in his head, which made the film less engaging for the audience.
The "How to Read a Film" article taught me to look at movies shot by shot, and to pause and analyze scenes often. This tactic definitely helped me comprehend the movie more easily, but overall I just wasn't a fan of it. It reminded me of the second part of The Valley of Fear which focused on gang violence and sketchy activity, which I didn't really like. I prefer classic mysteries with real evidence that is used to catch criminals.
I also saw how the movie appeared to have treat women with misogyny, especially Archer's wife and Wonderby. Given the movie was made in 1941, it makes sense that these unequal gender roles would come into play. Along the same vein, since these gender roles were common during that time, it was probably not the intent of the director to make Spade look bad through his interactions with women: he was just acting normally given gender expectations.
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