The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon was a pretty good movie. Unlike Piers Plowman, it follows the classic structure of a typical mystery. It also shares some of the same elements as other mystery novels: a cunning detective, a plucky sidekick, several unsavory characters, a plot twist, incompetent policemen, and murder. However, it wasn't as thorough or cohesive as The Valley of Fear or The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Both Doyle and Poe employed the same methods of giving clues then walking through the deductive reasoning. The Maltese Falcon, however, didn't do the same thing as much of Spade's deductive reasoning process wasn't shown at all, which was at times kind of confusing. How did he know that Wonderly killed Archer? As far as I remember, there was no indication or even hint that Wonderly killed Archer; we never learn how Spade managed to deduce that this happened. The Maltese Falcon also differs from the other two mystery novels in that unlike Holmes and Dupin, who are motivated by their own desire for the truth, Spade was motivated by money and also perhaps a desire to avenge his partner. Spade also differs from Holmes and Dupin because he isn't afraid to manipulate and lie to the people around him. Although Holmes was sometimes frustrating because he refused to tell people what was going on, he never outright lied to someone in order to solve a mystery. The portrayal of detectives in this movie was also slightly different; in most mystery novels, the detective, and the sidekick, are untouchable enigmas, but in this movie, the detective's sidekick is killed off right at the beginning. It was also really interesting that they incorporated romance into the movie. In most detective novels, the detective has only a single thing on his mind: solving the mystery. Holmes and Dupin are both very detached and emotionally aloof; it's hard to imagine them having any kind of romance. It was also kind of strange because we're never really shown why it is that Spade is so attracted to Wonderly. She lies to him like four times but for some reason he's still very into her, which was confusing and also seemed a little forced.

I also had a lot of questions. First of all, what was going on with Archer's wife? Were they having an affair before Archer died or is she just really weird? Also, why didn't Spade seem more beat up about losing his partner? Spade doesn't bother telling Archer's wife in person that her husband had been murdered, he literally just sends his secretary to tell her for him. Then the next day, he's just like "oh yeah, also take Archer's name off the doors and take away his desk," which seems a little cold considering they were partners for a long time. Isn't he at all sentimental? The final questions: where even is the Maltese Falcon? Does it even exist?