John Huston

*****
5/5

This third version of Dashiell Hammett's hard-boiled crime drama is superb cinematic entertainment. It completely obliterated memories of the two perfectly fine earlier versions and created a brand-new movie icon in Humphrey Bogart's cynical private detective, Sam Spade, a role that brought Bogart a richly deserved stardom after years of toil in supporting parts. It was also the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Bogie and John Huston, who was then a screenwriter making his feature debut as director, and whose tart screenplay retains most of the sharp dialogue and sleazy amorality of Hammett's original. The supporting cast is an extraordinary combination that couldn't be bettered - stage actor Sydney Greenstreet made his screen debut as Gutman, lusting after the Black Bird; Peter Lorre is the whiny, effeminate Joel Cairo; Mary Astor is cast against type as femme fatale supreme Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Watch, too, for Huston's distinguished father Walter as a ship's officer who delivers the Falcon, and admire the pace and panache of the Warner Bros production team.
 

(1941)   
US   B/W   96 mins