Saturday, April 23, 2022

The Maltese Falcon



I've always enjoyed the Humphrey Bogart  movie The Maltese Falcon. I recently came across a copy of the novel by Dashiell Hammett on which it was based and decided to give it a read.

The plot is the same. Many of the scenes in the movie come directly out of the book. And I was surprised to see how closely the dialogue in the movie followed the dialogue in the novel. 

Some scenes and characters in the novel were left out of the movie - which is typical with adaptations due to length and the differnt demands and limitations of the film genre. Plus, some of the elements in the book would not have been deemed appropriate for movie audiences at that time. And the Sam Spade in the book is less likable as a character than Bogart's interpretation.

Overall, the movie is great. So is the book.

Pax et bonum

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