When Brigid walks into Spade's office, asking for his help, we want to warn him to stay away from her. Spade quickly becomes embroiled in a mad pursuit after the Maltese falcon, and we start learning that Spade is someone who will do more than bend a few rules, someone who is capable of practically anything. He's able to outgun the trigger-happy Wilmer, outwit the big boss …
Jul 10, 2012 · (Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, Google Books) Spade's worry is that he will be convicted of murdering Miles Archer (he has motive, as he and Archer's wife were having an affair) and possibly others ...
The Maltese Falcon. By Dashiell Hammett Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel, The Maltese Falcon, has been grouped critically with another of his later novels, The Thin Man (1934), in that these books established a new genre of detective story. These murder mysteries established a new form of gritty, hard-boiled crime story that relied on realism and modernism, thus setting them …
Gutman admits to the hoax of having his daughter trick Spade into looking for Brigid while they tried to find Captain Jacobi. In response, Spade offers to give the falcon to Gutman for the agreed upon $50,000 dollars, but Gutman instead produces an envelop with only ten one-thousand dollar bills in it. Gutman says this is the highest amount of money he is willing to pay.
We don't know much about Wilmer, except that he's steadfastly loyal to Gutman up until the moment Gutman agrees to turn him over to the police. Even though Wilmer likely sees Gutman as a father figure, he cannot forgive Gutman for betraying him and kills him in the end.
Brigid attempts to again wield her womanly charm, telling Spade that she loves him in hopes that he would do her bidding: taking the fall. Spade sees through her façade and recognizes her deadliness, leading him to turn Brigid in – the downfall of the femme fatale within the film.Mar 26, 2021
Sid Wise is Spade's lawyer, and seems to be pretty honest, as lawyers go. Spade advises Iva Archer to pay a visit to Wise in order to explain where she was on the night of her husband's murder. When Spade goes to Wise to see what Iva told him, Wise fills Spade in on the details, without holding back any information.
Miss WonderlySpade is hired by Miss Wonderly to help protect her from a man named Thursby. He finds out the next day that his partner Miles Archer has been killed, as well as Thursby. When Spade questions Miss Wonderly about the murders, she confesses that her real name is Brigid O'Shaughnessy, but she won't tell him anything else.
Gutman says Wilmer killed Thursby to scare Brigid into dealing with them because Thursby was loyal to Brigid. Wilmer torched the La Paloma and shot Jacobi who had been carrying the falcon for Brigid but Jacobi got to Sam before dying.
At the end of the novel, Brigid makes one final desperate attempt to keep Spade from turning her over to the police by claiming that she loves him. ... But we also have to remember that Brigid is a woman trying to make her way through a world run by ruthless, vicious men.
Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Cook Jr., whose intense, bug-eyed portrayal of Wilmer, the psychotic, baby-faced killer in The Maltese Falcon made him a cult figure to a generation of moviegoers, died on Thursday at a nursing home in Big Pine, Calif. He was 91.May 20, 1995
Miles Archer is Sam Spade's partner. He's in his thirties, well-built, and jovial. We only meet him briefly in Chapter 1 when he is introduced to Miss Wonderly.
Hank Risan owns two authenticated Maltese Falcon statuettes from the 1941 film production that bear Fred Sexton's distinctive "F.S." markings and they are widely regarded as two of the most valuable film props in the history of cinema.
Effie plays the role of Spade's conscience, getting angry at him for not immediately trying to find Brigid. Effie claims that Spade is not helping Brigid out of sexist spite because he doesn't like when women withhold info or do things independently.
Floyd Thursby He is a hoodlum from St. Louis and Chicago, who met Brigid O'Shaughnessy in Hong Kong and helped her steal the Maltese falcon. In San Francisco, she hired Spade and Archer to follow him, assuming that Thursby would either be killed or scared away.
In the film, the falcon – made in 1539 as a gift from the Knights Templar of Malta to Charles V – is really made of gold and is encrusted with jewels, but has been covered in black enamel to disguise its value. It's the black, enamelled version that we see in the opening credits and later on.Sep 19, 2021
He would re-appear as one of the main characters in his son's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), and between the two of them, they won three of the film's four Academy Awards nominations.] With a wide, lascivious grin, affected like so many others on the search for the bird, Spade unwraps the newspapers.
The Maltese Falcon (1941) Spade returns to his office, where Effie tells him about his phone calls - three from Iva, a call from the DA's office, and a call from a Mr. Gutman - saying that he had received Spade's message from "the young man.".
Name: Sam Spade#N#Height: 6'0''#N#Eyes: Yellowish gray#N#Hair: Pale brown, almost blond#N#Age: 30s#N#Clothing: Gray suit, tweed overcoat, green necktie, dark gray fedora
When we first meet Spade, he's a hard-nosed and cynical tough guy, gruff and untrusting towards almost everyone. He favors Bacardi and prefers Bull Durham cigarettes. We're told in the opening paragraph of the novel that Spade is a "blond satan," and right there we get this mixture of Spade as the hero, but also the devil:
When Brigid walks into Spade's office, asking for his help, we want to warn him to stay away from her. Spade quickly becomes embroiled in a mad pursuit after the Maltese falcon, and we start learning that Spade is someone who will do more than bend a few rules, someone who is capable of practically anything.
Sam Spade had a TOUCH TIP lighter on his desk. Here is a link to one site that shows the many beautiful art deco lighters made by Ronson.
Beatiful lighters, all of them on the site, thanks for the info and link Andykev.
Thanks for the response... Very cool - even though I don't smoke there is always a use for a lighter!
Thanks for the info. I've always wondered what kind of lighter that was.
That is one of my favorite items Spade has in that office, well I love everything in that office, as well as that office, lol. I have been looking for one of these for a long time. I have yet to run across one in any of the antique shops I have been in. I should perhaps start looking on ebay, maybe I would have some luck there.
I picked up a Ronson Touch Tip model called the Octet in black off Ebay and my gal thought that it was one of the most impressive purchases I've made on the auction site. It is the model pictured in white in Andykev's post.
Ok, in The Maltese Falcon, Bogart had a cigarette lighter on his desk that was insanely cool, and I've never seen any like it before. It was some kind of metal match, where he popped it down, then pulled it out and it was lit. Really really cool, but I don't know exactly how it works or whats it called, so I don't know how to look for it on Ebay.