The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Introduction

This week movie is about film noir, The Maltese Falcon (directed by John Huston, 1941) is one of the famous film noir. Film noir is a term coined by Fren critics in 1946s. Noir is the word from French which means black so the film noir are usually in black and white.

In historical context, film noir is influence by the World War II and the Cold War in United States. Man need to fight for the war, woman was forced to work. When woman started involve in the man role, they expanded their worldview beyond domestic spheres. After the men returned from the war, woman felt suspicious of the women’s roles. Women realize that they can live without men because they can work by themselves. It is not true that people said the city is dangerous, woman should stay at home and do what a women should do such as give birth, take care children and cook and more. When the war ended, women became independent because they have the ability to live. They were forced to back to the family and domestic sphere. Therefore, film noir was an expression of make concern at women’s growing economic and sexual independence that threatens masculinity.

Theory Discussion

The theme of noir is not only talk about the colour of the film. In film noir not everybody is purely good it try to present the reality. The features of film noir is a world of criminals and the characters are darkness and violence. Their motives to do something are usually from greed, lust and ambition, drenched in fear. These films often man anti-hero and doing some kind of investigation and to solve the case.

First of all, we can notice that film noir also involve some germen expressionistic such as the oblique vertical and horizontal lines to shooting some scene. Film noir also like to use low angle to create the feeling to show the danger of the criminal. Film noir in visually is dark and with a lots of shadow. Film noir also tend to use high-contrast lighting (low key).

Besides, the story of the film noir is cynical pessimism and dark. The tone of the movie is black and white to show the hopeless and desperate to the audiences. The characters in the movie usually corrupted, and morally-ambiguous. The man anti-hero character usually will fall to the femme fatale because of the sexy or pitiful appearance. This is related to the historical context, in film noir a woman is central to the intrigue, making her the object of the male’s investigation. By being a strong, active, sexually expressive female, film noir tends to keep the woman contained. In film noir everybody is guilty but the punishment only happen on femme fetale.

Synopsis

Sam Spade and Miles Archer is partner to investigate the Ms. Wonderly case. Miles help Ms. Wonderly to follow Thursby to find her sister. Unfortunately, Miles was killed by someone when he following Thursby. Sam Spade realize that Ms. Wonderly is lied to him, her name is Brigid O’Shaughnessy. The purpose of Brigid O’Shaughnessy is want to find out the falcon. She uses her pitiful appearances to manipulate Sam Spade to help her. At the end of the movie, Sam know that Brigid O’Shaughnessy is the criminal who killed Miles and she only use him to help herself stay in safety.

Analysis

We can found many film noir traits in the movie for example the male anti-hero Sam Spade doing the investigation for the Brigid O’Shaughnessy. Sam Sape is materialistic, because he accept all the offer from different people. This is different compare to a protagonist who is heroic and spirit.

Next, we can clearly know that Brigid O’Shaughessy is the femme fatale in this movie. No matter in the way she talking and the way walking we can know that she act like helpless and pity. At the beginning, She act like pure lady like a high school girl and cried to beg Sam help her. But in fact, she is strong and smart, she create these personalities to herself to get what she wants.

Besides of character, this film also use the German impressionism technique which is shoot in oblique vertical and horizontal lines. The angle to shoot the main character is using low angle to highlighting the ceiling to show the to the audiences criminal feel.

Moreover, this film also emphasize on the shadow and strong contrast of the dark and light. The strong contrast between the light on the person and the dark shadow can make audiences know that. This person not only can have a pure side it can also have a dark side. Not everybody in the film is purely good and sometimes good person can influence by other things such as money.

Conclusion

The Meltese Falcon is one of the famous film to represent film noir because it applied all the traits in the movie such as the setting or the technique.

References :

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Film Noir.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 26 Sept. 2017, www.britannica.com/art/film-noir.

“What Is Film Noir?” Librarypoint | The Central Rappahannock Regional Library, www.librarypoint.org/what_is_film_noir.

Brody, Richard. “‘Film Noir’: The Elusive Genre.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 20 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/film-noir-elusive-genre-2.