Of course, you all have seen this one. I never saw it on the big screen before and consequently never paid such close attention to it. Some observations: it was a lot funnier than I remembered, Bogart sure had a lot of tics, Mary Astor was very good and very beautiful, Lorre and Greenstreet were quite a team. I can see why they used them again in CASABLANCA. Hard to understand why Sam Spade was so attracted to a woman who was clearly up to no good. But I have never understood that about men, in general. The story is an exercise in how to tell a story with no let-up in tension. Was there ever a more minimal use of sets? Amazing how little back story was necessary.
7 comments:
This is such a classic film, Patti! And you're right about keeping the tension up throughout. Glad to be reminded of it.
Not all men. I never found her attractive. That said, this is one of my favorite movies and I've seen it many times. Watching it after reading the book, it is amazing how close the two are. (Of course, Bogart is hardly a "blond Satan," or however he was described.) One year my father took us to eat at John's Grill, where Spade eats near the end of the novel. They had a display from the movie upstairs.
Like Jeff, I was bit skeptical of Mary Astor's character. But I admit I know just about as much about women as you do about men.
I had the chance to see it on the big screen in L.A. about twenty years ago. It was a film festival of Bogart films, and I also got to see, over two days, The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, Dark Passage and Casablanca. At three films a day it was long but the films were mesmerizing.
I have never lied Astor much and don't think she is at all attractive, but apparently Spade did in the film.
There are two other films; one from 1931 with Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez and Satan Met a Lady, with Warren William and Bette Davis and Alison Skipworth as Madame Barabbas, the equivalent of Greenstreet. Oh, and the falcon is Roland's warhorn.
I assume this is the best one though, right?
Yes, by far, though the 1931 version is watchable. I'm not a fan of Ricardo Cortez. But Greenstreet and Lorre and Elisha Cook, Jr.? No contest.
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