Stylish but barely mediocre overall

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Nothing has aged in this terrific crime thriller! Humphrey Bogart plays a detective named Sam Spade whose partner Miles Archer was recently murdered and also finds out there's a jewel encrusted black bird that gangsters are in on. Soon, he is accused for the murder of his partner by the widow and is further in danger when the cops think he killed Thursby--a man whose widow met with Spade and Archer claiming he's missing with her sister. Soon, the murders are linked and the client is not only a suspect, but involved with Joel Cairo and Kasper Gutman in finding a statue of the bird which recently has been recovered after a ship arrived in San Francisco on fire. The movie has many memorable characters such as Casper Gutmann played by Sidney Greenstreet in his film debut and Joel Cairo played by Peter Lorre. The tone and pacing are gripping throughout and the lighting is a fascinating shade of detail (especially the night time scenes). Including a thundering music score, this one gets to the point and doesn't slow down.

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette. The Maltese Falcon unfortunately does not hold up very well but also is a very slow burning and bland crime thriller noir or whatever you wanna call it. The perfomances weren't anything special either and the cinematography was on that level as well. Perhaps IMDB should change their list with the Top 250 because so far lots of them have been on the overrated side of things than the other way around. (0/10)

The performance of a lifetime by Humphrey Bogart, the masterclass of acting from one of the greatest German actors of all time, Peter Lorre, yet sprinkled by some magnificent performances from Mary Astor, Lea Patrick, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook Jr. and others, couple that to the twists and turns, the drama and suspense, the movie "The Maltese Falcon" is indeed legendary so much so that it's legacy survives even today, The Maltese Falcon statuette being sold at a whooping $4 million at an auction. The Movie being referred to as one of the Hollywood classics. It takes you on a Roller-coaster ride entertaining you every single minute and by the time you finish watching it, it's already entrenched to the core of your grey matter forever. In short, there are very few movies which stand the test of time. This movie has for several generations. Miss it at your own risk! If ever there was movie to save the day, "This is It"

'The Maltese Falcon' is highly influential, oppressively dark and it presents a deeply pessimistic view of the world and life in Depression Era USA. The screenplay is very carefully structure and maneuvered to keep the viewer in the dark for almost the entirety of the film just like its protagonist Sam Spade. There is very impressive camera-work and crafty usage of lighting on show here which to a great extent laid down the framework for the visual language for film-noir. Reminiscent of German Expressionism, we see deliberately prominent shadows everywhere and a big chunk of the film gets engulfed by an oppressively, dark visual texture complimenting the thematic tone of the film. Like other noir films, the characters, including Spade himself are deliberately made to lack a sense of morality and they are shown to be greedy emotionless organisms who have opted to choose a life involving a constant pursuit of material gains, instead of being burdened by the worthless weight of a conscience.However if I have to be honest, even though I found myself relatively pleased and impressed by Huston's edginess and the colourful characters, I was never really bowled over by the film. I can easily understand and admire why it is so influential and important in American film history, but I'd be lying if I say the film and its contents lingered in my thoughts for a long time after it came to its conclusion. Whenever there is a film where the director is deliberately forcing the characters and the plot to remain and feel distant to the viewer, it has to be captivating and for the lack of a more appropriate term - fun. I find this aforementioned fun(along with thematic depth) in abundance while watching other noir films like 'Sunset Boulevard', 'Sweet Smell of Success', 'Ace in the Hole', etc. to name a few. Unfortunately 'The Maltese Falcon' never did manage to give me a similar fun experience at least on this first viewing which prevented me from being swept up by the film.I admire the quippy, razor sharp dialogue, I admire the technical elements like Huston and his cinematographer's lighting and intricate camera-work, I admire the colourful characters and the actors portraying them, but unfortunately I couldn't 'love' the film and as a whole it left me a bit underwhelmed.