Pedantic instructions on watching "The Maltese Falcon"
All I can say is you should try the "Falcon" again and pay attention to the signals of all the characters -- the consciously Brechtian Peter Lorre, the Shakespearian Sydney Greenstreet, and the cynical Bogart.
Houston direction is pretty straightforward here. Nothing fancy, but it was his first film, and he relied on his camera man pretty heavily.
The camera work by Arthur Edison is "workman" like but he began his work in the silent era and remembered that the camera was free-er before everybody had to pay attention to where the microphones were placed and at times he shows the desire to break free from the interior.
Houston's strong point was letting his actors go with the script. Take another look at the scenes between Lorre and Bogart. If you don't like the scene where Peter Lorre attempts to search Bogart's office and gets his face slapped, then I think you will never like movies of this kind. Watch that scene a couple of times, watch the pacing of it and watch how Lorre plays it toung in cheek and Bogart milks it for all its worth. A very simple scene but so much fun.
And always remember a few phrases to keep in mind..... "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter...." and "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it." and "You... you bungled it. You and your stupid attempt to buy it. Kemedov found out how valuable it was, no wonder we had such an easy time stealing it. You... you imbecile. You stupid fat-head you. [then he cries]"
Words to live by....
Jerry
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> I got into Doom when it came out. After a while it made me feel like
> a rat pushing on a lever.
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