Another Bogey...

This week I review The Maltese Falcon, whose main star is Humphrey Bogart. I had heard of this movie before I started doing my reviews, but I didn't know who was in it and wondered who would play the role of Mario Fenech. I just realised that most people who read my reviews probably wouldn't get that little joke ... Mario Fenech is a former rugby league player who comes from Malta. His nickname is "The Maltese Falcon" or "Falcon". The movie was made in 1941 and was nominated for 3 Academy Awards and came away with nought. The plot is rather complex and I probably still don't completely understand it so I won't even bother to try to explain it. It is one of the things I didn't like about this movie, but only one. Humphrey Bogart, to me wasn't a very good actor. It seems to me that he is like Hugh Grant and Matthew Perry when they act, they don't actually act, they are just themselves. Bogey talks tough, acts tough and smokes cigarrettes - just like he did in Casablanca. There is no acting here. Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade who is based on Humphrey Bogart. The pace of the story is too fast for my liking, the sets are forgettable and the characters are just ok. The female in the movie is talked about as a glamour girl, so shouldn't they casted one for the role? Mary Astor, to me, is nothing special to look at at all. The amusing thing for me in both Humphrey Bogart movies I have seen is that if he has a love interest you hardly know it. You know how much Bogey loves a woman by how much he hits her. If he only hits her a few times then you know he's found a keeper.

Maybe I should watch these movies in the morning because even though I started watching this movie just after 8.30pm I was fighting off the sleep by 9. Even at the end, when I thought there may be a plot twist or something exciting happen, my eyelids gave in on me and I had one of those micro sleeps. Maybe I did miss something exciting but I don't think so. The only good thing about this movie was that it only goes for 90 minutes. The bad thing is that even that was too long for me.

To the ratings -
The Maltese Falcon : 3 falcon statues