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Classic Narrative Techniques In The Maltese Falcon

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The Maltese Falcon is one of the greatest films of the American Studio Era. Samuel Spade played by Henry Bogart is the film’s protagonist. Right away, enigmatic Mary Astor portraying Miss Wonderly/ Bridget O’ Shaughnessy is seeking assistance in finding her lost sister. Sam and his partner, Miles, are soon in a muddled mess of wrongdoing and deceitfulness. The criminals he interacts with try to convince him to help them find the falcon that is encrusted with fine jewels such as, red garnets, emeralds, and sapphires. The Maltese Falcon illustrates classical Hollywood cinema using key principles of classical narration and the continuity system, having a strategic use of various kinds of cuts, transitions and angles, but also tests classical narration …show more content…

“The classical Hollywood film present psychologically defined individuals who struggle to solve a clear-cut problem or to attain specific goals. In the course of this struggle, the characters enter into conflict with others or with external circumstances. The story ends with a decisive victory or defeat, a resolution of the problem and a clear achievement or nonachievement of the goals” (Bordwell 1985). The Maltese Falcon follows this perfectly. At the beginning, Mrs. Wonderly/ Bridget O’Shaughnessy is searching for her sister, but really is looking for the falcon, this is the problem and she is trying to attain a specific goal. She needs Sam Spade’s help to solve the problem. The conflict is Sam’s partner being shot and others are also searching for the falcon. The ending is a victory for Sam because the falcon ends up being a fake and everyone involved in the search is arrested. The story is fabula because it follows a casual chronological sequence. Everything that happens in the story has a cause and effect. The Maltese Falcon is also syuzhet because there are two plot lines. There is a heterosexual romance between O’Shaughnessy and Spade, and the other plot line is the quest to find the falcon. Many of the most popular films in classic Hollywood follow the same

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Is the leading female characters are always supporting or needing the support from the main male protagonist? Well it maybe for many female lead characters, but not for the murderous and deceiving Brigid O’Shaughnessy from Dashiell Hammett novel the Maltese Falcon. Brigid could be considered as one of those femme fatales that might be beautiful, dependent, and helpless in the outside but in the inside Brigid is evil, deceiving, and could backstab you when you are not looking. How and why Brigid may be the evil woman that Hammett’s novel made her out to be?

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