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Again, Warner Bros. continues to rival other studios with their DVD releases of their classic movies. This time, they’ve pulled out all the stops for the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon, the film that practically invented the film noir genre. Although not as packed with bonus materials like some of their other previous Special Edition, they’ve tranquil establish enough material on here to consume THREE discs. The situation contains a cardboard slipcase packaging two slim DVD cases. Disc 1 is contained in the first case, and the second case contains discs 2 and 3. I won’t go into detail on the movie, because I’m here to review the product itself, not the movie.
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The first disc contains the 1941 film noir classic, with a newly restored digital transfer. Digital artifacting is minimal if existent. Some film artifacting, such as occasional small shakiness is explain, but for the most fraction, the transfer is shapely and free from flaws. The audio is presented in its glowing unusual mono mix, which has been cleaned up for this fresh transfer. An audio commentary is included, but I have yet to listen to it. Also included is a bonus called Warner Night At The Movies, which allows you to thought a gallery of short subjects before The Maltese Falcon – the diagram you would have in 1941. The short subjects included are informative and/or racy and even include a couple of short cartoons. But the restored movie is, of course, the main attraction – and what an attraction!
Disc 2 contains a nice surprise – the first two film versions of The Maltese Falcon! The first one is the pre-code 1931 version starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade and Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly. Although this first version is very similar to the 1941 version, it contains a bit more sexual innuendo and suggestive scenes. For many years after its initial release, the film was not allowed to be shown until the leisurely 60’s, when it turned up on TV under the title Risky Female. The second film is a thinly veiled screwball comedy remove on the account titled Satan Met A Lady, starring Warren William as Ted Shane (Sam Spade) and Bette Davis as Valerie Purvis (Ruth Wonderly/Brigid O’Shaughnessy) . Despite having all of the characters’ names changed and the object of desire changed to a ram’s horn filled with jewels, it’s sure what the source material is. Satan Met A Lady’s theatrical trailer is included, but not the trailer for the 1931 film, despite the packaging’s claim that both versions’ trailers are included. Having all three films on this status is a beneficial concept, in my view, because it allows the viewer to determine for themself what their well-liked version is. Although in my view, the 1941 tops both of them, I highly enjoyed the other two films too. Unlike the 1941 version, these versions have not been restored and definitely explain their age, with plenty of dirts, spots, and scratches. They’re unlikely to be revisited on DVD anytime soon, so this is about as obliging as they’re going to net treated on DVD.
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Disc 3 contains all of the 1941 version’s bonus materials. Not as packed as most supplemental material discs in Warner’s Special Editions, (In fact, a single-layer disc was traditional for disc 3, and holds approx. 3.5 GB of data.) the bonuses included are quite gracious and informative. Included is a original documentary on the making and impact of the movie, called One Resplendent Bird. Next is the TCM documentary Becoming Attractions: The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart, which includes theatrical trailers for many of Bogey’s classics, such as High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Shrinking Forest, and Cherish Of The Sierra Madre. The concept is to exhibit Bogart’s progression from B-list poor guy to A-list movie star. Another broad bonus is the Breakdowns of 1941 blooper reel, which contains some of the greatest extinct school actors and actresses, such as Bogart, Bette Davis, and James Cagney, blowing their lines – and often using some graceful salty language that couldn’t be shown in theaters at the time. Also included are some Mary Astor makeup tests, although I personally don’t explore the significance. Finally, rounding out this space are three radio broadcast performances – the Lux Radio Theater performance with Edward G. Robinson, and two featuring Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet, with Peter Lorre also starring in one of the broadcasts. Approx. two hours of astronomical worn time radio to listen to.
This residence may disappoint the consumer that has been rotten by 4-Disc sets of Ben-Hur and Gone With The Wind and the 3-Disc state of The Wizard of Oz. Although I’m one of the consumers that has been cross with those releases, in my thought, The Maltese Falcon’s 3-Disc Special Edition stands up alongside these releases beautifully. With THREE movies and around four hours of additional bonus materials, this location truly delivers. If you appreciate passe movies, Bogey, or film noir, this is a MUST-have for your collection.
Warner Brothers has one of the greatest film catalogs of any studio; yet they don’t appear to select their DVD issues very seriously. Who on earth would assign “Goodfellas” on two sides of a disc? or not release the “Director’s Crop” version of “Eyes Wide Shut” (imagine the added revenue if they had)? or release a slapdash collection of Kubrick’s films? or almost never digitally enhance the audio or visual transfer or provide any valuable extras? Compared to the deluxe packages that Universal, Criterion, and, even, Paramount has mustered, Warners’ issues – all released in cheap and easily breakable snap cases – are a irregular desecration of a vaunted film legacy.
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Case in point: “The Maltese Falcon”. Arguably the greatest detective film ever made, Warners at least releases it with a decent video transfer. Unfortunately, the audio synchronizing is off during the last 15 minutes of the movie (by a second but it’s smooth noticable) and I wasn’t able to access all the people on the “Cast and Crew” menu (no, it wasn’t a machine error, as I tested on several discs thereafter) . Moreover, although I enjoyed the “Trailers of Humphrey Bogart” fragment, it would have been nice if Warners spent the money to accomplish a documentary history of the film the device they did on Universal’s “Casablanca” release.
Much ink has been spilt praising “The Maltese Falcon” so I won’t go into any panegyrics here. It’s fair a shame that Warners doesn’t win this market seriously enough to achieve more care into the DVD releases of their finest films.
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