MovieChat Forums > The Maltese Falcon (1941) Discussion > Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon

Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon


My vote is for Casablanca. MF is great but Casablanca is an all-time classic.

Some reasons why I pick Casablanca:

It won the Oscar for best picture of 1942.
Bogart, Lorre, and Greenstreet are in both movies. But Casablanca has Ingrid Bergman as well as Claude Rains and Paul Henreid.
Casablanca has a better plot.
Casablanca has better dialogue. I can think of at least seven cliches that originated in Casablanca.

I realize that my opinion doesn't amount to a "hill of beans."





















reply


Both are very important films, with Bogart at his best. I think that Casablanca is a more mainstream, popular movie with a romantic element, but I enjoyed the intricate plot of MF as well, and it was the first Bogey movie I saw, so it's a bit of a sentimental favourite.

Formerly tdnh_2000

reply

Bogart is my favorite actor of all time, and while I love many others of his films, these two are one and two for me. Having said that, I think of Falcon as the better film. Both are great, and thus it ends up a bit about splitting hairs. But as romantic as the ending of Casablanca is, I have a mixed feeling about it. In short I don't necessarily buy that the right thing to do was to put Ilsa on the plane. I get that people find that act an iconic form of self sacrifice, particularly appealing to a wartime audience, perhaps, but one that clearly still resonates. I just don't think it was clearly the right thing.

Meanwhile in Falcon the whole logic of the film built up to Spade turning Brigid in. Despite his ambivalence about Archer. Despite whatever romantic possibilities he might have otherwise had with her (and guessing about them, imo, just makes the whole film that much more fantastic!). And while as most men do I find Ingrid Bergman more beautiful, more attractive, over time i have come to recognize that the role of Brigid is the more challenging one, and one tht Mary Astor did a spectacular job on.

And one other if small thing - don't you get the feeling Bogart enjoyed working in Falcon more than Casablanca? I do.

Most other potential comparitors come out more or less even - the quality of the casts, the direction, the dialogue, the sets, the cinematography. All great in both films. But Falcon gets the edge, imo.

reply

Both films are great but I like The Maltese Falcon more than Casablanca. It looked like Bogart enjoyed the role of Sam Spade more than Rick Blaine, he just seemed more engaged as the private eye which typified the Bogart persona.

reply

I put Casablanca ahead, but only because of Claude Rains in one of the best performances of his career. Otherwise it would be a flat footed tie.

It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices

reply

Gullwing,

Funny I have not seen your post before, but while I would not go so far as to suggest Bogart was not doing a great job in Casablanca, as everyone who loves that film knows otherwise, I do think from the impression he gives that he loved the part of Sam Spade more. Bogie did a few more roles of a similar nature, such as Marlowe in The Big Sleep or the lead in Dead Reckoning, even if not strictly a detective there. The studios cast him in a fairly wide variety of roles over the years, from The African Queen to The Caine Mutiny, a couple of wartime roles, the earlier gangster films, etc... But not another role even vaguely like Casablanca.

I think that is because he gravitated to the Spade-like persona more. And it shows in the performance.

reply

"But not another role vaguely like Casablanca".

Key Largo? Bogey plays an embittered war veteran who is gradually forced to give up his resigned outlook on life and take a stand against the bad guys.



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

reply

"Key Largo? Bogey plays an embittered war veteran who is gradually forced to give up his resigned outlook on life and take a stand against the bad guys. "

Well, similar as far as that goes, I suppose. But the cause of the bitterness is quite different, in Casablanca it was that his beloved did not show when he left Paris, while in Largo it was more the War itself and the aftermath. Beyond that the roles and the films are quite different. Frank McCloud tries to play the cool customer but at times seems quite close to cowardly. Rick Blaine may put on the apathetic cynical persona, but never suggests anything of that sort.

To me the characters are not similar.

reply

The Big Sleep.

reply

I gave both 10 out of 10. But the story is better in Casablanca.

If we can save humanity, we become the caretakers of the world

reply

It would be the Falcon.

reply

CASABLANCA is OK, but THE MALTESE FALCON is "The Stuff that DREAMS are Made of!"

There's something MAGICAL about "FALCON" that I just don't feel from CASABLANCA.








"I do hope he won't upset Henry.."

reply

Casablanca is a terrific film but TMF is the FIRST American "noir". Hence, TMF is a landmark in film history and besides, it's just better, mainly because of the great Huston.

reply

Well Casablanca has better female actress.

reply

Casablanca is the greater film, but Bogart gives a better performance in The Maltese Falcon.

reply

Maltese

reply

I love both, but I think I'd had to pick The Maltese Falcon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QvZrY71UCc

reply

My heart says Casablanca but my head says The Maltese Falcon. Bogart is great as the tortured, crafty, and smooth Rick Blaine, but his acting reaches another dimension as Sam Spade. Just take a look at his last scene with Mary Astor, who is terrific throughout the film even though I loathe her hairstyle, when he explains why he is sending her over. He's brilliant.

reply

Casablanca has my vote too.
Maltese is on TCM now.

reply

Casablanca, hands down. I agree MF has many great acting performances and an intriguing plot. It may be a "landmark" noir film and Bogart undoubtedly gives one of his best performances but he performs equally as well in Casablanca.

You have to remember these are different roles with different requirements. Rick has different motives and is in a different context than Sam Spade. Maybe Rick is tired but not Bogart. Bogart is terrific in both roles. That said, Casablanca's story is unmatched. It is easily among the greatest romances ever written and the kind of romance is entirely novel and something which cannot be replicated. Doing so would instantly recall Casablanca.

I have many issues with MF. It definitely deserves multiple viewings. However, there's so much fast talking, names and places mentioned that it's hard to follow the plot. There's nothing wrong with writing scripts which are demanding but, watching MF for the first time, I constantly had to rewind parts to pick up on the dialogue. I would even say there's a lot of unnecessary "fluff" in the dialogue which only serves to mislead the audience, irrespective of the writer's intentions.

I'm not crying because MF is demanding. Rather, I'm saying the goal ought to be clarity. Anyone can write something that's convoluted and hard to follow. It takes genius to write something on par with Casablanca. Perhaps the ending of Casablanca is too "Hollywood" for many people on this thread, but at least the story is clear, convincing, and gives closure. The end of MF leaves me feeling "WTF?" "The stuff that dreams are made of?" I don't know whether that's supposed to reference Shakespeare's "Tempest" or what exactly it's supposed to mean.

I could go on to point out other flaws in MF and the man other merits of Casablanca. Rather I'll say both films are great in their own right. Bogart gives legendary performances in both films, perhaps his best two performances ever. Both films deserve multiple viewings. In the end I have a greater desire to rewatch Casablanca for its story, rather than trying to figure out an overly convoluted plotline.

When it comes down to it I would say Casablanca exceeds MF on every level, unless, of course, you're one of those people who would prefer to rewatch MF over and over because you would like to figure out a plot that is impossible to grasp on a first viewing.

Casablanca: 10/10
The Falcon: 7/10

reply