Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon

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Personally, I like the detective noir feel of Maltese Falcon which has been one of my favorite movies my entire life. But Casablanca is probably the better movie, and the older I get and more I watch it, the more little things I pick up and appreciate. So my personal favorite is probably Maltese Falcon, but I can acknowledge that Casablanca may be a better movie overall.

I LOVE Maltese Falcon's comedic bits, and as other people have written Bogart's acting is a bit better.
But "Casablanca" has better, more efficient dialogue, and its story is slightly better.

I heard someone on a podcast today say, "People might think that Bogart's best film is 'Casablanca,' but I'm telling you it's TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE."

Then, to my everlasting shock, I noticed that "Treasure" is actually ranking higher on imdb than Maltese right now. NO. EFFING WAY.
It's good, but its nowhere near the quality of these two films.

yet another disgrace on imdb



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In terms of quality they're both pretty darn close. It's pretty much a tie, but if I really had to pick one or the other I would say Maltese Falcon has my vote and I'll explain why.

Casablanca is a great film. No questions there. However, the love story between Rick and Ilsa is at the fore front of the story. And if I'm being honest, Romantic films aren't my cup of tea. They can be done well and in good taste and Casablanca certainly has that. But it's just not that exciting for me personally.

So MF gets my vote. Yeah, there's a romantic sub plot in that one too but at least the film never loses sight of what it really is: a murder mystery. At it's core, it was a grim and dirty film noir. The cast and script were both impeccable. I can see why this film is so widely revered.

I'll say it again: Casablanca is undoubtedly an American classic. They both are. I just found myself enjoying MF just a little bit more. However, a huge deciding factor was that I actually find Bogart's character more likable in MF than in Casablanca. It's just small, little aesthetic choices like that which made the film more favorable for me.

Both are classy and great films in their own right but we're all entitled to an opinion.

A good question. Both films deserve a "10".

But my vote goes to "Casablanca". In "The Maltese Falcon", Spade remains a tough guy throughout the film. Even though he falls in love, he does not give in to the sentimentality of love. In "Casablanca", the character of Rick goes through a much greater emotional transformation. In the beginning, he's the tough guy, but through his interaction with Ilsa (and what she confesses to him), he transforms and essentially becomes his true self again, able to sacrifice for something (he believes is) greater than himself.

I am also partial to the historical and global implications of "Casablanca", set against the backdrop of WWII and the Vichy phenomenon.

Then there's a terrific song ("As Time Goes By"). And while the dialogue for "The Maltese Falcon" is beautifully and stylishly written, I think the script for "Casablanca" is nearly perfect.