Big sleep v Maltese Falcon
Which of these two films do you prefer or think is the best.
I think MF has better character portrayels(Bogarts best perfomance}.
Ultimatly though I think BS is more gripping and entertaining.
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MovieChat Forums > The Big Sleep (1946) Discussion > Big sleep v Maltese Falcon
Hard to vote for just one!
Bacall is at her alluring best in THE BIG SLEEP of course. So is Dorothy Malone and the uncredited Sonia Darrin as "Agnes". On the minus side is the convoluted plot that never answers all the questions we have.
MALTESE FALCON is great because of the support by Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre (and Elijah Cook Jr. who was also in TBS). I long ago stopped wondering why a more alluring woman than Mary Astor wasn't cast as the femme fatale. Maybe it's best this way. She remains a mystery to Spade and to us until the final moments. We are glad we didn't form a bond with her, and so is Spade. Good riddance!
I found Greenstreet and Lorre way too cartoony. I would find them funny, except that they were ruining a perfectly good opportunity to spin a good crime yarn. They both completely blew any chance of the Maltese Falcon being any kind of serious thriller. The Maltese Falcon comes up way short. Not even in the same league as The Big Sleep.
No comparison, The Big Sleep is miles ahead of the Maltese Falcon.
Both are very obviously great movies as I'm sure most would agree.
If I had to choose my favorite I guess it would be The Maltese Falcon.
I think it is the better of Bogart's performances and when you throw in Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre it would be hard to not to pick it as the best. Unlike many of the posts I've read, I think Mary Astor did a fine job, and was also rather attractive .
In The Big Sleep I found Bogart's appeal to every woman he met somewhat unbelievable. It's not that I think he would not be attractive to most women, but to the extreme extent in TBS is to me not realistic.
What makes the choice even harder is Bacall and Bogart together in The Big Sleep.
I love both movies and really don't like to choose, sort of like I love all my children equally, but for different reasons and qualities.
I liked the complexity of The Big Sleep better.
Oh what the hell, I don't know which I like better, I think I'll go dust off White Heat and watch Cagney.
I love both movies and really don't like to choose, sort of like I love all my children equally, but for different reasons and qualities.
I liked the complexity of The Big Sleep better.
Oh what the hell, I don't know which I like better, I think I'll go dust off White Heat and watch Cagney.
Exactly! The constant need to compare movies that have the same actor or are from the same genre gets tiresome. I have 18 different Bogart films from his days as a supporting actor in the gangster films of the late 1930's to his breakout starring roles of 1940's including The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep but that doesn't mean I want to play comparison and contrast like some schoolboy. Will there be a pop quiz or mid term exam on this?
Just about every message board of a notable film whether it is a film noir, a mafia film, silent film, sports film or even a musical there seems to be the proverbial which film is better questions. Which is better, Double Indemnity or Out of the Past? Which is better, Goodfellas or The Godfather? Which is better, Vertigo or North by Northwest? Which is better, 42nd Street or Footlight Parade? Which is better, The Natural or Field of Dreams? Which is better, The Public Enemy or Little Caesar? Which is better, Trading Places or Beverly Hills Cop? Which is better, Angels With Dirty Faces or The Roaring Twenties? Which is better, Revenge of the Nerds or Police Academy III?
I know what would be better. Just discuss what aspects of a given film you liked and occasionally make reference to other films or maybe even point out a flick flub you detected or how some dialogue could have been sharper instead of being trapped in the quagmire of perpetual comparisons.
"Which is better, Double Indemnity or Out of the Past?"
Thanks for asking, Out of the Past.
"Which is better, Vertigo or North by Northwest?"
Vertigo, but NBN is easier to watch repeatedly. Kind of like Born to Be Wild is the best piece of recorded music, but Go Your Own Way appears more often in my walkman tapes.
"Trading Places or Beverly Hills Cop?"
Trading Places, but that's not saying much.
Those are the only picks I cared to make. You've got some nasty Hobson's choices there.
Bourbon and water, no ice, hold the luminous.
"Born to Be Wild is the best piece of recorded music"
aahahahahahahahahahahhahahha
You've got some nasty Hobson's choices there. - jikbokk
A Hobson's choice is a choice that has only one option; it really means, here is the choice--take it or leave it.
The phrase you may be looking for is "the lady, or the tiger?" That is the offer of two choices that don't solve the issue; in this case, it is difficult to state which one is "better."
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"We hear very little, and we understand even less." - Refugee in Casablanca share
Hands Down.
Maltese Falcon.
The movie is a better product than the novel.
And the Novel, friends, ain't bad.
Agree with Jim.
Neither of these films features a voiceover, but that's not a problem in the case of The Maltese Falcon because the novel was told in the 3rd person, and the best writing is in the dialogue.
On the other hand, the best writing in the novel The Big Sleep is in Philip Marlowe's wry narration. But there's no voiceover in the film version. Big loss. That's why I don't rank it as highly as an adaptation or as a film.
The movie Murder My Sweet, though not as good as The Big Sleep, at least has the advantage of having voiceover narration by Marlowe.
I agree totally that a voiceover would have contributed greatly to the impact - and adaptive fidelity - of The Big Sleep; Marlowe as a character is better portrayed through what he thinks - the majority of the first person narrative of Chandler's novels - than how he acts, and so no film lacking this voiceover could come close to doing justice to the novel.
For that reason mainly The Maltese Falcon wins it for me, although as has been mentioned the supporting cast was excellent. As for Bogey's best performance, I think Casablanca stands out above the rest, with Falcon a narrow second.
If I might make a recommendation, Dead Reckoning, with Bogart and Lizabeth Scott is worth a watch, if not for particularly memorable characters or performances then for the narrative from Bogey; isn't that a voice you could listen to all day?
"The movie Murder My Sweet, though not as good as The Big Sleep, at least ..."
Murder, My Sweet is the #1 viewer favorite noir, with Kiss Me Deadly #2. This forum is understandably Bogie-centric.
Another crime film starring Dick Powell is Cry Danger, okay but not a patch on MMS.
Bourbon and water, no ice, hold the luminous.
That's like trying to decide between the Goldberg Variations and the Waldstein sonata. Or The Bank Dick vs. Duck Soup.
Sometimes I need my Bach, sometimes I can't live without my Beethoven. Ditto Fields & the Marx Brothers.
But I guess if I had to make the proverbial desert island decision I'd go for Maltese Falcon, Goldberg Variations & Bank Dick.
Hate making decsions.
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Easily the maltese falcon. I enjoy the dialogue more and the bad guys are interesting, the sexual undertones are good, Bogarts acting is better and I simply preferred the story.
shareI liked the story of MF better too, I think the reason is just that there seems to be some great allegory going on there. I do think Chandler was a better writer, all taken, but Hammet hit something with this "Falcon" object... a collection of weird characters trying to discover history, willing to kill for it, and in the end finding that history is ....
also one of my favorite shots of Bogart is in the Maltese Falcon, the look on his face just before he punches Peter Lorre is priceless.. he really became the "blonde Satan" at that moment.
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Which of these two films do you prefer or think is the best?
Hmmmm I think Falcon is a better movie, but I like Sleep better.
Falcon is great filmmaking, economical and archetypal.
Sleep is less perfectly shaped, but it is, to me, even more enjoyable - mostly because of the added atmosphere, the rain, the cars, the greenhouse...
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The Big Sleep - it's not as dark but more fun. I'll take Hawks over Huston any day.
How would you compare these films with "To Have and Have Not"?
<I'll take Hawks over Huston any day.>
........Even over "Prizzi's Honor"?
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In the MF S. Spade makes a choice. He chooses justice over love and turns Miss O'Shaughnasay over to the cops instead of running away with her. One could say though it was a practical choice because he was smart enough to know she would double cross him eventually,he knew there was no curing her, but essentially she had to pay for her crime. This moral choice is not present in the BS and its one of the reasons why I like MF more. Besides who can forget these lines when Spade explains to the femme fatale why he's not running away with her and instead turning her in: :
“I won’t, because all of me wants to regardless of consequences and because you counted on it the same as you counted on it with all the others.”
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