If you’ve never heard of Humphrey Bogart, google him. He’s one of the early stars of Hollywood and The Maltese Falcon is the movie that rocketed him to a household name. Toss in Casablanca later and it’s hard not to have heard his name, even now over 60 years after his death. In it, he plays Sam Spade, a hard-boiled detective with a cunning streak a mile wide. This is the quintessential movie detective story with drinking, smoking, a beautiful woman in need, the whole nine yards. Naturally, the woman in need, Ruth Wonderly, is more than she appears. But then, so is nearly everyone in The Maltese Falcon including Sam Spade himself. Characters have layers upon layers and each scene adds new details forcing you to revise your opinions of the characters and attempt to predict what will happen next.
What’s fascinating about The Maltese Falcon is how incredibly amoral everyone is, a hallmark of noir stories. When we think back to eras like the 1940s, it’s easy for us to romanticize them, thinking that the people back then were naïve and simple; that they simply weren’t as nuanced and vicious as people are today. The Maltese Falcon reminds us that human nature is filled with avarice, jealousy, and plenty of lust and violence and it always has been. People have always been people and there have always been those that would put a knife in your ribs for a few bucks. That’s the whole point here…a character study in human nature that forces us to self-reflect and consider what we would do in Spade’s place.
Now, this is a movie that’s almost 80 years old so don’t be surprised when you encounter some rather blatant misogyny. Women are subservient in the movies of this era and it should be no surprise at all that smoking is common, heavy drinking abounds, and the men do what they please and take what they want, joking all the while about their absolute control. In short, it would be tough to make a movie like this these days but it is a product of its time and should be watched as such. Divorced from modern judgment of the implications of the characters’ behavior, The Maltese Falcon is an utterly brilliant piece of cinematography that anyone who even remotely likes movies should see.
You can judge for yourself past this point, of course. Whole courses have been taught on The Maltese Falcon and there’s a ridiculous amount of analysis out there. What we’re here to talk about today is the newest release of the movie by Warner Bros. on 4K Blu-Ray. This is a movie that deserves to be in high definition. It’s literally a defining moment in movie history and that’s no exaggeration. But it’s also remarkably old and converting a movie from 1941 onto a modern 4K TV means that it’s not going to look the same as something shot on digital. With that in mind, let’s take a look at The Maltese Falcon in 4K.
When you convert a movie like this to HD, there are bound to be issues. What’s incredible about this release by Warner Bros. is how few issues there actually are. We’re in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio of course, but you barely notice after a few minutes. What most of us are used to seeing in 4K is the fine detail though and that’s often impossible with The Maltese Falcon. However, the detail levels are still startlingly high and costume details, backgrounds, and even set pieces pop and look much more vivid and realistic. Black and grey levels are well balanced and smooth as silk as well, and the crispness of the actors is incredibly impressive. This allows for viewers to really see the scope of the acting ability on display in The Maltese Falcon and that additional level of immersion is worth every penny of the price of the movie here.
While the visuals are stunningly impressive for a movie of this era, they aren’t perfect of course. There are tiny bits of artifacting here and there if you’re looking very closely or pausing to check but you’d have to be searching carefully to catch them. There is also some fine film graining common to older movies that you can occasionally spot. It would be impossible to remove all of these little flaws but they’ve been clearly minimized in this transfer and add character that would be missing without them. Even movies from the 60s and 70s don’t often look this good and the sheer care and artistry that went into cleaning up the imagery here for 4K is impossible to miss. There are some odd areas of the movie like the camera vibration near the beginning of the movie that are maintained, but they’re part of the original movie and changing them simply wouldn’t be right.
This release also comes with a 1080p Blu-Ray of The Maltese Falcon and to be honest, there’s really no comparison. The transfer on this version is noticeably harsher and lacking in fine detail visuals that make the 4K release so impressive. The blacks aren’t as consistent and the whole movie feels like someone was meddling with the contrast on an old CRT here and there. That’s not to say it’s terrible, but it’s kind of like comparing a Honda Civic to a Corvette. There’s just no comparison but it’s nice to have a second version depending on how you use your media.
Audio is similarly improved and there’s no worrying about the old fuzziness that these movies used to have when you’d watch them on broadcast TV back in the day. Instead, the 4K version of the movie sports a modern DTS-HD MA 2.0 channel mono mix that’s crystal clear with even a mid-range audio setup. The smooth turns of phrase, witty banter, and subtle dialogue of The Maltese Falcon come through clear and crisp as you watch the movie and viewers will be transfixed by the story all over again. In comparison, the 1080p Blu-Ray also included is noticeably less robust in terms of sound with a noticeable but subtle hiss in the background due to the use of a lossless single channel mono mix. In addition to the standard English, German, Italian, and two types of Spanish audio tracks are included (all in single channel mono), as are subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.
The only real downside of the 4K transfer of the Maltese Falcon is in the area of extras. The only extra on the disc is an audio commentary by a Bogart biographer if you’re into that sort of thing. Conversely, the 1080p transfer is loaded with 6 featurettes with a couple of additional hours worth of content in addition to the audio commentary. Since both discs are included in this package, you won’t be missing out, but it’s a shame they aren’t on the 4K disc, even though there’s slim chance they’d have been similarly upscaled along with the feature itself.
The Maltese Falcon is a spectacular film entirely on its own and Warner Bros. has given it the Hollywood royalty treatment. The black case is complemented by the sepia cover artwork featuring the main characters from the movie and the entire case comes in a gorgeous foil slipcover that makes the movie look even snazzier. As an added bonus you even get a digital movie code which can be redeemed on Movies Anywhere, allowing you to watch on the go if you feel the need. For those of you outside of the US, Movies Anywhere is a US exclusive service, so be aware that you won’t be able to use the digital code. MSRP on The Maltese Falcon in 4K is $39.99 and it’s absolutely worth it, but you may be able to get it on sale, especially as we close in on the holidays. Either way, this is one movie that deserves to be in your collection and one that would make the perfect gift for the film aficionado in your life!
This review is based on a physical copy of The Maltese Falcon (4K) provided by the publisher. It was viewed on a Sony 65” 4K OLED TV. Please note that screen shots are from the 1080p Blu-Ray and not the 4K version of the film. The Maltese Falcon (4K) is available wherever fine movies are sold and on various online marketplaces such as Amazon.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.