The Maltese Falcon: Book Vs. Movie
Many time in our lives, we have seen the transformation of novels into movies. Some of them are equal to the novel, few are superior, and most are inferior. Why is this? Why is it that a story that was surely to be one of the best written stories ever, could turn out to be Hollywood flops? One reason is that in many transformations, the main characters are changed, some the way they look, others the way they act. On top of this, scenes are cut out and plot is even changed. In this essay, I will discuss some of the changes made to the characters of the Maltese Falcon as they make their transformation to the ?big screen.?
The first character that we read or see is Sam Spade. In the book he is written as being tall and lanky with blond hair, and a recurring v-motif that makes him out to be what Hammett describes as a ?blond Satan.? With these descriptions, we can easily make out a powerful image of what Sam Spade must look like in our heads. When we have an image of what something is going to be like and it turns out to not at all be what we expected, we are often let down, disappointed.This is due to the casting of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. His hair is brown, and his, round, soft face is the farthest a face can come from having a satanic v-motif. Although Humphrey Bogart?s acting was very good, it was intruded by my perception of what Sam Spade was supposed to look like.
Brigid O?Shaunessey is the villianess of this story, the ?femme fatale?
as we sometimes refer to her in class. She is always lying and scheming to get what she wants. In the book, her quest is aided very well by her gorgeous looks. The first image we get of Miss O?Shaughnessey is that of a tall redhead with long legs, red hair, and beautiful red lips. This image of her may have been influenced by the picture that is on the cover of the book, but the publishers wouldn?t have pout it there if that wasn?t the image they got of her either.
The movie does not do Miss O?Shaughnessey justice as the novel very well does. In the novel, she is portrayed as a young, voluptuous, beautiful woman. Although she is somewhat beautiful in the movie, she does not reach the standards that are set for her in the novel. The legs that Sam Spade sees as she enters his office offer an idea as to what kind of person Miss O?Shaughn...
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...e. His name is a rather comical play on words as Mr. Gutman is a large man with a very large gut. The movie did a very good job in making Casper Gutman into a movie villain. Everything that he is in the book, he is in the movie. The director uses camera very well to accentuates the size of Gutman?s belly which is quite amusing. Casper Gutman in the movie is exactly how I pictured him to be in the book. I was very pleased and I don?t think that the movie audience will miss a thing about him.
I must say that The Maltese Falcon is one of the best books I have ever read. I also must say that the movie was nothing special, although I enjoyed it. The Maltese Falcon in no way strays from the stereotype that movies which are made from novels are not of the same quality as the novel. The movies usually do the books a disservice as characters are changed and often scenes are left out. I think that it is terrible how Hollywood changes the plot and characters from what the author originally intended. The result is missing plot, and absence of necessary theme. When these are left out of the movie, it is no longer a form of literature, but an action movie, a disgrace to its maker.
“Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel, is a beautiful romantic tale of an impossible passionate love during the revolution in Mexico. The romance is followed by the sweet aroma of kitchen secrets and cooking, with a lot of imagination and creativity. The story is that of Tita De La Garza, the youngest of all daughters in Mama Elena’s house. According to the family tradition she is to watch after her mother till the day she does, and therefore cannot marry any men. Tita finds her comfort in cooking, and soon the kitchen becomes her world, affecting every emotion she experiences to the people who taste her food. Esquivel tells Titas story as she grows to be a mature, blooming women who eventually rebels against her mother, finds her true identity and reunites with her long lost love Pedro. The book became a huge success and was made to a movie directed by Alfonso Arau. Although they both share many similarities, I also found many distinct differences. The movie lost an integral part of the book, the sensual aspect of the cooking and love.
The most prominent female character in the novel, Brigid O’Shaughnessy, employs her sexuality, secrecy and mysterious nature when trying to gain more power and control throughout the novel. This can be seen easily in her description at the beginning of the novel. “She was tall and pliantly slender, without angularity anywhere. Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow…The hair curling from under her blue hat was darkly red, her full lips more brightly red” (Hammett, 4). Her physical description gives her an air of sexuality and intrigue that can immediately be assumed will be beneficial to her throughout the story. However, it is not until later when her use of her sexuality can be interpreted as a desperate attempt to take power back from the leading male character. “‘I’ve thrown myself on your mercy, told you that without your help I’m utterly lost. What else is there?’ She suddenly moved close to him on the settee and cried angrily: ‘Can I buy you with my body?’” (Hammett, 57). The desperation, which is a common characteristic that can be seen among hard-boiled female characters, pushed her ...
At this point, the readers create their own movie in a way. They will determine important aspects of how the character speaks, looks like, and reacts. Whereas, in the movie, the reader has no choice but to follow the plot laid out in front of them. No longer can they picture the characters in their own way or come up with their different portrayals. The fate of the story, while still unpredictable, was highly influenced by the way the characters looked, spoke, and presented themselves on screen.
This essay shows the subtle differences that can occur between directors, even when they are basing the movie off of almost the exact same script. Almost no two movies are exactly alike, no matter how hard the directors and actors might try. Minor personality differences and scene changes greatly affect the atmosphere and meaning of the same movie. One example of this is the movie Romeo and Juliet. This movie tells the gripping story of two young lovers who are forbade to see each other because of a viscous feud between the two families. I'll be looking at the older 50's version of Romeo and Juliet and comparing it to the newer version of Romeo and Juliet.
The problem with hunting animals is that it’s going to extinction. The hunting mostly happens with guns. “This cause enormous losses across the range of mammalian species”, this shows that its really common of different species are becoming extinct over being hunted.Things like that have to be stopped because its illegal to do that.
A social outrage has broken recently amid the scandal of Cecil the Lion’s death. Cecil was illegally hunted and killed by the American dentist Walter Palmer. Since then, it has caused the world to change their minds on the effects of trophy hunting. Succeeding the death of the renowned lion, a recent poll in America displays that on a three to one margin, the respondents said they would rather be tourists in a country that prohibits trophy hunting, instead of one that does not. The debate is ascending as more hunters proudly present their ‘trophy’ on social media. Many nature conservatives and animal protection agencies are raising awareness because of the fact that Cecil died in a meaningless and violent manner.The problem is not only in America, but around the globe. Trophy hunting should be illegal in the world because it is merely killing animals without a meaningful purpose, and it produces harmful effects to the environment.
In conclusion, captive hunting ranches exist and seem to thrive especially in the state of Texas. From primitive times, people have hunted as a means of survival although this is no longer the situation. Instead, hunters as participants in captive hunting ranches hunt for the thrill and do not necessarily respect life of the hunted animal. These hunters seem to care more about the trophy prize in the form of the mounted animal head rather than about respecting the life of the animal and honoring its features. The concept of "fair chase" in these canned hunts simply does not exist. To many hunters and the public at large, canned hunts occurring on private land is an artificially expensive manner of achieving something in name only. It cheapens the concept and challenge of hunting and respecting life for all it is worth. As man has dominion over other creatures, it is sad that the battle is lost. The right for survival and achievement should be inherently good. There are a whole host of other problems which have been mentioned. Care must be taken to ensure captive hunting occurs for the right reasons. Man can be no better than the hunted unless he thinks...
In conclusion, details involving the characters and symbolic meanings to objects are the factors that make the novel better than the movie. Leaving out aspects of the novel limits the viewer’s appreciation for the story. One may favor the film over the novel or vice versa, but that person will not overlook the intense work that went into the making of both. The film and novel have their similarities and differences, but both effectively communicate their meaning to the public.
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
Natural predators assist in maintaining this delicate balance by killing on the weakest and sickest animals. However, hunters kill healthy animals who they can find to satisfy their different needs including killing animals as a form of game, trophy or the famous poaching of animals for tusks. The poaching of elephants and rhinos for tusks worldwide is believed to have increased the number of animals without tusks in Africa (Whitfield, 2003). In the last 40 years in Canada, hunting has resulted in bighorn horns of sheep to fall by 25% (Whitfield, 2003). In case hunting of animals, especially poaching continues globally, the number of animal species will decrease rapidly, resulting in extinction of specific species, such as the African rhinos and elephants. A report in Nature Magazine suggests that the decrease of animals may have an effect on the population’s genetics because the weakest animals will pass weak genes to their offspring causing an entire species to have defects. Therefore, it is better for hunters to let nature kill off the weak and sick animals for the preservation of the
...rtrayed differently in the movie. Lennie is shown as being very mentally challenged, whereas in the book he is just a little slow and has a mind of a young child. Although some changes are made in the movie to make it flow better, it is still based on the same story as the book. The movie has the same plot line and characters, and some of the scenes are told in the exact same way as they are in the novel. As well, the movie and the book give out the same themes. This story is about how all the people in the Great Depression were trying to escape their unhappy, lonely lives, but weren’t capable of doing so. The movie stays very true to the book even though some things are removed or added. Everything that is added or changed still works very well and captures the film perfectly.
Here are some cons of hunting from vittana.org 12 Pros and Cons of Hunting article. People hunt for pleasure or the thrill of seeking out the animal, people can over hunt. May cause suffering for the animals if the kill shot is missed and the animal runs off and lives the rest of their life in pain.
Anti-hunters are opposed to the explicit acts of hunters in Africa because of the environmental degradation it can lead to. What I want to be of focus, though, is that controversy over the act of hunting is not solely in line with hunting endangered African mammals. The results of all kinds of hunts and the drives hunters have to pursue these hunts differ because of the uniqueness of the goods the hunters seek in their adventures. What non-hunters and anti-hunters easily overlook is the anthropocentric values that the hunter seeks to fulfill and achieve, and how it expresses an interaction with nature.
Film Noir was extremely trendy during the 1940’s. People were captivated by the way it expresses a mood of disillusionment and indistinctness between good and evil. Film Noir have key elements; crime, mystery, an anti-hero, femme fatale, and chiaroscuro lighting and camera angles. The Maltese Falcon is an example of film noir because of the usage of camera angles, lighting and ominous settings, as well as sinister characters as Samuel Spade, the anti-hero on a quest for meaning, who encounters the death of his partner but does not show any signs of remorse but instead for his greed for riches.
For years, the hunting and poaching of animals in Africa has been the source of tremendous debate and conflict among, not only the people of Africa, but entire countries world wide. Illegal poaching has been responsible for the wrongful deaths of millions of animals in Africa. Drastic instances of poaching have even lead to the extinction of certain species of animals, while other cases have led to the severe decline in the population of others. However, legalized versions of haunting these animals can actually provide numerous benefits to Africa. Benefits such as strengthening the economy and bringing in millions of dollars into the country. This money can go towards helping the people of Africa, and some of it actually ends up being used for conservation efforts.