The Maltese falcon

by Richard J. Anobile (Editor)

260pages. in4. Cartonné jaquette.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Anobile pioneered the use of the movie frame blow-up technique to recreate entire films in book form. His books were valuable resources especially in a time before VCR's and DVD's and the internet. While they might be viewed as simplistic picture books now, they were an attempt at curating film at a time when it was often still an after-thought. Anobile has spent much of the rest of his life in film production.

Reviews

[Anthony McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of a series of books compiled by Richard J. Anobile in the 1970s reconstructing famous film classics. A unique and for the first time, the chance for film buffs to relive and enjoy their favorite film via 1,000+ frame blow-up photos shown sequentially and coupled with the complete dialogue from the original soundtrack.

John Huston's classic "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) with a memorable cast including Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet was one of the best that came out in this format and a goldmine for fans - in the days before such films became easily available for the home market for fans to collect and enjoy the total film experience time and time again.
With that said, this is still a wonderful collector's item as it is a joy to flick through this reliving the iconic images from one of the great and trend setting Hollywood movies of the 1940s.

The author/editor has done a splendid job with the reproduction of the actual film frames and the screenplay (adapted from the Dashiell Hammett classic by Huston) whilst not so easy at first to follow with the dialogue printed below each frame, once you get in the groove, it all works out pretty well. But more important. it is a fantastic and wonderful tribute to a film classic.

[David Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that we can enjoy The Maltese Falcon in our own home anytime we like, this book of frame blowups and dialogue is an antique. But Falcon is such a great movie that the chance to linger over its details and chuckle in recognition of favorite moments is not to be dismissed. Also, you might learn something; in my case, it was exactly how Captain Jacoby figured in.

[J. Gaudet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole series provided a way to study a classic frame by frame before computers.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before the days of videos and DVDs, this book was probably a great way to enjoy classic movies you only saw rarely on TV. Nowadays, this is still a very interesting book. For nothing else, it’s a great way to closely analyze John Huston’s masterful direction and photography. Plus it has the full script (which I almost have memorized anyway).

[Henry Mishkoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading "Falcon" for the second time. It's more than a little dated, but still a good read. It's hard not to have the movie playing in your head while you're reading it, especially since so much of the dialog from the book was used verbatim in the film. But the characters are somewhat different, especially Sam Spade, who's a little grittier, a little nastier, a little more emotional, and a lot less sympathetic in the novel than he is in the movie. The plot is intricately woven, the characters are distinct and interesting, but the dialog is the main attraction of this book, Sam Spade spews a virtual fountain of breathtaking and eminently quotable lines. Fun to read, check it out.

[Joe Noir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and others like it, mostly edited by Richard J. Anobile, were all we had before home video.

[J. Gaudet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole series provided a way to study a classic frame by frame before computers.