The cinema : 1952 (1952)

190 THE CINEMA criterion in selecting examples has been that the novePs plot and balance should be reasonably faithfully rendered in the film : where this is not so as in Anna Karenina, Force of Evil (from Tucker's People), Strangers on a Train the problem of adaptation assumes altogether larger dimensions which are outside the scope of this article. 11 John Huston's film of Dashiefl Hammett's novel The Maltese Falcon is a straight adaptation with no attempt on the director's part to impose his personality on the material. The novel is a brilliantly sustained character thriller with all its conflicts external and violent. The construction has a virtuoso precision which perhaps no recent thriller writer has equalled. The dialogue delineates the characters economically, if a little flamboyantly, and Huston has used it practically intact. The prose is direct and business-like in its description of externals. The boy stared at Spade's tie for a moment longer, then raised his newspaper and returned his attention to it. 'Shove off,' he said from the side of his mouth. Spade lighted his cigarette, leaned back comfortably on the divan, and spoke with good-natured carelessness: 'You'll have to talk to me before you're through, sonny — some of you will and you can tell G. I said so.' The boy put his paper down quickly and faced Spade, staring at his necktie with bleak hazel eyes. The boy's small hands were spread flat over his belly. ' Keep asking for it and you're going to get it,' he said, 'plenty.' His voice was low and flat and menacing. 'I told you to shove off. Shove off.' With descriptive writing as utilitarian and unadorned as this for his model, Huston has directed his film with a corresponding speed and lack of 'special' effects. He uses few