THE OPENING SCENE OF A FILM NOIR - THE MALTESE FALCON

The Opening Scene of a Film Noir – The Maltese Falcon

The film ‘The Maltese Falcon’ is a Film Noir from 1941. It is by John Huston and stars Humphrey Bogart. This film follows the typical Film Noir storyline of having a Detective and then a femme fatale who needs help. It has the stereotypical characters and their costumes. The type of language that they use is also stereotypical of a traditional Film Noir. Also, the whole film is in black and white so this also follows the stereotypical Film Noir requirements. The audience that this film is aimed at is possibly the older generation. This is because they are the ones that have grown up with this genre of film and they would have been around when the Film Noir genre was first being created. The enigma in this film is that no one knows who has killed this man so this hooks people to make them want to carry on watching the film and to possibly tell others to watch the film too. The men are stereotypically older than the women in the Film Noir genre.

At the beginning of the scene there is a piece of text rolling down the screen which introduces the film and gives a basic outline of what has happened in the past. This could also give an insight of what is going to happen in the film. After this part there is an establishing shot which shows where the film is set. It shows the Golden Gate Bridge with a headline of ‘San Francisco’, this tells us where the film is going to be set. An establishing shot is typical of the Film Noir Genre. There is also a shot of a newspaper, which gives the audience a rough overview of where the film is set and what could happen by the headline and title of the newspaper.

The next scene is set in a private detectives office. There is a man, who is the main character, sitting in his office at his desk. We learn that he is the private detective. He is wearing the stereotypical costume that a private detective usually wears in a Film Noir. He is wearing a suit with a trilby hat and is smoking a cigarette. The woman then comes in looking distressed. She is a stereotypical woman that usually stars in the Film Noir genre. By the man being in the office and the woman coming in needing help it can show that men are the ones that have more authority then women at this time. The detectives secretary is called Angel, so this could infer that there are two types of women; the women that are sincere and are not corrupt and then the women who are corrupt and try to lure the detectives into their traps, this is known as the femme fatale. The woman tells the detective that she needs help and the man says that he will help her. This can be seen as the ‘spider and the fly’ situation as the woman is luring the detective into helping her when she doesn’t really need it. By doing this, the detective is becoming a suspect. The detective also has a partner that later comes into the room who is wearing similar sort of clothes to him, also following the stereotypical costume of a Film Noir. They can be seen as carrying out a ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine.

There are many different types of camera angles that are used in this scene. One of them being the establishing shot at the beginning; this sets the scene and lets the audience know where the film is being set. Another camera angle that is used is an over the shoulder shot, this shot shows both of the characters but one of them has there back to the camera. The over the shoulder shot gives a clear narrative but only shows the facial expressions and emotion from the character who is facing the camera. The film uses the 180-degree rule and follows it well in the opening scene. A close up shot is also used in this scene. This type of angle can tell us a lot about the character, as we are able to see in detail their facial expressions, which can tell us how they are feeling and sometimes what they are thinking.

In this opening scene there are a variety of sounds that are used. Some of these sounds have been added in whereas some of them are either dialogue or sounds that occur from the characters. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound have both been used in this scene. Diegetic sound is a when the source of the sound is visible on the screen such as someone speaking. Non-diegetic sound is when the source of the sound is not visible such as the sound effects. The background noise can reflect on the type of place that they are in such as car sounds and people talking can infer that they are in a busy city. Towards the start of the opening scene, the woman and the detective are having a conversation, which is diegetic sound. This is helping the audience to understand the storyline of the film. At one point the detective refers to the woman as “sweetheart”, this can be seen as talking down to the woman as if she is not as important. It could also illustrate that the detective may have deeper feelings for the woman. Further on in the film there is a gunshot, which is non-diegetic sound. This is creating suspense and hooking the audience to the film. Between different scenes there is transitional music. The transitional music can also hook the audience as it keeps them engaged and gives them the idea that something is going to happen. There is tense music that is played when something dramatic is going to happen in the film. This engages with the audience, as they know that when this music is being played something is going to happen. The music builds up suspense and can form a bond between the audience and the film as they feel part of it.

The whole film is in black and white so it is different types of lighting that is being used and can be difficult to see it. There are some forms of artificial lighting that have been used, such as lamps and ceiling lights being turned on. It is however a lot of natural light that is being used.