The Margravine Falcon

The Maltese Falcon (1941) is a big favourite of mine.

Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon.

The most memorable part is Kasper Gutman (The Fat Man) played with aplomb by Sydney Greenstreet; who would guess it’s his first screen role, aged 61, so it’s never too late to start. It’s also the first film directed by John Huston. Based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett and starring Humphrey Bogart, it’s a cracker – a combination of film noir and shaggy dog story.  Here is the text that rolls after the opening credits – irresistible?

In 1539 the Knight Templars (sic) of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels—but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day.

Spoiler: it remains a mystery at the end of the film. Rather a long digression as you may want to be updated on the Margravine falcon. She is six weeks old, sleeping and doing a lot of flapping and jumping about – Nathalie calls this micro-flying.

Walnut doing wing-strengthening exercise, May 2021. Photograph by Nathalie Mahieu.

She’s ready to fledge but her parents know best. They continue to feed her so there’s no incentive to leave the ledge yet. However, they also do aerial demos to show her how it’s done when the time comes. In a day or two they will stop providing food and she will tentatively take to the air. Her plumage is rather beautiful, justifying her being called Walnut, and she still has a diminishing patch of white down on her head.

Walnut, May 2021. Photograph by Nathalie Mahieu.

 

One comment

  1. I don’t think I’ve ever watched ‘The Maltese Falcon’, must rectify this!
    I know it is my father’s favourite film, growing up in rural Galway, it was shown by a travelling cinema in a tent. He told me of the anticipation of waiting for the next installment, not too sure how long he had to wait though!

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