The world that emerged at the end of World War I was utterly different from what had existed before. An entire generation of young men had been killed in battle and millions were wounded or maimed for life. Entire empires had been removed from the map and new nations were struggling to survive. Europe was no longer the dominant region of the world, for both Britain and France were exhausted and Germany lay in ruins. The United States was now the most important nation in the world. And from this power sprouted influence. This influence spread throughout the art world, especially film and literature. While American movies and books borrowed heavily from past European greats, Americans made the art completely their own. In the lull between the Wars, in time where disillusioned soldiers were returning home to a world that had left them behind, things got a bit darker. Bad guys became human, good guys became bad, and everyone was out to get something or someone. Lines were b!

lurred between right and wrong, because who knew which was which anymore. If going over seas to kill nameless men was acceptable, then surely it was all right for Mike Hammer to shoot the escaping

ld it valuable above all else, even life, but then, we find out it's lead, worthless. Spade "The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of"

example of the detective/villain story is The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.

All this is a good example of how film can influence literature. This sounds backwards and is a bit misleading, what I really mean to say is film influencing the reader. Even though I read this book before seeing the movie, before even knowing there was a movie, after seeing the movie, I couldn't re-read the book without seeing the movie in my head. Even while reading that Spade looked like a lanky, blond Satan, I was picturing a stocky Bogart, dark hair perfectly slicked back, and brows knit over half lidded eyes. It's also pretty normal to find ourselves mouthing along with the words as we read as if performing the dialogue. The unusual thing about this movie is how closely it sticks with the book. John Huston had his work cut out for him when it came to writing the screenplay. Perhaps the reason he was able to stick so close to the book is because of Hammett's writing style. One can only imagine him sitting in front of his typewriter with a trench coat and tilted hat!

The Maltese Falcon meets all of these standards and more, becoming the grandfather of film noir. The movie is in black and white, actually, more black and gray than white, for the entire film, save the scenes in Miss O'Shaughnessy's apartment, seems to be set in shadow, as if it were always night or the sky were about to fall in. The setting is San Francisco, surely a big city, but not the northeastern metropolises we're used to in our detective fiction. There were plenty of odd angles, especially during fight scenes, and scenes with Gutman and Cairo. Usually the tilts were used to draw the eye to a specific character, or to note that something is not right, off center. Since

Some common words found in the essay are:
Maltese Falcon, Spade Learn, Hammett Huston, Britain France, John Huston, Horatio Alger, Humphrey Bogart, World War, Polhaus It's, Mary Astor, film noir, maltese falcon, detective fiction, seeing movie, book seeing movie, style writing, hammett written, book seeing, low lighting, black white,
Approximate Word count = 1273
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)