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Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett An amalgamation of scores from sultry sex scenes and back alley shots of a loner in the rain, these orchestral cues from late 80’s/early 90’s Hollywood films were used as a comment on the evolution of noir. While early 30’s/40’s films featured not only high style and witty dialogue but brilliant, crackerjack plotting, the neo-noir of the 80’s (a veritable golden age for femme fatales, Michael Douglas vehicles and smoothy David Sanborn sax solos) was more concerned with evocative gel lighting and obligatory music video romance than providing three-dimensional characters. It was in a sense a fat-free telling of the old story (with the private dick, the dirty cop, the dame in distress) but without the substance. Representing the novel (which had already been told brilliantly in the original John Huston picture) with this same neo aesthetic, we depicted a dimly-lit nightclub singer narrating while superimpositions of instruments and musicians dissolve in and out in true MTV montage style. “The dame” appears in quick flashes whenever Hammett’s Brigid O’Shaughnessy is mentioned, portrayed by calendar girl Samantha Fox as the quintessential style-over-substance pop icon of the 80’s. Across the face and walls of our nightclub, glowing noir culture slang phrases sweep like headlights in a bedroom. The overall effect is intended to create a sheen of glowing nostalgia, loving it while at the same time realizing its exquisite limitations. |
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