From lighting to music, scenery to characters, genre conventions are present in many, if not all of the films we see today.  Genres like horror, comedy, romantic and action, when we sit and watch a movie many of us find ourselves actually saying things like, “oh, this is about to happen” or “wait and see…” Most of the time it is because producers tend to make sure to play suspenseful or eerie music, and/or have an actor alone in a room to know that something bad/scary is about to happen when watching a horror or psychological thriller film.  Evidently, we can all say that genre conventions are present and we, many of us, for the most part, are unaware of it.

Although not a huge fan of film noirs, or so to say “black and white films”, when watching Maltese Falcon, genre conventions were present from the beginning to end.  The introductory itself gave way in letting us know it was a suspense/thriller film.  This alone allows the viewers to expect the unexpected and keep us on our toes as to who was going to do what, such as be the murderer, thief, throughout the whole film.  The dialogue scene at the beginning of the film with the woman and two detectives (sorry I do not recall their names) also build intensity as each camera went on each individual and the suspenseful music played. Yet, when the music stopped the camera angle was on all of them; thus enabling the viewers to become more involved and suspect more is to happen. Of course lights darkening during a killing scene, characters disappearing during a crime, rich folks turning out to be compulsive manipulators, someone passing out after they drunk something from someone they trust are all part of building the suspense. All of which were portrayed in Maltese Falcon and therefore giving the viewers the genre convention in a suspenseful thriller.

In regards to the main character, the detective and his relationship to those around him, as in any typical film, you have sarcasm, what appears to be lust, betrayal and trust issues.  The femme fatal, in connection with the detective uses her charm, mysterious, her desperate need for help and manipulative ways to get the detective to help her and of course he falls for it.  Although he is sarcastic and it appears as if he has everything together, this being the detective, he is not trusted by any of the police. Which is quite ironic since he is law enforcement himself.  Of course it is due to the fact of his involvement with the actual criminal.

Overall, as far as my opinion goes, although it is your typical crime/drama film, it still kept me wondering who could it be even though I had a feeling I knew it was that individual all along. I also kept saying, of course to myself,  “this is about to happen”.  Your typical genre convention film no doubt, but as usual, it keeps you watching, waiting to see what comes next.