The Maltese Falcon - A Big Read Documentary
Series: The Big Read
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Length: 00:29:17
Yes, it is a detective novel—one of the best ever written. It’s also a brilliant literary work, as well as a thriller, a love story, and a dark, dry comedy. The only criticism one could offer Hammett’s private-eye classic is that it is so much fun to read, it might be hard the first time through to realize how deeply observed and morally serious it is.
The program features readings by NPR legend, Scott Simon, and commentary by a list of amazing writers and thinkers: Adrian McKinty, Diane Johnson, Walter Mosley, Matthew J. Bruccoli, Maureen Corrigan, Joe Gores, and David Kipen.
And music from the indie thriller, BRICK and NEA Jazz Masters, Jay McShann and Milt Hinton.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Yes, it is a detective novel—one of the best ever written. It’s also a brilliant literary work, as well as a thriller, a love story, and a dark, dry comedy. The only criticism one could offer Hammett’s private-eye classic is that it is so much fun to read, it might be hard the first time through to realize how deeply observed and morally serious it is.
The program features readings by NPR legend, Scott Simon, and commentary by a list of amazing writers and thinkers: Adrian McKinty, Diane Johnson, Walter Mosley, Matthew J. Bruccoli, Maureen Corrigan, Joe Gores, and David Kipen.
And music from the indie thriller, BRICK and NEA Jazz Masters, Jay McShann and Milt Hinton.
Transcript
The Maltese Falcon
Radio Show - Transcript
http://www.neabigread.org/books/maltesefalcon/audiotranscript.php
Josephine Reed: And now, The Big Read.
Scott Simon reads from The Maltese Falcon.
"Hello. ... Yes, speaking. ... Dead? ... Yes.... Fifteen minutes. Thanks." [...]
Cold steamy air blew in through two open windows, bringing with it half a dozen times a minute the Alcatraz foghorn's dull moaning. [...]
Where Bush Street roofed Stockton before slipping downhill to Chinatown, Spade paid his fare and left the taxicab. San Francisco's night fog, thin, clammy, and penetrant, blurred the street. A few yards from where Spade had dismissed the taxicab a small group of men stood looking up an alley. Two women stood with a man on the other side of Bush Street, looking at the alley. There were faces at the windows.
Reed: That was Scott Simon reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett....
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instrumental selections | The Cinematic Underground | Brick soundtrack . | Nathan Johnson | 00:00 | |
| Honey | NEA Jazz Master Jay McShann (written by Richard A.Whiting, Seymour Simons, and Haven Gillespie) | Last of the Whorehouse Piano Players . | Chiaroscuro Records | 00:00 | |
| Time After Time | Milt Hinton (written by Styne-Cahn) | Old Man Time . | Chiaroscuro Records | 00:00 | |
| Time On My Hands | Milt Hinton (Youmans-Adamson-Gordon) | Old Man Time . | Chiaroscuro Records | 00:00 | |
| It Don't Mean a Thing | Milt Hinton (Ellington-Mills) | Old Man Time . | Chiaroscuro Records | 00:00 | |
| Main Titles | John Barry | Hammett soundtrack . | Len Freedman Music | 1982 | 00:00 |
Additional Credits
Written and produced by Dan Stone.
Instrumental selections from the original score for Brick (2005), written by Nathan Johnson and China Kent, published by Choplogic Music (ASCAP).
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