Double Indemnity or The Maltese Falcon?

Maltese Falcon is more mysterious, with people wondering is the falcon real, and a treat with the cast. Double Indemnity is more personal and has all the echoes and overtones of the personal dilemmas.

It's like comparing a cake, or ice cream? Both are great.

If you're comparing writers (i.e. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler) Hammett was a good technical writer, but Chandler was in a class by himself. His stories described the flora and fauna of LA or the locations they were in. The dialogue was natural, and the images and overtones of the words stay with you and hit you with the impact of right hook.

The Big Sleep along with To Have and to Have Not just couldn't be filmed properly in the conservative 40's without re-writes. The Big Sleep is a complicated story with one murder that even Chandler doesn't even have an answer for. The problem with a modern director filming them again, is in some stories the racial and sexual attitudes towards some of the characters might create problems.

But for a good read you can't go wrong with either writer.

I choose Double indemnity. Maltese Falcoon is a good movie remembered unforgettable thanks to Bogey.

I actually prefer the Maltese Falcon. I've heard so much about MF, though definitely not enough to take out the punch like some movies. And I was dying to see it for such a long time.

Now, the first film noir I saw was Too Late For Tears, and I've never really heard of Double Indemnity when my film class teacher showed the class. It just grab hold of my attention as much.

They're both good though.

This is like comparing apples and oranges. "The Maltese Falcon" is a mystery movie and "Double Indemnity" is a crime drama. We don't know who killed who in "The Maltese Falcon," and we don't know what all the commotion is about until near the end. "Double Indemnity," on the other hand, plays out like a "Columbo" episode, in that we know exactly what's going on and who kills who.

Both are great movies in their own right, but they are nothing like each other. It's like asking if "The Ten Commandments" is better than "The Exorcist."