Maltese Falcons Valued at Over $3 Million Most Expensive Props From American Cinema

Maltese Falcons Valued at Over $3 Million Most Expensive Props From American Cinema

'Let's Talk About the Black Bird' - Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon

SANTA CRUZ, Calif., March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston and based on the Dashiell Hammett novel, was not only a groundbreaking masterpiece in American cinema, but also the first of the film noir genre. Set in the darkness of murky San Francisco, the film's shadowed and moody cinematography perfectly complements the intense greed and iniquity of the characters. A cynical tale of ultimate deception in which guile is carefully balanced with a subtle and surprising honor, the film defies all expectations of a happy ending and stays true to its stylized noir to the very end. The Maltese Falcon shocked and thrilled 1941 audiences with its vice, violence and sexual dynamic and placed 23rd in the American Film Institute's 1998 list of 100 greatest American movies of all time. Although the hard- boiled mystery packs such Hollywood punch as Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, the true star of the film is a golden, jewel-encrusted, black enameled statuette dubbed "The Maltese Falcon" and labeled by Bogart's character Sam Spade as "The stuff that dreams are made of". Designed by the film's director John Huston, the menacing bird with its eerie and enigmatic glower is indeed the quintessential icon of film noir.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050310/SFTH089 )

Of the ten plaster and India ink statuettes that were created for the film, art historian and collector Hank Risan owns three. In 1989 Hank Risan began an extensive and successful authentication project obtaining testimony from such experts as Dean Vivian Sobchack and Professor Richard Walter of the UCLA Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, Meta D. Wilde, Huston's assistant and Continuity Director on the set of The Maltese Falcon, and Edward Baer, Assistant Manager of the Property Department, Warner Brothers. Dean Sobchack confirms, "In sum, with addition of Ms. Wilde's testimony, I am now completely convinced that the statuettes in Mr. Risan's possession were original plaster props for John Huston's The Maltese Falcon."

Risan's three statuettes have been conservatively valued at over $1 million each, making them some of the most valuable film props to date. Professor Walter, an expert appraiser, supports this valuation in an eloquent comparison to another highly-prized film prop: one of four pairs of ruby red slippers worn by Dorothy in the classic The Wizard of Oz which sold for $666,000 in 2001. Walter writes, "But whatever the slippers' value, it has to be less than that of the falcons because the slippers are merely one prop, albeit an important one in the movie. The falcons on the other hand are the namesake props that define the picture itself. It is significant in the extreme that in addition to being important props they are also the title of the film." Walter concludes, "Please note that I consider these numbers to be circumspect, responsible, and conservative. I consider them to be the floor, the absolute bottom that the statuettes would sell for. Surely the statuettes are worth no less; perhaps they are worth substantially more."

"Life imitates art," states Hank Risan, "What's amazing is that in the film Spade and Gutman discuss the value of the falcon in similar terms. After estimating the minimum value at a million dollars, Gutman goes on to speculate, 'The maximum I refuse to guess ... No telling how high it could go, sir. It is the one and only truth about it'". Risan smiles, "The rara avis has a unique backstory as compelling offscreen as in the film. The black birds are truly objets d'art."

About Hank Risan

Hank Risan, founder and CEO of Media Rights Technologies (www.mediarightstech.com), BlueBeat.com (www.bluebeat.com) and The Museum of Musical Instruments (www.themomi.org), is an internationally known collector of art. In 2003, Risan also founded Maj Entertainment, a film production company based in Santa Cruz, CA, with a major motion picture in development entitled Mark Twain and The Eye of God.

CONTACT: Quake Cox of Media Rights Technologies, +1-831-426-4412, quake@themomi.org.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050310/SFTH089 AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN5 PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Media Rights Technologies

CONTACT: Quake Cox of Media Rights Technologies, +1-831-426-4412, quake@themomi.org

Web site: http://www.mediarightstech.com/

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