The Maltese Budgie Part 1

Spoof of the classic thriller "The Maltese Falcon", filmed on the mean streets of Manchester on Super 8 cinefilm in 1973, starring my friend David (as private eye Sam Staid) and an obliging couple who lived in the flat above mine.

Apologies for picture quality - there was originally no spoken dialogue (as sound film was out of our reach back then), but unfortunately some vital signs and notes became unreadable in the video transfer, so voiceovers have been added in some places!

I'm responsible for the daft title song, but it was arranged and sung beautifully by the late George Blockley, a BT work colleague at the time. (Note the reference in the song to Belle Vue Zoo, a popular Manchester attraction which closed in 1977.)

Locations here include the Market Centre (off Market Street), and nearby streets, Mosley Street (Art Gallery), and St Peter's Square.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Maltese
• Falcon
• spoof
• film
• noir
• Manchester
• Sandywell
• Films

[SandywellFilms]

@IcePirate3 Thanks for your comment - we had a lot of fun making this, and it's also interesting to me to see how much Manchester has changed in the meantime!

[IcePirate3]

This is quite entertaining so far. But it's also really interesting to watch, just to see what everything looked like in 1973! (I wasn't alive yet then, so this is really interesting to me.)