The films of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart and their impact on American Cinema

Abstract

This dissertation will cover John Huston’s early work as a writer and his life before becoming a filmmaker. It will also cover Humphrey Bogart’s early stage career and his move into Hollywood cinema and his evolution into becoming a leading man. I will also talk in depth about the pairs first film, The Maltese Falcon (1941). I will briefly look at Huston’s service in the army during World War II and how Bogart became one of Hollywood's biggest stars after Casablanca (1942). This dissertation will discuss in depth The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Key Largo both released in 1948. It will focus on The African Queen (1951), a film which Bogart won his only Academy Award and also the pairs last collaboration Beat the Devil (1954). I will conclude by looking at the influence they had as well as the career 1 they had after working with each other and where the pair fit in the history of American cinema.