Let's Play Sierra Games - Quest for Glory II

[Tawmis]

And for giggles - combined the three "subscribe to my channel" videos into one.

[goatmeal]

Signor Ferrari is a parody of Casper Gutman. Ugarte is Joel Cairo, Gutman's "associate". Wilmer (the bartender) is Wilmer Cook, a vicious young gunman that accompanies Gutman. The three of them are searching for the Maltese Falcon, a fabulously rich (and mythical) statuette of a falcon created in Malta in the Middle Ages by a bunch of knights. Hence the Black Bird in QfG.

WRONG.

Signor Ferrari and Ugarte are characters taken directly from the 1942 movie, "Casablanca":

• Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet) is a friendly rival to Humphry Bogart's American expatriate nightclub owner, Rick Blaine. While Ferrari also has connections to Casablanca's seedy underworld, he has a healthy respect for Rick. The character in the QFG2 close-up looks just like his Casablanca character:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/ch ... /nm0002113

• Petty crook Ugarte (Peter Lorre) comes into possession of the mythic "Letters of Transit" (the film's McGuffin), allegedly by murdering two German couriers. The Letters allow the possessor to travel freely about German-occupied Europe as well as to neutral Portugal — no questions asked — so naturally everyone wants them, either to escape 1941 Morrocco or sell them to the highest bidder. Ugarte gives the papers to Rick Blaine for safekeeping while he plots his next move.

SPOILER: Peter Lorre (and his likeness) shows up in QFG4 as Mordavia's Chief Thief, Lorre Petrovich (ha!), who was turned into a hideous insect creature (a la Kafka) after touching the weird statue in the monastery's basement.

SPOILER: Both QFG characters Ferrari and Ugarte return in QFG5.


If you've never seen "Casablanca," it is HIGHLY recommended. It's one of my favorites, and there's a reason why it's on just about any serious "Best Movies Of All Time" list — it's just that great.

[Rath Darkblade]

Signor Ferrari is a parody of Casper Gutman. Ugarte is Joel Cairo, Gutman's "associate". Wilmer (the bartender) is Wilmer Cook, a vicious young gunman that accompanies Gutman. The three of them are searching for the Maltese Falcon, a fabulously rich (and mythical) statuette of a falcon created in Malta in the Middle Ages by a bunch of knights. Hence the Black Bird in QfG.

WRONG.

Signor Ferrari and Ugarte are characters taken directly from the 1942 movie, "Casablanca":

• Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet) is a friendly rival to Humphry Bogart's American expatriate nightclub owner, Rick Blaine. While Ferrari also has connections to Casablanca's seedy underworld, he has a healthy respect for Rick. The character in the QFG2 close-up looks just like his Casablanca character:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/ch ... /nm0002113

• Petty crook Ugarte (Peter Lorre) comes into possession of the mythic "Letters of Transit" (the film's McGuffin), allegedly by murdering two German couriers. The Letters allow the possessor to travel freely about German-occupied Europe as well as to neutral Portugal — no questions asked — so naturally everyone wants them, either to escape 1941 Morrocco or sell them to the highest bidder. Ugarte gives the papers to Rick Blaine for safekeeping while he plots his next move.

SPOILER: Peter Lorre (and his likeness) shows up in QFG4 as Mordavia's Chief Thief, Lorre Petrovich (ha!), who was turned into a hideous insect creature (a la Kafka) after touching the weird statue in the monastery's basement.

SPOILER: Both QFG characters Ferrari and Ugarte return in QFG5.


If you've never seen "Casablanca," it is HIGHLY recommended. It's one of my favorites, and there's a reason why it's on just about any serious "Best Movies Of All Time" list — it's just that great.

Whoops!!! *blush* Sorry, goatmeal - my mistake. I was focused on The Black Bird (the McGuffin for Signor Ferrari here), so I was sure the three of them - Ferrari, Ugarte and Wilmer - were a reference to "The Maltese Falcon", a story - and film - I know well. I completely forgot about Casablanca.

On the other hand, Sydney Greenstreet also plays Casper Gutman in "The Maltese Falcon".

What about Wilmer (the bartender from QfG2)? I don't think a Wilmer-like character appears in Casablanca, does he? There is a bartender, I think, but he's much friendlier than the QfG2 Wilmer.

[goatmeal]

Whoops!!! *blush* Sorry, goatmeal - my mistake. I was focused on The Black Bird (the McGuffin for Signor Ferrari here), so I was sure the three of them - Ferrari, Ugarte and Wilmer - were a reference to "The Maltese Falcon", a story - and film - I know well. I completely forgot about Casablanca.

On the other hand, Sydney Greenstreet also plays Casper Gutman in "The Maltese Falcon".

And Peter Lorre (Ugarte) played Joel Cairo.

What about Wilmer (the bartender from QfG2)? I don't think a Wilmer-like character appears in Casablanca, does he? There is a bartender, I think, but he's much friendlier than the QfG2 Wilmer.

You're correct; since he worked for Rick (the "good" guy/protagonist of the film), the bartender at "Rick's Cafe Americain" in Casablanca is much nicer.

And you're most likely right that QFG2 Wilmer comes from "Maltese Falcon" to round out the three characters/actors from those two classic movies. Given the Arabian theme of QFG2, though, it naturally makes more sense for them to have used the "Casablanca" characters (Ferrari and Ugarte) rather than Gutman and Cairo from "Falcon" (big city heavies and thugs).

And for the QFG Blackbird Quest, of course, the motivations of the two Sydney Greenstreet characters (Gutman and Ferrari) were blended into a single character for QFG2...

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm ... here's a Quest for Glory cartoon!

Enjoy.