The Maltese Falcon

Released: October 3, 1941

Studio: Warner Bros.

Genre: film noir/mystery

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 0.97 Worldwide: 1.77

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 187.1 Worldwide: 272.1

Directing: John Huston

Screenwriting: John Huston

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook, Gladys George

Review:

Many critics hails this as “one of the greatest detective films ever made.” ^VD It “improves with each viewing.” ^LM “Critic Roger Ebert said “this is the movie that spawned film noir.” ^MSN He said it laid the groundwork for the genre that celebrated “mean streets, knife-edged heroes, dark shadows and tough dames.” ^MSN

John Huston was 29 years old when he helmed The Maltese Falcon, his directorial debut. He also scripted the movie, based on Dashiel Hammett crime novel about “hard-boiled private detective” ^FS Sam Space (Bogart). The story “moves at lightning pace, with cameo by his father Walter Huston as Captain Jacobi.” ^LM

Spade is hired by Brigid O’Shaugnessy (Astor), the “mysterious femme fatale” ^A98 to scour the streets of “a claustrophobic San Francisco” ^FS in search of the titular priceless bird statue. He must evade “greedy and duplicitous characters” ^FS such as “the gardenia-perfumed Mr. Cairo (Lorre), the scheming, jovially-sinister Fat Man (Greenstreet), and an effete gunsel Wilmer (Cook).” ^FS