The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Directed by John Huston

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Peter Lorre

Produced 12 years after the book, The Maltese Falcon, directed by the great John Huston and starring the equally great Humphrey Bogart, does not disappoint. It was nominated for three Academy Awards and is considered by many critics to be one of the 100 best films of all time.

It begins, as so many film noirs do, in a private detective’s office. A beautiful woman enters. She has a problem. She wants Sam Spade, the protagonist, to help her. He agrees, reluctantly. And things get complicated after that.

There are many things to like about this movie. Like the book, it gets an A or A+ in all the major elements of drama: plot, characterization, dialog, and theme. In addition, Arthur Edeson, the director of photography, does a magnificent job of bringing the theme of doubt and duplicity to life with his use of soft lenses, low-key lighting, and odd camera angles.

The Maltese Falcon  was produced with a budget of $375,000, and grossed $1.8 million at the box office.

Interesting Fact: In the film, Sidney Greenstreet’s character, Kasper Gutman, is referred to as “Fat Man” – and this inspired the code name for one of the  bombs that ended World War II. “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. It destroyed 3 square miles of the city and caused approximately 140,000 deaths.

 From Variety Magazine (September 1941): “One of the best examples of actionful and suspenseful melodramatic story telling in cinematic form.”

From Rotten Tomatoes: “Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs – as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.”