The Maltese Falcon (1941)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Dashiell Hammett (novel)
John Huston (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 October 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

It's thrilling . . . it's chilling . . . it's the most baffling mystery story in years !

Plot:

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

Plot Keywords:

Partner | Murder | Statue | Detective | Police

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Sam Spade
Mary Astor	...	Brigid O'Shaughnessy
Gladys George	...	Iva Archer
Peter Lorre	...	Joel Cairo
Barton MacLane	...	Det. Lt. Dundy
Lee Patrick	...	Effie Perine
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Kasper Gutman
Ward Bond	...	Det. Tom Polhaus
Jerome Cowan	...	Miles Archer
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Wilmer Cook
James Burke	...	Luke
Murray Alper	...	Frank Richman
John Hamilton	...	District Attorney Bryan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles Drake	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Chester Gan	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Creighton Hale	...	Stenographer (uncredited)
Robert Homans	...	Policeman (uncredited)
William Hopper	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Walter Huston	...	Capt. Jacobi (uncredited)
Hank Mann	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jack Mower	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Emory Parnell	...	Ship's mate (uncredited)

Directed by
John Huston

Writing credits
Dashiell Hammett		(novel)
John Huston		(screenplay)

Produced by
Henry Blanke	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Adolph Deutsch

Cinematography by
Arthur Edeson		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Thomas Richards

Art Direction by
Robert M. Haas		(as Robert Haas)

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist
Frank McCoy	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Al Alleborn	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Claude Archer	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Oliver S. Garretson	....	sound

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Arthur Lange	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Robert Foulk	....	dialogue director
Meta Carpenter	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1941) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1949) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2000) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Bros. (2000) (Germany) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• CBS/Fox (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD) (as "O Falcão Maltês")
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

The Gent from Frisco (USA) (working title)
Die Spur des Falken (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Le faucon maltais (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Relíquia Macabra (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
5 enohoi, 3 eglimata (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
A máltai sólyom (Hungary) [hu]
Der Malteser Falke (Germany) [de]
El falcó maltès (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
El halcón maltés (Spain) [es]
Il mistero del falco (Italy) [it]
Maltézský sokol (Czechoslovakia: Czech title) [cs]
Malta sahini (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Maltan haukat (Finland) [fi]
Maltan haukka (Finland) (DVD title) [fi]
Malteski Soko (Serbia) [sr]
O Falcão Maltês (Brazil) [pt]
Riddarfalken från Malta (Sweden) [sv]
Ridderfalken (Denmark) [da]
Sokól maltanski (Poland) [pl]
To geraki tis Maltas (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G (TV rating) | UK:A (original rating) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:PG (video rating) | Spain:T | Iceland:L | West Germany:16 (nf) | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:12 (2003) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:AL | Norway:16 (1945) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #7457)

Filming Locations:

Bush Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

"The stuff that dreams are made of" was voted as the #14 movie quote by the American Film Institute. The line is paraphrased from William Shakespeare's "The Tempest": "We are such stuff as dream are made on, / And our little life is rounded with a sleep."

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Effie is on the phone with Iva, we hear her say, "No, not yet," but her mouth is closed.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sam Spade: Yes, sweetheart?
Effie Perine: There's a girl wants to see you. Her name's Wonderly.
Sam Spade: A customer?
Effie Perine: I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway. She's a knockout.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Mole People (#9.3)" (1997)

"I Won't Play The Sap For You."

The Maltese Falcon has a totally atypical Hollywood history. After two previous filmings of Dashiell Hammett's novel, the third time a classic film was achieved. Usually the original is best and the remakes are the inferior product.

These characters that John Huston wrote and breathed life into with his direction are so vital and alive even 65 years after the premiere of The Maltese Falcon. You can watch this one fifty times and still be entertained by it.

I'm not sure how the code let this one slip through. Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade is partners with Jerome Cowan in a detective agency Spade and Archer. Client Mary Astor comes into their office requesting help in getting rid of a man who's intruding in on her life. Jerome Cowan as Miles Archer eagerly takes the assignment and gets himself bumped off for his troubles.

Cowan is quite the skirt chaser and he certainly isn't the first or the last man to think with his hormones. That's OK because Bogart's been fooling around with his wife, Gladys George. That gives the police, Barton MacLane and Ward Bond, motive enough to suspect Bogart might have had a hand in Cowan's death.

As fans of The Maltese Falcon are well aware, there's quite a bit more to the story than that. Bogart's investigation leads him to a crew of adventurous crooks, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook, Jr. who are in pursuit of a statue of a Falcon that is said to be encrusted in gold and precious jewels.

The Maltese Falcon is a milestone film role for Humphrey Bogart. It is the first time that Bogey was ever first billed in an A picture while he was at Warner Brothers. In fact this is also John Huston's first film as a director. He had previously just been a screenwriter and in fact got an Oscar nomination for the screenplay he wrote here. There are some who will argue that this first film is Huston's best work and I'd be hard up to dispute that.

After a long career on stage The Maltese Falcon was the screen debut of Sydney Greenstreet. Greenstreet may be orally flatulent here, but there's no doubt to the menace he exudes while he's on screen. Greenstreet got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Donald Crisp for How Green Was My Valley. Greenstreet created quite a gallery of characters for the next ten years, mostly for Warner Brothers.

A favorite character of mine in The Maltese Falcon has always been Lee Patrick as Effie, the secretary at Spade&Archer. She's loyal, efficient and crushing out on Bogey big time. This and the part of Mrs. Topper in the television series Topper are Lee Patrick's career roles. I never watch The Maltese Falcon without hoping that Bogey will recognize how really "precious" Effie is.

The Maltese Falcon will be entertaining people hundreds of years from now. And please no more remakes of this one.