The Maltese Falcon [1941 film]
by John Huston (Director, Screenwriter)
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Description
After the death of his partner, San Francisco private eye Sam Spade is dragged into a quest for a priceless statuette.Tags
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Member Reviews
Wonderful film noire. A mystery to untangle with a dame who can't be trusted. Leaves you feeling like talking out of the side of your mouth and pulling a fedora over your eyes.
Humphrey Bogart, solving a mystery and loving every minute of it.
Excellently directed and adapted, but the plot just isn't all that compelling.
Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: A
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: B
GPA: 3.1/4
Excellently directed and adapted, but the plot just isn't all that compelling.
Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: A
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: B
GPA: 3.1/4
2025 movie #129. 1941. I've seen it before and I'll probably see it again. The quintessential Bogart movie. He's a private detective who's hired to help find a priceless statuette. "The... uh... stuff that dreams are made of"
Mystery, Crime, Private Detective, Bogart, Film Noir
This was John Huston's first film as director.
What makes it a prototype film noir is the vein of unease missing from the two earlier versions of Hammett's novel. Filmed almost entirely in interiors, it presents a claustrophobic world animated by betrayal, perversion and pain, never - even at its most irresistibly funny, as when Elisha Cook listens in outraged disbelief while his fat sugar daddy Sidney Greenstreet proposes to sell him down the line - quite losing sight of this central abyss of darkness, ultimately embodied by Mary Astor's sadly duplicitous siren. With Hammett's dialogue incorporated virtually verbatim into the screenplay, Bogart in top form, and Huston allowed total directorial freedom, watching this first of the films noirs is an experience to be embraced.
Jan 16, 2026English (UK)
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ThingScore 100
The strange, dreamlike tension of the film escalates with each new confrontation, each new tailing, each new beating, with Gutman and Cairo shot from a queasy low angle, and the nightmare culminates in a gripping series of closeups on each strained face. Spade acidly dismisses the falcon as “the stuff that dreams are made of”, an anti-Prospero of cynicism and survival.
added by Lemeritus
Humphrey Bogart’s most exciting role was Sam Spade, that ambiguous mixture of avarice and honor, sexuality and fear, who gave new dimension to the detective genre. This film, the first directed by John Huston, is an almost perfect visual equivalent of the Dashiell Hammett thriller. Huston used Hammett’s plot design and economic dialogue in a hard, precise directorial style that brings out show more the full viciousness of characters so ruthless and greedy that they become comic. It is (and this is rare in American films) a work of entertainment that is yet so skillfully constructed that after many years and many viewings it has the same brittle explosiveness—and even some of the same surprise—that it had in its first run. show less
added by SnootyBaronet
The Warners have been strangely bashful about their new mystery film, "The Maltese Falcon," and about the young man, John Huston, whose first directorial job it is. Maybe they thought it best to bring both along under wraps, seeing as how the picture is a remake of an old Dashiell Hammett yarn done ten years ago, and Mr. Huston is a fledgling whose previous efforts have been devoted to writing show more scripts.... the trick which Mr. Huston has pulled is a combination of American ruggedness with the suavity of the English crime school—a blend of mind and muscle—plus a slight touch of pathos.... It's the slickest exercise in cerebration that has hit the screen in many months, and it is also one of the most compelling nervous-laughter provokers yet. show less
added by Lemeritus
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Author Information
The son of Walter Huston, the well-known movie actor, John Huston directed numerous Hollywood films, including such classics as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), for which he won an Oscar as best director, and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). He wrote the screenplays for many of them, including the quintessential hard-boiled detective movie The show more Maltese Falcon (1941), which was also his directorial debut. Huston's protagonists are often either independent professionals whose tough exteriors hide a dedication to principle, like the detective in The Maltese Falcon, or losers whose obsession with a doomed quest leads to their destruction, like the three gold-seekers in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. But, in his 46-year career, he would try his hand at almost everything, from the grand comedy of The African Queen (1952) to the shaggy dog tale Beat the Devil (1954), the offbeat western The Misfits (1961), the rather bloated epic The Bible (1966), and the medieval allegory, A Walk with Love and Death (1970). As he aged, his films seemed to get deeper and better, starting with The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and continuing with Wise Blood (1979) and Prizzi's Honor (1985). His final work, The Dead (1987), is an exquisite film adaptation of the short story by James Joyce. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Warner home video greatest classic films collection (Murder mysteries)
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Is contained in
Is a retelling of
Is an adaptation of
Is parodied in
Has as a reference guide/companion
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Maltese Falcon [1941 film]
- Original title
- The Maltese Falcon
- Original publication date
- 1941-10-03
- People/Characters
- Sam Spade
- Important places
- San Francisco, California, USA; California, USA
- Important events
- 1940s; 1941
- Related movies
- The Maltese Falcon (1941 | IMDb)
- Quotations
- I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice.
Now, sir. We'll talk, if you like. I'll tell y... (show all)ou right out, I am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.
The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.
These are facts, sir. Not school book history, not Mr. Wells's history, but history nevertheless.
Well, sir, you might say it belonged to the King of Spain, but I don't see how you can honestly grant anybody else clear title to it - except by right of possession. - Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 791.4372
- Canonical LCC
- PN1997
- Disambiguation notice
- This is the 1941 film adaptation of THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett.
Roy Del Ruth directed the 1931 film version.
Classifications
- DDC/MDS
- 791.4372 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Public performances Motion pictures, radio, television, podcasting Motion pictures Films; screenplays Single films
- LCC
- PN1997 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Drama Motion pictures Plays, scenarios, etc.
Statistics
- Members
- 525
- Popularity
- 57,231
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (4.36)
- Languages
- 8 — Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Multiple languages, Polish, Spanish
- ISBNs
- 21
- UPCs
- 15
- ASINs
- 30
