This film is every bit a classic that the word portends.  It deserves its reputation and it stands out as a great hard-boiled detective story from the Art Deco period.  The 1941 movie version of Dashiell Hammett’s mystery novel "The Maltese Falcon" is notable for many things.  Humphrey Bogart gave his greatest performance in his first major leading man role as the ruthless private detective Mr. Sam Spade whose investigation into the murder of his partner put him on the trail of what turned out to be a priceless trinket known as the Maltese Falcon.

Sydney Greenstreet made his film debut as the portly Casper Gutman in this movie and delivered this classic line:  

“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 you right out, I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.”

The Maltese Falcon is one of the most popular and best classic detective mysteries ever made.  It is considered to be the very first in the dark film noir genre as it seems that it was the intent of the author to leave the audience with a distinctly bitter taste at the end.  This stylistic film is a perfect mixture of mystery, romance, and crime detective work.   The Falcon is well known for its deep bench of of corrupt, deceitful, and hard-nosed villains.  Everything is contained in this marvelous Dashiell Hammett story.

The film received three nominations but no Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Sydney Greenstreet), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Director - John Huston).

The surviving daughter of Dashiell Hammett has given the crime novelist Joe Gores permission to write a prequel to The Maltese Falcon.  In his work "Spade And Archer" Gore captures Hammett's razor-sharp dialogue and his detailed depiction of the gritty streets of San Francisco.  Many reader will be left with the idea that Hammett's dialogue has been influenced by Hemingway.

The Maltese Falcon has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by Roger Ebert.  The film premiered on October 3, 1941 in New York City and in 1989 it was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

About The Author:

This article was written by J. Mark Soveign who owns and writes for Wertheim Communications LLC as well as for Mooker.Com

Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The Maltese Falcon Three-Disc Special Edition / Across the Pacific / Action in the North Atlantic / All Through the Night / Passage to Marseille)