The Maltese Falcon | Film by Huston, Noir Classic [1941] | Britannica (2025)

The Maltese Falcon, American film noir, released in 1941, that was an adaptation by John Huston of Dashiell Hammett’s famed 1930 hard-boiled-detective novel of the same name. The film, notable for its cast, crisp dialogue, and dramatic cinematography, was Huston’s directorial debut. Some have called The Maltese Falcon the first major work of the noir style and the greatest detective movie ever made.

The story told in The Maltese Falcon is an intricate one. Sam Spade (played by Humphrey Bogart) is a private detective in San Francisco. He and his partner, Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan), are hired for a large sum of money by a mysterious Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor) for a seemingly minor case: to help her trail a man, Floyd Thursby, who allegedly has disappeared with her younger sister. Spade sends Archer to tail Thursby but later receives a call that Archer is dead, supposedly murdered by Thursby. Spade later learns that Thursby has also been killed. (Although accused of the crime, he has an alibi.) Spade had earlier called Wonderly only to find that she had checked out of her hotel; she then resurfaces, claiming that her real name is Brigid O’Shaughnessy and telling Spade that her initial story was false and that Thursby probably murdered his partner. She claims not to know who might have killed Thursby.

Spade subsequently meets Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), who asks for Spade’s help in locating a statue of a bird and then threatens him when he claims not to know anything about it. Later, Cairo visits Spade and O’Shaughnessy at Spade’s apartment. A scuffle ensues between Cairo and O’Shaughnessy after they question each other about the bird statue, and the police appear, tipped off about an affair Spade was pursuing with Archer’s wife and suspecting him of his partner’s murder. Spade, however, manages to convince them that he is innocent. He is later summoned by the “Fat Man,” the erudite Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet), who is also searching for the statue. Spade demands that Gutman explain about the statue, and when he does not, Spade storms out only to be brought back later by Gutman’s hired gun, Wilmer (Elisha Cook, Jr.). On their second meeting, Gutman tells Spade about the statue—a jewel-encrusted falcon with a storied history. He offers Spade a large sum of money to secure it, but Spade’s drink has been drugged, and he passes out before he can accept. When he comes to, he searches Gutman’s apartment to find a marked newspaper that tells of a ship coming in to port. Spade hurries to the dock only to find the ship ablaze.

Spade returns to his office, where a mortally wounded man—Jacoby, the ship’s captain—presents him with a package. Spade calls O’Shaughnessy, Cairo, and Gutman together to negotiate terms for the statue. He demands money and suggests that Wilmer take the fall for the murders of Archer, Thursby, and Jacoby. However, when the package is opened, the statue is discovered to be fake. Spade ultimately turns Gutman and Cairo in to the police for the murders of Thursby and Jacoby. O’Shaughnessy confesses to having killed Archer, and Spade turns her in too, out of loyalty to his partner.

Huston’s The Maltese Falcon was actually the third film version of Hammett’s novel. The first, written by Hammett, was released in 1931 and starred Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels, and a looser adaptation starring Bette Davis was released in 1936 as Satan Met a Lady. The 1931 movie was considered lewd because of its homosexual innuendo and its portrayal of adultery, which led to Huston’s more nuanced film production 10 years later.

Production notes and credits

• Studio: Warner Brothers

• Director and writer: John Huston

• Executive producer: Hal B. Wallis

• Music: Adolph Deutsch

• Running time: 100 minutes

Cast

• Humphrey Bogart (Sam Spade)

• Mary Astor (Miss Wonderly/Brigid O’Shaughnessy)

• Peter Lorre (Joel Cairo)

• Sydney Greenstreet (Kasper Gutman)

• Elisha Cook, Jr. (Wilmer Cook)

Academy Award nominations

• Supporting actor (Sydney Greenstreet)

• Picture

• Writing (screenplay)