| The Maltese Falcon (1941)
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| Front Cover |
Actor |
Back Cover |
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| Humphrey Bogart |
Sam Spade
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| Mary Astor |
Brigid O'Shaughnessy
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| Peter Lorre |
Joel Cairo
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| Sydney Greenstreet |
Kasper Gutman the Fat Man
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| Ward Bond |
Detective Tom Polhaus
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| Barton MacLane |
Detective Lt. Dundy
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| Gladys George |
Iva Archer
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| Lee Patrick |
Effie Perine
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| Jerome Cowan |
Miles Archer
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| Elisha Cook, Jr. |
Wilmer Cook
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| Elisha Cook Jr. |
Wilmer Cook
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| Plot |
| After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in 1941—or, rather, John Huston, a long-established screenwriter making his directorial debut, got it right, simply by adhering as closely as possible to the original. Taking over from a recalcitrant George Raft, Humphrey Bogart achieved true stardom as Sam Spade, a hard-boiled San Francisco private eye who can be as unscrupulous as the next guy but also adheres to his own personal code of honor. Into the offices of the Spade & Archer detective agency sweeps a Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor), who offers a large retainer to Sam and his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) if they'll protect her from someone named Floyd Thursby. The detectives believe neither Miss Wonderly nor her story, but they believe her money. Since Archer saw her first, he takes the case — and later that evening he is shot to death, as is the mysterious Thursby. Miss Wonderly's real name turns out to be Brigid O'Shaughnessey, and, as the story continues, Sam is also introduced to the effeminate Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and the fat, erudite Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet, in his film debut). It turns out that Brigid, Cairo and Gutman are all international scoundrels, all involved in the search for a foot-high, jewel-encrusted statuette in the shape of a falcon. Though both Cairo and Gutman offer Spade small fortunes to find the "black bird," they are obviously willing to commit mayhem and murder towards that goal: Gutman, for example, drugs Spade and allows his "gunsel" Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.) to kick and beat the unconscious detective. This classic film noir detective yarn gets better with each viewing, which is more than can be said for the first two Maltese Falcons and the ill-advised 1975 "sequel" The Black Bird. — Hal Erickson |
| Movie Details |
| Genre |
Film-Noir; Mystery |
| Director |
John Huston |
| Producer |
Henry Blanke; Hal B. Wallis |
| Writer |
John Huston; Dashiell Hammett |
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| Studio |
Warner Bros. |
| Country |
USA
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| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
NR |
| Running Time |
101 mins |
| Movie Release Date |
1941 |
| Color |
Color |
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| Personal Details |
| Format |
DVD |
| Seen It |
Yes |
| Index |
118 |
| Collection Status |
In Collection |
| Location |
Disc 18 |
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| Product Details |
| Region |
 Region 1 |
| Screen Ratio |
 Standard 1.33:1 B&W |
| Layers |
Single Side, Dual Layer |
| UPC (Barcode) |
012569501225 |
| Chapters |
28 |
| Release Date |
2/15/2000 |
| Subtitles |
English; French |
| Packaging |
Keep Case |
| Audio Tracks |
 ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono [CC]
 FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
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Extra Features
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Becoming attractions: The trailers of Humphrey Bogart, a documentary look at Bogart's Warner Bros. Career through trailers of his films, hosted by Turner Classic Movies on-air personality Robert Osborne. A history of mystery essay.
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
2 Theatrical Trailers
Languages and Subtitles: English &Francais
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