Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) is a private detective in San Francisco whose partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) is murdered while tailing a man. The woman who hired Archer is Miss Ruth Wonderly (Mary Astor) and is after the "Maltese Falcon", a gold-encrusted statue of a bird reputed to contain priceless jewels worth millions. Elegant Ruth Wonderly is a femme fatale whose real name is Mrs. Brigid O'Shaughnessy, although she also uses the alias Miss Leblanc. She is a treacherous liar and when she tells Spade, "I've been bad, worse than you could know", he replies, "You know, that's good, because if you actually were as innocent as you pretend to be, we'd never get anywhere."
There are more murders and the police suspect Spade, who in his investigation meets many strange and shady characters. Effeminate Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and fat, erudite Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) are international scoundrels who also want the "black bird". Gutman drugs Spade and orders "gunsel" Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.) to kick and beat the unconscious detective. Sam Spade is caught in a maze of double crosses and back stabbing. No wonder he is cynical and hardboiled. He can be unscrupulous, but usually sticks to his own personal code of honour. His character marks the introduction of the morally ambiguous hero in movies, a preview of the modern antihero.
Bryan: "Who killed Thursby?"
Spade: "I don't know."
Bryan: "Perhaps you don't, but you could make an excellent guess."
Spade: "My guess might be excellent or it might be crummy, but Mrs. Spade didn't raise any children dippy enough to make guesses in front of a district attorney, and an assistant district attorney and a stenographer."
Bryan: "Why shouldn't you, if you have nothing to conceal?"
Spade: "Everybody has something to conceal."
Bryan: "I'm a sworn officer of the law, 24 hours a day, and neither formality nor informality justifies you withholding evidence of crime from me. Except, of course, on constitutional grounds."
Spade: "Now, both you and the police have as much as accused me of being mixed up in the other night's murders. Well, I've had trouble with both of you before. And as far as I can see my best chance of clearing myself of the trouble you're trying to make for me, is by bringing in the murderers all tied up. And the only chance I've got of catching them, and tying them up, and bringing them in, is by staying as far away as possible from you and the police, because you'd only gum up the works."
Gutman: "You're a close-mouthed man?"
Spade: "Nah, I like to talk."
Gutman: "Better and better. 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 am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk."
Spade: "Swell. Will we talk about the black bird?"
Gutman: "Let's. Mr. Spade, have you any conception of how much money can be got for that black bird?"
Spade: "No."
Gutman: "Well, sir, if I told you... If I told you half... you'd call me a liar."
Spade: "No, not even if I thought so."
Brigid: "I do know he always went heavily armed, and that he never went to sleep without covering the floor around his bed with crumpled newspapers, so that nobody could come silently into his room."
Spade: "You picked a nice sort of a playmate."
Brigid: "Only that sort could have helped me, if he'd been loyal."
In the end it turns out Brigid killed Archer to implicate her mysterious accomplice Thursby. "You killed Miles" Spade says, "and you're going over for it." Sam Spade turns Mrs. O'Shaughnessy over to the police and tells her, "I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck. Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you."
THE MALTESE FALCON is the definitive version of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, one of the best and most popular detective mysteries of all time. The movie is virtually identical to the book, word-for-word and scene-for-scene. Huston dropped only one short scene, which he substituted with a phone call. There are many plot twists. It is probably the first "film noir" movie, dark both literally and figuratively. There are harsh shadows, a sinister atmosphere, menacing scenes, and a focus on crime, sex, and corruption--all in low-key black and white.
John Huston scripted and made his directorial debut with this fast-paced masterpiece. His father, Walter Huston, has a cameo as Captain Jocobi. The dialogue is great, and the film looks terrific in "glorious" b & w, with close attention to detail. This movie was completed in two months and cost less than $300,000 to produce.
Outstanding performances are given by a perfect cast that also includes: Gladys George (Iva Archer), Barton MacLane (Det. Lt. Dundy), Lee Patrick (Effie Perine), Ward Bond (Det. Tom Polhaus), James Burke (Luke), Murray Alper (Frank Richman), and John Hamilton (District Attorney Bryan), Charles Drake, Chester Gan, Creighton Hale, Robert Homans, William Hopper, Hank Mann, Jack Mower, and Emory Parnell. Music was composed by Adolph Deutsch.
MALTESE FALCON is one of the all-time great movies and has been imitated too often, but none have come close to its perfection. It actually improves with each viewing. The last line in the film is Sam Spade describing the statue: "It's the stuff dreams are made of." The same can be said of this movie.
"The Maltese Falcon" book had been filmed twice before with different titles. In 1931 Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels starred in DANGEROUS FEMALE (TV title). It's good, similar to the classic with Cortez more of a lady's man. The Hays Office censors kept it off the market due to it's "lewd" (including homosexual) content. Then SATAN MET A LADY was produced in 1936 with Warren William and Bette Davis. It's a loose adaptation, a light comedy with the characters renamed. BLACK BIRD (1975) is the satirical sequel with George Segal as son Sam Spade Jr. MALTESE FALCON has been spoofed in THE MALTESE BIPPY (1969) with Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, MURDER BY DEATH (1976), THE CHEAP DETECTIVE (1978), and THE BIG GOODBYE (1988).
