The Maltese Falcon (1941)

• Year: 1941
• Released: 18 Oct 1941
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 5 wins & 3 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033870/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_maltese_falcon
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-maltese-falcon
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Passed
• Genre: Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
• Runtime: 100 min
• Writer: John Huston, Dashiell Hammett
• Director: John Huston
• Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
• Keywords: murder, loss of loved one, detective, noir, whodunit,

	8.0/10
	97/100
	100% – Critics
	91% – Audience

The Maltese Falcon Storyline

Spade and Archer is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. That’s for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn’t like Miles much. A knockout, who goes by the name of Miss Wonderly, walks into their office; and by that night everything’s changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wonderly is surrounded by dangerous men. There’s Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There’s Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men — and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon.

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The Maltese Falcon Movie Reviews

It’s very good but Bogart did several better films AND it was nearly a duplicate of the 1931 version

I liked THE MALTESE FALCON and think it’s a very good example of Warner Brothers Film Noir. However, for me, I can’t see why this is among the very highest rated Bogart films on IMDb. Of course CASABLANCA is rated highest (this is no surprise), but I actually preferred a few of Bogart’s less famous films over THE MALTESE FALCON (such as THE CAINE MUTINY). Instead of discussing all that has already been stated in many other reviews, I’ll explain the one failing I noticed in this otherwise exceptional film. Despite the film being Noir, it had a surprisingly small amount of action and towards the end, it is way too talky as they explained the plot–sort of like they were filling in the missing pieces–most of which seemed like guesswork on Sam Spade’s part. I really think the script could have been tightened up in this regard. Still, with exceptional supporting actors, a great cynical performance by Bogie AND the best last ten minutes you’ll find in almost any film, it still is an exceptional film–well worth seeing.

Also, I recently saw the 1931 MALTESE FALCON starring Ricardo Cortez. While Cortez was not as exciting in the lead as Bogart, the film was in many places word-for-word the same film. Dudley Diggs’ version of the Fat Man was also essentially copied by Sidney Greenstreet a decade later.

By the way, I have never seen an explanation for this, but I noticed one odd thing about the film. When Sidney Greenstreet is slashing at the statue and yelling, the voice does not appear to be his but was dubbed by another actor. I’ve seen the film several times and last time I even reviewed this scene and it just doesn’t sound like him (actually, it sounds a little like Claude Rains). I assume it was inserted sloppily later but am surprised others didn’t point this out as well. If you can help explain this, drop me a line.

Superb cinematic entertainment

The Maltese Falcon mayn’t be the best movie I have ever seen, but it is along with The Asphalt Jungle, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and the African Queen one of my favourite John Huston movies. It is simply superb cinematic entertainment with a sharp and decisive screenplay, rich scoring, crisp direction from the terrific John Huston himself and gorgeous cinematography. The story is very well-paced and done with real panache, I didn’t feel there was a wasted moment while watching The Maltese Falcon. And the acting is wonderful, Humphrey Bogart was made for the role of the cynical private detective Sam Spade, while Mary Astor is terrific as the femme-fatale, Sydney Greenstreet makes an impressive debut as Gutman, who lusts after the Black Bird and Peter Lorre is very entertaining as the whiny and effeminate Joel Cairo. Not to mention Walter Huston as the ship’s officer. Overall, truly terrific and one to watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox

“I Won’t Play The Sap For You.”

The Maltese Falcon has a totally atypical Hollywood history. After two previous filmings of Dashiell Hammett’s novel, the third time a classic film was achieved. Usually the original is best and the remakes are the inferior product.

These characters that John Huston wrote and breathed life into with his direction are so vital and alive even 65 years after the premiere of The Maltese Falcon. You can watch this one fifty times and still be entertained by it.

I’m not sure how the code let this one slip through. Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade is partners with Jerome Cowan in a detective agency Spade and Archer. Client Mary Astor comes into their office requesting help in getting rid of a man who’s intruding in on her life. Jerome Cowan as Miles Archer eagerly takes the assignment and gets himself bumped off for his troubles.

Cowan is quite the skirt chaser and he certainly isn’t the first or the last man to think with his hormones. That’s OK because Bogart’s been fooling around with his wife, Gladys George. That gives the police, Barton MacLane and Ward Bond, motive enough to suspect Bogart might have had a hand in Cowan’s death.

As fans of The Maltese Falcon are well aware, there’s quite a bit more to the story than that. Bogart’s investigation leads him to a crew of adventurous crooks, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook, Jr. who are in pursuit of a statue of a Falcon that is said to be encrusted in gold and precious jewels.

The Maltese Falcon is a milestone film role for Humphrey Bogart. It is the first time that Bogey was ever first billed in an A picture while he was at Warner Brothers. In fact this is also John Huston’s first film as a director. He had previously just been a screenwriter and in fact got an Oscar nomination for the screenplay he wrote here. There are some who will argue that this first film is Huston’s best work and I’d be hard up to dispute that.

After a long career on stage The Maltese Falcon was the screen debut of Sydney Greenstreet. Greenstreet may be orally flatulent here, but there’s no doubt to the menace he exudes while he’s on screen. Greenstreet got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Donald Crisp for How Green Was My Valley. Greenstreet created quite a gallery of characters for the next ten years, mostly for Warner Brothers.

A favorite character of mine in The Maltese Falcon has always been Lee Patrick as Effie, the secretary at Spade&Archer. She’s loyal, efficient and crushing out on Bogey big time. This and the part of Mrs. Topper in the television series Topper are Lee Patrick’s career roles. I never watch The Maltese Falcon without hoping that Bogey will recognize how really “precious” Effie is.

The Maltese Falcon will be entertaining people hundreds of years from now. And please no more remakes of this one.