The Maltese Falcon (1931 film) The Maltese Falcon (1931 film) The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American pre-Code crime film, based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film stars Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade and Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly. Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes, and Lucien Hubbard (who went uncredited) wrote the screenplay. The supporting cast features Dudley Digges, Thelma Todd, Walter Long, Una Merkel, and Dwight Frye. A print has been held by the Library of Congress since the 1970s. In San Francisco, private investigator Sam Spade (Ricardo Cortez) and
The Maltese Falcon (1931 film) well and give her whatever she wants. When the matron asks who will pay for the special treatment, Spade tells her to send the bill to the D.A.'s office: "I'll OK it." "The Maltese Falcon" was not the first Hammett story to be adapted into a motion picture. Both "Red Harvest" (filmed in 1930 as "Roadhouse Nights") and "City Streets" (1931), based on a short story and starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney, preceded it. Working titles for the film were "All Women", "A Woman of the World" and "Dangerous Female". Some scenes in the film were shot on location