The Maltese Falcon (1941 film) The Maltese Falcon (1941 film) The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 film noir written and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut, and based on Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel of the same name. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his "femme fatale" client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with Greenstreet appearing in his film debut. The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette. The film premiered on October 3, 1941,
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film) the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been, and, in their cockier moments, thought they approached. Other characters in "The Maltese Falcon", however, were based on people he met or worked with during that time. The novel itself was serialized in five parts in "Black Mask" during 1929 and 1930 before being published in book form in 1930 by Alfred A. Knopf. It was first filmed the next year and for a second time as "Satan Met a Lady" in 1936, but rewritten as a light comedy with many