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,
Maltese literature published in 1842, followed by "Ħrejjef bil-Malti" "(Legends in Maltese)" and "Ħrejjef u Ċajt bil-Malti" "(Legends and Jokes in Maltese)" in 1861 and 1863 respectively. The same author published the first history book in the Maltese language entitled "Storja ta’ Malta Miktuba għall-Poplu" "(The People's History of Malta)" in 1862. 1863 saw the publication of the first novel in Maltese, "Elvira Jew Imħabba ta’ Tirann" "(Elvira, or the Love of a Tyrant)" by the Neapolitan author, Giuseppe Folliero de Luna. Anton Manwel Caruana's novel "Ineż Farruġ" (1889), the first Maltese novel, was modelled on traditional Italian historical novels, such as