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
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