Film Notes
     "Still the tightest, sharpest, and most cynical of Hollywood's official deathless classics, bracingly tough even by post-Tarantino standards. Humphrey Bogart is Dashiell Hammett's definitive private eye, Sam Spade, struggling to keep his hard-boiled cool as the double-crosses pile up around his ankles. The plot, which dances all around the stolen Middle Eastern statuette of the title, is too baroque to try to follow, and it doesn't make a bit of difference. The dialogue, much of it lifted straight from Hammett, is delivered with whip-crack speed and sneering ferocity, as Bogie faces off against Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet, fends off the duplicitous advances of Mary Astor, and roughs up a cringing "gunsel" played by Elisha Cook Jr. It's an action movie of sorts, at least by implication: the characters always seem keyed up, right on the verge of erupting into violence. This is a turning-point picture in several respects: John Huston (African Queen) made his directorial debut here in 1941, and Bogart, who had mostly played bad guys, was a last-minute substitution for George Raft, who must have been kicking himself for years afterward. This is the role that made Bogart a star and established his trend-setting (and still influential) antihero persona." (David Chute, Amazon.com)
     Dashiell Hammett's novel was first adapted for the screen in 1931. Known alternately as The Maltese Falcon and Dangerous Female, this version was directed by Roy del Ruth and starred Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges, Robert Elliott, Thelma Todd, Una Merkel, and Dwight Frye. In 1936, a second adaptation appeared. The William Dieterle film, Satan Met a Lady, featured Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth, and Arthur Treacher. After years of screenwriting, John Huston made his directorial debut with Falcon. His father, actor Walter Huston, has a cameo in the film. Sydney Greenstreet made his sound-film debut with Falcon. He was previously a member of the Lunt-Fontaine theater troupe. Mary Astor and Humphrey Bogart were cited by the National Board of Review for their acting achievement in The Maltese Falcon.