Comprehensive information and links about Maltese Falcon, The

Maltese Falcon , directed by William Dieterle and starring Bette Davis and Warren William, as well as many spoofs and sequels. The 1941 version is the most famous, often considered a classic Hollywood film.

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1931 Film

The 1931 film was directed by Roy Del Ruth and starred Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade. Other stars in the film were Bebe Daniels, Thelma Todd, Dudley Digges, Otto Mathieson, and Una Merkel. The screenplay was adapted from the Dashiell Hammett novel by Maude Fulton Brown Holmes. It was produced and released by Warner Brothers.

While the plot is much the same as the later movie version, the tenor is lighter, and there is rather extensive use of sexually suggestive situations in this pre-Hays Code film, containing a risqué scene of Bebe Daniels apparently nude in a bathtub.

In 1936, Warner Brothers attempted to re-release the film, but was denied approval by the Production Code Office due to the film's "lewd" content. For decades, unedited copies could not be legally shown in the United States.

The 1931 Maltese Falcon has also been released under the alternative title Dangerous Female (Femme Fatale).

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1941 Film

The 1941 film was directed by John Huston in his first directorial role - he also wrote the screenplay - and stars Humphrey Bogart as the detective, Mary Astor (in place of Geraldine Fitzgerald whose clashes with the studio cost her the role) as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, the and ultimate villainess, who hires him, Sydney Greenstreet in his exceptional film debut as the extraordinary Kasper Gutman, and Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo.

"Astor's elevator ride down with police at the end of The Maltese Falcon symbolic of a final trip to prison or hell"

This film was Humphrey Bogart's first role in a movie outside the studio system he had worked under previously. The role of Sam Spade was, in fact, not offered first to Bogart, but rather to George Raft who turned it down because he thought it "was not an important picture." Bogart's role became the character archetype for a private detective in the Film Noir genre providing him near instant acclaim for the role.

Also in the film are Barton MacLane and Ward Bond as policemen, Lee Patrick as Spade's long-suffering secretary, and Gladys George's confusing things as the wife of Spade's partner.

The 1941 version of the film (which was obviously censored of certain sexual dialogue and motifs that appeared in the original "Pre-Code" movie version) has, nonetheless, been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The quote, "The stuff that dreams are made of," (, Act IV, Sc 1, line 155) was listed as #14 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of top movie quotes. Released by Warner Bros. 100 minutes in length.

Also starring Gladys George, Barton MacLane, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan, James Burke, John Hamilton, Emory Parnell and

Private eye Sam Spade and his partner Miles Archer are approached by Brigid O'Shaughnessy (Who is using a pseudonym at the time) to follow a man (Floyd Thursby) who allegedly ran off with her younger sister. Brigid O'Shaughnessy acts very innocently, like a prim, proper schoolgirl. The two accept the assignment, but Spade also implies that the woman looks like trouble.

That night Spade gets a call from his secretary, Effie and learns that Archer has been shot and killed while tailing Thursby. Soon afterwards two officers visit Spade at his apartment in the middle of the night. They inquire of Spade's whereabouts in the last few hours. Spade gets defensive and asks what the visit is really about. The officers say that a few hours after Archer was killed, Thursby was also killed and that Spade is a suspect. They had no evidence against Spade at the moment, but tell him that they will be conducting an investigation into the matter. Just before they leave, they mention that if charges are filed against Spade, that they will try to be understanding since most likely, Thursby shot his partner, Archer.

The next day, Spade also gets a visit from Archer's wife. Apparently, Spade is having an affair with her. The widow asks Spade if he killed off Miles so that they could be together. Spade dismisses her and tells her to leave. Then Spade coldly orders Effie to remove all of Archer's belongings from the office.

Later, Spade is visited by another man, Joel Cairo. Cairo offers Spade $5000 if the private eye can retrieve a figurine of a black bird that has recently arrived. Spade replies "$5000 is a lot of money." While at this point Spade has no idea what the man is talking about, he plays along. Cairo leaves a card, and tells Spade to contact him should anything develop.

Still later, Spade is again contacted by Brigid O'Shaughnessy. She offers her sympathies for the death of his parter, saying that she should have known that Thursby might get desperate and resort to murder. Spade coldly replies that these are the chances people take in this line of work. Spade also asks bluntly if Brigid O'Shaughnessy is really as naive as she acts. Brigid O'Shaughnessy replies that she "hasn't led a good life." Spade, then sensing a connection between Brigid O'Shaughnessy and Cairo, casually mentions that Cairo has contacted him.

Brigid O'Shaughnessy gets extremely nervous when she hears this. She tells Spade that she must meet with Cairo, and asks Spade to arrange a meeting. Spade agrees. When Cairo and Brigid O'Shaughnessy meet, they make references that the reader and Spade doesn't initially comprehend. Cairo says he is ready pay for the black figuine. Brigid O'Shaughnessy, however, says she does not have it at the moment. Brigid O'Shaughnessy also refers to a mysterious figure known as "G" and says he may also be in town.

The two then continue talk about some events that happened overseas. Eventually Cairo makes an insinuation that Brigid O'Shaughnessy simply uses her to get what she wants, this causes the two to get into a fight. At this point, the police officers that stopped by the other night drop by again. Spade greets them at the door, but refuses to let them in. The officers say they know Spade was having an affair with Archer's wife, and ask if he also killed him. Spade replies that this accusation is absurd, since there would be no rational motive for him to kill both Archer and Thursby.

Just as the officers are about to leave, they hear Cairo and Brigid O'Shaughnessy screaming in the back. At this point, they force their way into Spade's apartment. They ask what is going on, but Spade invents a story that involves describing how Cairo and O'Shaughnessy were just play-acting. One of the officers replies "horsefeathers" and slugs Spade across the face. Spade is incensed, but gets held back by the other officer. The officers seem to buy Spade's story and eventually leave, and they also want to take Cairo with them down to the station for some "grilling".

The next morning, Spade makes his way to find Cairo at the Hotel Belvedere where the man is staying at. Cairo shows up dishevelled, saying that he was held in police custody through the night. Meanwhile, Spade notices that he's being tailed by some kid named Wilmer Cook. He confronts the gunsel, and tells him that both he and his boss, "G" will have to deal with him at some point.

Later he receives a call from a Casper Gutman, who wishes to meet with him. Spade immediately arrives at Gutman's hotel. Gutman is a huge person weighing over 300lbs. Gutman says he will pay handsomely for the black bird. Spade implies that he can get the item (though at this point this is a bluff), but wants to know what it is first. Gutman is reluctant to tell Spade what it is. Spade pretends to get angry with Gutman at this point, and storms out of the hotel in a fit of rage, grinning on his way out at the manner in which Gutman bought his bluff.

As Spade arrives back at his office, he gets a call from the district attorney. He goes down to the DA's office for an "informal chat" relating to his practice as a PI. The DA asks what Spade knows about the Archer and Thursby murders. Spade replies that he has some clue, but that he's not dumb enough to make guesses in front of a DA along with sternographer present. He goes on to say that just because he isn't saying anything doesn't make him guilty since every, even innocent people always have "something to hide." Finally, he says he's tired of being called things by "every crackpot on the city payroll" and that at this point, the best way for him to clear his name is to bring all the suspects in himself, and the best way to do this is to stay as far away as possible from the police since they are all incompetent and would only "gum up the works."

After the DA visit, Spade approached by Wilmer Cook, discovers that Gutman is ready to see him again. Spade goes back to the hotel and meets with Gutman once more. Gutman offers Spade a drink, then proceeds to tell him about the black figurine. It turns out, the figurine is a gift from the Island of Malta to the King of Spain a few hundred years ago, but was lost on ship in transit. It is really covered with fine jewels, but over the centuries, it acquired a layer of black enamel so as to conceal its value. Gutman learned of its whereabouts 17 years ago, and has been looking for it ever since. He wants the bird since it is worth millions. He traced it to the home of one Russian General, then sent his three of his 'agents' (Cairo, Thursby and Brigid O'Shaughnessy) to get it. The latter supposedly did retrieve the figurine, but learned of its value and decided to keep it for themselves. Gutman then asks Spade when he is willing to produce the bird, and begins to offer him some options of paying him. Spade starts to get dizzy at the point, and passes out. Earlier, Gutman had spiked his drink.

When Spade awakens, he returns back to the office and tells the story of the Maltese Falcon to his secretary, Effie. Soon afterwards, an injured man, identified as Captain Jacobi of the shows up at the office carrying a package. He drops the package on the floor and then dies of gunshot wounds. Spade opens the package, and finds out it is the figurine falcon. At this point, Brigid O'Shaughnessy calls Effie (whom she was supposed to have taken shelter with earlier), and says that she's in danger. Effie begs Spade to go help her. Though reluctant, Spade agrees. He tells Effie to call the police after he leaves, and to tell them exactly what had happened but to leave out the package, and that he, not she, got the phone call from O'Shaugnessy. To prevent losing the item, Spade then takes the bird to a post office and mails it back to himself at his office address.

He first goes to the dock where the was anchored, but learns that a fire had been started on board. He then proceeds to the place Rhea Gutman (Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the movie) said she was when she phoned earlier, only to find no sign of her. He realizes that it was a decoy, or "bum steer." Frustrated, he then returns to his apartment.

As he arrives, he notices O'Shaughnessy fainting at his doorway, and rushes to help her. He helps her in to his apartment and notices that Wilmer Cook, Joel Cairo and Gutman are already there. Cook attempts to be rough with Spade, but each time the kid tries this, Spade challenges him to shoot, knowning that at this point, he has the bird and that they cannot afford to kill him. Gutman hands Spade $10,000 in cash in exchange for the bird. Spade takes the money, but in addition says that they need a "fall guy" to take the blame for the murders of Archer, Thursby, and Jacobi. The others acknowledge this, but reply that it is really two murders since the police will accept that Thursby killed Archer. Spade knows that the police will not accept this as the bullets did not match up.

Spade proposes that the kid Wilmer be made the fall guy, but initially Gutman won't hear of it. Spade replies that without a fall guy, he won't produce the figurine. Gutman then threatens Spade, but Spade replies that in this situation, threats are useless without a hint of death in the background to "tie the person down." At this point, if they force Spade to do something he doesn't want to do, he won't stand for it, and will make it a point of them having to kill him, knowing that they can't afford to kill him. Gutman replies that this is an extremely dangerous attitude since once men's emotions get in the way, they are likely to forget their "best interest[s]." Spade in turn replies that he needs to make his play strong enough to tie them down, but not so strong that it makes them "kill [Spade] against their better judgement."

Eventually, during the standoff Spade attacks Wilmer and knocks him out. Reluctantly, both Cairo and Gutman agree to make Wilmer the fall guy. Gutman then proceeds to tell Spade the missing pieces of the story. It turns out that Thursby and Brigid O'Shaughnessy initially helped Gutman get the bird from the Russian General, but once they had it, they fled with it and came to the US. The night that Thursby was killed, he was first approached by Wilmer and Gutman. The latter attempted to reason with him, but Thursby remained loyal to Brigid O'Shaughnessy and refused to cooperate. Later things escalated, then Wilmer shot Thursby.

Also Gutman says that recently, he and Cairo had joined together to get the Falcon. Gutman learned from Cairo that during their ship voyage to the US, Brigid O'Shaughnessy had seduced Captain Jacobi and hid the Falcon with him. Later, Brigid O'Shaughnessy instructed Jacobi to deliver the package to Spade. Once Gutman had learned of this fact, he attempted to remove Spade from the situation with the spiked drink, and later by forcing Brigid O'Shaughnessy to act like she was in danger. However, Gutman was ultimately too late in intercepting Jacobi. Wilmer managed to shoot the captain, but Jacobi still got to Spade's office to deliver the figurine. After finishing his story, Gutman finally warns Spade to be very careful with Brigid O'Shaughnessy as she is not to be trusted.

Spade then places a call to his secretary, Effie, and asks her to go the office and pick up the figurine, as by now the post office should have delivered it. Effie does so, and brings it to Spade's apartment. Spade hands the package to Gutman, who at this time is overwhelmed with excitement. He check the figurine, but quickly learns that it is a fake, most likely created by the Russian as a decoy, getting criticised by Cairo at the same time, who blames it on Gutman's hyping up of the worth of the artefact overseas that caused it to be swapped. During this time, Wilmer manages to escape from Spade apartment. Gutman quickly regains composure, and decides to go back to Europe to continue the search. Before he leaves, Gutman asks Spade for the $10,000. Spade returns $9000, saying he's keeping the remainder for his time and expenses. Then Cairo and Gutman leave Spade's apartment.

Immediately after Cairo and Gutman leave, Spade phones the police department and tells them the entire story. Wilmer killed Jacobi and Thursby. He also tells them the hotel that Gutman is staying at and that they should hurry as Gutman and Cairo are leaving town soon. Afterwards, Spade angrily asks Brigid O'Shaughnessy why she killed Miles Archer. At first, Brigid O'Shaughnessy acts horrified at this accusation, but seeing that she cannot lie anymore, drops the act. She wanted to get Thursby out of the picture so she could get the Falcon to herself, so she hired Archer to scare him off. When Thursby didn't leave, she killed Archer and attempted to pin the crime on Thursby. When Thursby was later killed himself, she knew that Gutman was in town and that she needed another protector, so she came back to Spade.

However, she says that she's also in love with Spade and would have come back to him anyhow. Spade coldly replies that the penalty for murder is most likely twenty years, and he'll wait for her when she get out. If they hang her, Spade says that he'll always remember her. He goes on to say that while he despised Miles Archer, the man was his partner, and that he's going to turn her in to the police for his murder as that was a line he could not cross in the industry of detective work. Brigid O'Shaughnessy begs him not to, but he replies that he has no choice. When the police get Gutman, Gutman will in turn finger Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy as accomplices. Thus the only way Spade can avoid getting charged is to say he played both sides against each other. He tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy that he has some feelings for her, but that he simply can't trust her. From what Spade has seen, Brigid O'Shaughnessy makes it a profession of using men to get what she wants, and he simply doesn't want to be another one of them. Just before the police arrive, Brigid O'Shaughnessy asks Spade if the Falcon had been real, and he'd gotten the entire $10,000, would it have made a difference. Spade replies that while she shouldn't be so sure that he's crooked, more money would have been one more item on "her side."

When police finally show up at Spade's apartment, Spade immediately turns over Brigid O'Shaughnessy as Archer's killer. They tell Spade that the kid Wilmer was waiting for Gutman at the hotel and shot him when he arrived. Spade also hands over the $1000 bill, and the bird to the police as evidence.

Later as Spade arrives back at the office, his secretary, Effie heard about the entire story. She asks Sam if he sent Brigid O'Shaughnessy to jail. He smugly replies "Your Sam's a detective." She is disgusted by his actions, and asks him not to touch her. The novel ends when Archer's widow again shows up at the office.