The Maltese Falcon is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett which was made into a quintessential film noir.
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It was filmed twice under the name The Maltese Falcon, in 1931 and 1941. The story also inspired the 1936 film Satan Met a Lady, 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, and is often considered a classic Hollywood film.
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, and contains a rather 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".
Also in the film are Barton MacLane and Ward Bond as policemen, Lee Patrick as Spade's long-suffering secretary and Gladys George confusing things as the wife of Spade's partner.
The 1941 version of the film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.Film versions
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 and by Maude Fulton Brown Holmes. It was produced and released by Warner Brothers.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 as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, the femme fatale who hires him, Sydney Greenstreet in his exceptional film debut as the extraordinary Kasper Gutman, and Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo.