The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)

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For the original 1931 film starring Ricardo Cortez, see The Maltese Falcon (1931 film).

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. It was written and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut and stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor (in place of Geraldine Fitzgerald whose clashes with the studio cost her the role) as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, the femme fatale who hires him, Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut as Kasper Gutman, and Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo. John Huston actually used the script from the 1931 version of the film, removing all references to sex which the Hayes Office had now deemed to be un-American. In 1936, Warner Brothers attempted to re-release the original film, but was denied approval by the Production Code Office due to the film's "lewd" content. This is probably the reason why a cleaned-up version of the film was produced in 1941. It wasn't until after 1966 that unedited copies of the original film could be legally shown in the United States.

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. 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 this remake "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.

Since the 1931 version was illegal to view in the United States for so long, the 1941 version quickly became a "classic" while the original was virtually forgotten. The 1941 version has 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," (cf The Tempest, Act IV, Sc 1, line 155) was chosen as #14 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of top movie quotes.

Cast

Humphrey Bogart - Sam Spade
Mary Astor - Bridgid O'Shaugnessy
Sydney Greenstreet - Kasper Gutman
Peter Lorre - Joel Cairo
Elisha Cook Jr. - Wilmer Cook, Gutman's henchman
Lee Patrick - Effie Perrine, Spade's secretary
Jerome Cowan - Miles Archer, Spade's partner
Gladys George - Iva Archer, wife of Miles
Walter Huston - Captain Jacobi, a seaman making a delivery
Barton MacLane - Detective Lieutenant Dundy
Ward Bond - Detective Tom Polhaus

Academy Award nominations

Best Picture (nomination)
Best Supporting Actor (nomination) - Sydney Greenstreet
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay (nomination) - John Huston

External links

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