The Maltese Falcon

John Huston, USA 1941, 100 minutes

Like Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon is a film by a first-time director which doesn't look at all like a film by a first time director. Rave reviews greeted its release and until Chinatown in 1974 it was widely considered to be one of the best detective thrillers ever made; the stuff illustrious careers are made of.

Sticking closely to his source material, a piece of hard-boiled pulp fiction from the pen of Dashiel Hammett, Huston tells the story of private detective Sam Spade who, following the mysterious death of his partner, pursues and eventually possesses a strange medieval relic, a black statue of a falcon. He is helped - or hindered? - by a breathless Mary Astor (apparently Huston made Astor do a couple of laps of the studio before her scenes in order to give her this wheezing quality) and two evil, raging homosexuals (an early example of Hollywood's homophobia), Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.

Spade is a typical Huston character - a flawed overachiever trying to make his way in an amoral world despite his imperfections, and Bogart gives the first of many excellent performances for his favourite director. This is a must-see film; tense and exciting and superbly realised by one of Hollywood's master film-makers.

"A pristine masterpiece... an instant great *****" - Empire

Review by Stephen Cox
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97