"The Maltese Falcon" was the third, and most acclaimed, remake of Dasheill Hammett's fictional story. In John Huston's 1941 directorial debut, it was an instant smash hit at the time. Even more renowned today, critics agree on its importance as the beginning of the movie genre film noir, and it is considered by many to be Humphrey Bogart's breakthrough movie. As Danny Peary of the Guide For the Film Fanatic raves, it is "A true masterpiece. A landmark picture." (Turner, DVD). Even more so is the fact that it has landed on countless best-movie-of-all-time lists, including the famous American Fil

Set in the dark alleys of San Francisco, Humphrey Bogart stars as a proletarian tough guy private detective, tangled in a web of deceit as he tries to uncover the truth about the priceless statue everybody wants bad enough to kill for. Bogart plays a tough, experienced, short-tempered yet oddly likeable Sam Spade, a character both with Hammett's real first name and old profession (Falcon FAQ, pg. 5). Although his vivid character is set on a crusade for the justice, Bogart is by no means angelic. Staying, at times, above the law puts him into various life-threatening situations along his adventure. During his encounters he must evade the hard-nosed police officers and scheming bad-guys such as the dubious Mr. Cairo (Peter Lorre) and the ruthless Guttman (Sydney Greenstreet), all while trying to figure out the double-dealing Brigid O'Shaughnessy (Mary Astor). The onscreen action is fast and furious as Bogart's verbal vendettas, and skill in disarming assailants, is both comical and impressive. Dodging the people out to get him becomes ever so difficult as he starts to fall for Astor, leaving him in a moral dilemma. Should he give the woman he loves to be put away, or should he accept her mistakes and lie to keep her out of prison? He is put to the ultimate test of his conscious, and it is an underlying theme in the deceitful world he lives in.

Maltese Falcon, The. October 25, 2000. Page 1-4. Muze, Inc. 5 November, 2000.

The style that sparked the beginning of film noir was the film traditions from the 1920's German expressionism, but more so of the society and period they grew out

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