San Francisco private investigator Sam Spade (Bogart) and his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) are asked by Ruth Wonderly (Astor) to help find her sister. Archer is killed, Spade is suspected, and Ruth Wonderly turns out to be Brigid O'Shaughnessy, one of a group of thieves who have been searching for years for The Maltese Falcon, a priceless jeweled statue that was a gift from the Knights of Malta to the King of Spain. In the end, Spade must choose between the woman he loves and justice for his dead partner.

The Making of the Film

This was director John Huston's first film. He had worked as a screenwriter at Warner Bros. and it was he who wrote the script for The Maltese Falcon . Producer Howard Koch later said that he was impressed with the detail that Huston included in the script. "Without diminishing his directorial talents, it seemed self-evident that Huston, the writer, had accomplished the basic creative work before Huston, the director, took over."

One person who wasn't impressed was actor George Raft, who refused to play Sam Spade, because he was angry that Warner Bros. wanted him to work with a first-time director. Raft also turned down High Sierra (1941) and Casablanca (1942), all of which were hits for Bogart. John Huston was delighted to work with Bogart, and the two would become best friends. Huston was also happy to work with his father, the famous actor Walter Huston, who had the uncredited role of Capt. Jacoby, who delivered the falcon and then died. He later said, "I wanted to make it good, so instead of falling dead with a dull and indecisive thump, I reeled around and broke a lamp on the way down." Walter Huston may have done this scene for free to help his son, but he would later win an Academy Award when his son directed him in another film with Bogart, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1949).

Huston's meticulous planning allowed him to shoot the film in only thirty-four days, from June 9th to July 18th, 1941, with a budget of $327,000. John Huston came in under budget by $54.

By Lorraine LoBianco