Canvas Textured Graphic Reproduction
Size: 39" x 20"
Choice of
framed or unframed
Synopsis:
After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic
The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in 1941—or,
rather, John Huston, a long-established
screenwriter making his directorial debut, got it right, simply by adhering as
closely as possible to the original. Taking over from a recalcitrant George
Raft, Humphrey Bogart achieved true stardom
as Sam Spade, a hard-boiled San Francisco private eye who can be as unscrupulous
as the next guy but also adheres to his own personal code of honor. Into the
offices of the Spade & Archer detective agency sweeps a Miss Wonderly (Mary
Astor), who offers a large retainer to Sam and his partner Miles
Archer (Jerome Cowan) if they'll protect her
from someone named Floyd Thursby. The detectives believe neither Miss Wonderly
nor her story, but they believe her money. Since Archer saw her first, he takes
the case — and later that evening he is shot to death, as is the mysterious
Thursby. Miss Wonderly's real name turns out to be Brigid O'Shaughnessey, and,
as the story continues, Sam is also introduced to the effeminate Joel Cairo (Peter
Lorre) and the fat, erudite Kasper Gutman (Sydney
Greenstreet, in his film debut). It turns out that Brigid, Cairo and
Gutman are all international scoundrels, all involved in the search for a
foot-high, jewel-encrusted statuette in the shape of a falcon. Though both Cairo
and Gutman offer Spade small fortunes to find the "black bird," they are
obviously willing to commit mayhem and murder towards that goal: Gutman, for
example, drugs Spade and allows his "gunsel" Wilmer (Elisha
Cook Jr.) to kick and beat the unconscious detective. This classic
film noir detective yarn gets better with each viewing, which is more than can
be said for the first two Maltese Falcons and the ill-advised 1975 "sequel"
The Black Bird. — Hal Erickson
