The Maltese Falcon is a dull unbearable load of drivel. I didn't buy any of it, Bogart pushing around the flyweight division. I cringed the whole way through. None of the characters are suited to any of these roles. Mary Astor is no femme fatale and Peter Lorre being serious? Come on. Wilmer, now what the hell is this character? One of the worst henchman ever, just to make Bogart look superior. Though, Kasper Gutman wasn't much better. I don't even.. I'm done.

Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, "The Maltese Falcon," had been made into a movie twice before. The first time in 1931, it had modest success. The second time, retitled and greatly rewritten except for the characters, it flopped in 1936. But this time, Warner Brothers, decided to do it as Hammett wrote it - with the dark and sinister aspects, and the streetwise and hardboiled detective in Sam Spade. John Huston wrote the screenplay based on Hammett's book. And Huston had his directorial debut with the film. He pioneered the look of film noir on film with his stark shots and scenes. Everything about this production seemed perfect. The casting was the final plumb. Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade is the perfect portrayal of Hammett's character. He has something of a reputation for carousing, but he doesn't let that endanger his sharp eyes and nose. He notices details and when he smells a skunk, he brings it out into the open. Mary Astor has the female lead as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, who first comes to Spade as Miss Wonderly. She's the perfect mysterious and questionable femme fatale. Spade doesn't know how far he can trust her. He falls for her, but he's nobody's fool. The supporting cast, too, is superb, and they each set a standard for the roles of the characters they play. Sydney Greenstreet is Kasper Gutman and Peter Lorre is Joel Cairo. Who could imagine anyone else in those roles. Gladys George is very good as Iva Archer, Elisha Cook is believably sinister as Wilmer Cook, and Ward Bond is very good Detective Tom Polhaus. A few dark crime mysteries were made before this, but "The Maltese Falcon" was the first to put everything together as clearly film noir. It is widely regarded as the film that established the sub-genre. Many consider this story and film one of the greatest detective stories of all time. Some think it is the best one. A 2006 documentary on "The Maltese Falcon" has several sources who comment on Hammett's story and the 1941 movie. Mystery writer Joe Gores, author of the 1975 novel, "Hammett", says Hammett "wrote about what he knew. He was not a writer trying to learn about detectives. He was a detective trying to figure out how to write." Indeed, Hammett had spent some early years working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in Baltimore, MD. Eddie Muller, author of "Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir," said, "Hammett's big contribution was writing speech the way it was actually spoken. Before Hammett, detective fiction was all very elitist, upper crust. It was game-playing nonsense, you know." Gores attributed mystery writer Raymond Chandler as saying, "Hammett took murder out of the drawing room and dumped it in the alley where it belonged."Author Michael Druxman says that Humphrey Bogart's climb to stardom was boosted more by George Raft than anyone else. Bogart became a star from leads he played in films that Raft turned down. The three biggest such films were "High Sierra," "The Maltese Falcon," and "Casablanca." Indeed, since those films were made and well into the 21st century, few could imagine anyone else other than Bogart playing the leads in them. Perhaps that's one reason why Hollywood hasn't tried to remake those films."The Maltese Falcon" should delight anyone who enjoys intrigue and mystery. It's essential for any serious film collection.

This was a beautifully shot noir film, the picture itself was amazing to see. But on top of the aesthetics of the film the story was exciting from beginning to end with all of the twists and turns taken throughout. The audience slowly finds out who the main character really is after they are misled time and time again. It was a very exciting film to watch and a wonderful example of film-noir.

I really enjoyed this film. This film is an early noir film and I thought it really lived up to expectations. The film keeps you interested all the way through and is kind of fun being and early detective film as well. The acting is really superb and every character seem to have an actor perfect for their role. The lighting and camera work are good in this film but nothing special. I would highly recommend this film to detective movie fans or honestly movie fans in general. Overall a very good film.