The Maltese Falcon

1941 / USA / 101 min. / B&W

Director: John Huston

Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Lee Patrick, Sydney Greenstreet

We close with the first major, and arguably finest, film noir. The Maltese Falcon has the lot: John Huston in his directorial debut; that stellar cast including Bogart, Lorre, Greenstreet and Astor; the quintessential private eye, Sam Spade, described by Dashiell Hammett as “What most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been”; a plot as twisty as his classic 1929 novel demands and, of course, the most famous McGuffin of them all. As Variety said on its release: “One of the best examples of actionful and suspenseful melodramatic story telling in cinematic form.” The story follows Spade and his dealings with three adventurers as unscrupulous as they are colourful, each trying to get his hands on the Maltese falcon…

NB: As our  season finale this film will start 7:30pm and a hot supper will be served in the interval.