The Maltese Falcon (USA) | ( Click here to watch )
(101 min; 1941; b/w; English)
Director: John Houston

With Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George

Recipient of the NBR Award for Best Acting, National Board of Review, USA 1041; Photoplay Award for Best Performance, Photoplay Award 1942; and Winner of the National Film Registry, National Preservation Board, USA 1989

In this classic film noir, detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) gets more than he bargained for when he takes a case brought to him by a beautiful but secretive woman (Mary Astor). As soon as Miss Wonderly shows up, trouble follows as Sam's partner is murdered and Sam is accosted by a man (Peter Lorre) demanding he locate a valuable statuette. Sam, entangled in a dangerous web of crime and intrigue, soon realizes he must find the one thing they all seem to want: the bejewelled Maltese falcon. 

The Maltese Falcon is a truly superlative movie, arguably the best detective movie ever made in Hollywood and first film directed by John Huston, it counts among the all-time great debuts.