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The Maltese Falcon (1931 film)

Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon 1931 Poster.jpg
theatrical release poster
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Screenplay by Maude Fulton
Brown Holmes
Lucien Hubbard (uncredited)
Based on The Maltese Falcon
1930 novel
by Dashiell Hammett
Starring Bebe Daniels
Ricardo Cortez
Dudley Digges
Una Merkel
Cinematography William Rees
Edited by George Marks
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Release date
  • June 13, 1931 (1931-06-13) (US)
Running time
80 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American pre-Code crime film, based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film stars Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade and Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly. Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes, and Lucien Hubbard (who went uncredited) wrote the screenplay. The supporting cast features Dudley Digges, Thelma Todd, Walter Long, Una Merkel, and Dwight Frye. The film is based on the 1929 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. (Original publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1929.)

In San Francisco, private investigator Sam Spade (Ricardo Cortez) and his partner Miles Archer (Walter Long) are approached by Ruth Wonderly (Bebe Daniels) to follow a man, Floyd Thursby, who allegedly ran off with her younger sister. The two accept the assignment because the money is good, even though they disbelieve her story.

Late that night, police detective Tom Polhaus (J. Farrell MacDonald) informs Spade that Archer has been shot and killed while tailing Thursby, but Spade turns down the opportunity to examine the body at the scene. As he's leaving, he has a brief conversation in Chinese with a man loitering in a doorway. Later, Polhaus and his superior, Lt. Dundy (Robert Elliott), visit Spade at his apartment. Thursby has been killed, and they want to know where Spade's been in the last few hours — they suspect him of killing Thursby to avenge the death of his partner. With no real evidence against Spade, they leave.


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