[4][5][6] Starring Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale client, and Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet as villains, the film follows a life-and-death quest for a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette in San Francisco.

In San Francisco, private investigators Sam Spade and Miles Archer meet prospective client Ruth Wonderly.

Back at his apartment, he is grilled by police detective Tom Polhaus and Lieutenant Dundy, who tell him that Thursby was murdered the same evening.

On coming round, Spade searches the suite and finds a newspaper with the arrival time of the freighter La Paloma circled.

[10] The character of sinister "Fat Man" Kasper Gutman was based on Maundy Gregory, an overweight British detective-entrepreneur who was involved in many sophisticated endeavors and capers, including a search for a long-lost treasure like the jeweled Falcon.

Warner Bros. quickly bought the film rights of the novel, and made an adaptation the following year starring Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels.

These topics made the film unscreenable a few years later under the Motion Picture Production Code, who refused to grant the studio a certificate when they tried to re-release it in 1935.

The studio remade the story as the more Code-friendly Satan Met a Lady starring Bette Davis and Warren William.

The only major section of the novel missing in the film is the story of a man named "Flitcraft", which Spade tells to Brigid while waiting in his apartment for Cairo to arrive.

The director fought the latter, on the grounds that Spade was a man who put away a half bottle of hard liquor a day and showing him completely abstaining from alcohol would mean seriously falsifying his character.

Bogart's convincing interpretation became the archetype for a private detective in the film noir genre, providing him acclaim and solidifying his onscreen persona.

Ingrid Bergman watched Maltese Falcon over and over again while preparing for Casablanca in order to learn how to interact and act with Bogart.

[11] Bergman, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Paulette Goddard, Janet Gaynor, Olivia de Havilland and Loretta Young were all considered for the role of Brigid.

[1] Having difficulty casting Kasper Gutman, Huston screen-tested stage actor Sydney Greenstreet on the suggestion of producer Hal Wallis.

However, he managed to impress Huston with his sheer size, distinctive abrasive laugh, bulbous eyes, and manner of speaking.

[1] Following a preview screening on September 5, studio head Jack L. Warner ordered reshoots to simplify the opening scene.

[1] Director of photography Arthur Edeson, who had a background that included Universal's monster films, used low-key lighting and arresting angles to emphasize the nature of the characters and their actions, such as the scene where Gutman explains the history of the Falcon to Spade, drawing out his story so that the knockout drops in Spade's drink will take effect.

One of the falcons was given to actor William Conrad by studio chief Jack L. Warner; it was auctioned in December 1994 for $398,500,[24] the highest price paid for a film prop at that time.

[26] Following a preview in September 1941, Variety called it "one of the best examples of actionful and suspenseful melodramatic story telling in cinematic form": Unfolding a most intriguing and entertaining murder mystery, picture displays outstanding excellence in writing, direction, acting and editing—combining in overall as a prize package of entertainment for widest audience appeal.

In its 1941 review of the "beautifully made" production, the paper asserted: "John Huston's direction of his own screenplay is as brilliant as any of the jewels which are alleged to encrust the falcon whose possession is the crux of the story.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs—as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.

However, Huston and Bogart's high demand and the studio's inability to agree on a salary with Hammett caused the plans to be dropped.

[33] CBS later created a 30-minute adaptation for The Screen Guild Theater with Bogart, Astor, Greenstreet and Lorre all reprising their roles.