CIFF Educational Classic Film “The Maltese Falcon” (1941)

The Coronado Island Film Festival presents Director John Huston’s 1941 Best Picture Oscar Nominated feature film, “The Maltese Falcon” on Sunday, April 12, 1:30-4 pm in the Coronado Public Library Ruby Room. The screening is free and open to the public of all ages and is part of this year’s Educational Classic Film Series – “The Art of Adaptation.”

John Huston’s Landmark Film Noir Classic: “The Maltese Falcon”

As darkness descended on Europe in the late 1930s and early ’40s, a new movie genre, (in retrospect) labeled Film Noir, emerged from Hollywood. It featured stories of the darker side of human nature and fatalistic themes of murder, crime, double-dealing, and corruption. The moral ambiguity of the genre appealed to the anxieties of audiences facing a world seemingly gone mad.

Warner Brothers long held the film rights to Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel, The Maltese Falcon, based on a story he serialized in the pulp fiction magazine Black Mask. The Warners produced a notorious pre-code version in 1931 and a later comedic version in 1936, “Satan Met a Lady,” starring Bette Davis that was a notable flop.

The Warners offered a young, promising screenwriter, John Huston, the opportunity to adapt and remake Hammett’s story for a third time as his directorial debut. The result: perhaps the most enduring, admired, and imitated detective mystery movie ever made. “The Maltese Falcon” is a definite must-see in the American film canon.

In addition to the story’s appeal with audiences, Bogart’s “hard-boiled” detective, Sam Spade, proved his breakout role as a leading man. The supporting ensemble cast includes an exceptional roster of Warner Brothers Golden Age contract talent: Mary Astor as the story’s femme fatale, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in their first of many screen pairings and the inimitable Elisha Cook, Jr. as Greenstreet’s gun-toting “boy” who Bogart’s Sam Spade continually delights in humiliating.

Featuring a roster of menacing, murderous, deceitful characters, and crackling, quotable dialogue, all wrapped in Arthur Edeson’s shadowy cinematography, its themes of betrayal, greed, and cynicism make “The Maltese Falcon” the quintessential example of the Film Noir genre. Don’t miss this timeless 1941 Warner Brothers Classic!

This screening is free and open to the public of all ages.