THE MALTESE FALCON
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The Maltese Falcon is a detective novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett, originally serialized in the magazine Black Mask beginning with the September 1929 issue. The story is told entirely in external third-person narrative; there is no description whatsoever of any character's thoughts or feelings, only what they say and do, and how they look. The novel has been adapted several times for the cinema under various titles. It is considered part of the hardboiled genre, which Hammett played a major part in popularizing.
The main character, Sam Spade (who also appeared later in some lesser-known short stories), was a departure from Hammett's nameless detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous detectives, notably his cold detachment, keen eye for detail, unflinching and sometimes ruthless determination to achieve his own form of justice, and a complete lack of sentimentality. In 1990 the novel ranked 10th in Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list by the Crime Writers' Association. Five years later, in a similar list by Mystery Writers of America, the novel was ranked third.
The novel has been adapted for film twice under its original title.
The Maltese Falcon (1931), the first version, a pre-Code production starred Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade and Bebe Daniels as Brigid O'Shaughnessy. In 1936, Warner Brothers attempted to re-release the film, but the film was denied approval by the Hays Production code censors because of its "lewd" content; this led to the production of the 1936 adaptation. It was not until after 1966 that unedited copies of the 1931 film could be shown in the United States.
The Maltese Falcon (1941), the best-known version, considered to be a film noir classic. This version dropped much of the suggestive content in the 1931 version. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and Gladys George.
THE MALTESE FALCON
$12.00