Did You Know?

George Raft was originally cast as Sam Spade. He turned it down because it was "not an important picture," taking advantage of a clause in his contract that said he did not have to work on remakes. However, according to the author John McCarty, author of The Films of John Huston, in an ICONS Radio interview (10-07-07) the real reason Raft bowed out was because a successful screenwriter, John Huston, was going to direct his first movie. Raft didn't want to trust his part to this neophyte director.

The William Shakespeare reference that ends the film was suggested by Humphrey Bogart.

Sam Spade refers to Wilmer as a "gunsel", a term the censors assumed was a slang reference to a gunman. The Yiddish term "gunsel", literally "little goose", *may* be a vulgarism for homosexual (the word "faigle", or "little bird", is usually used in that manner). It is more usually an "underground" term which refers to a person who is either a "fall guy" or a "stool pigeon", in which case Spade is making both a direct and an indirect reference to Wilmer's character.

Filming was completed in two months at a cost of less than $300,000.

Sydney Greenstreet's first on-screen appearance.

The "Maltese Falcon" itself is said to have been inspired by the "Kniphausen Hawk," a ceremonial pouring vessel made in 1697 for George William von Kniphausen, Count of the Holy Roman Empire. It is modeled after a hawk perched on a rock and is encrusted with red garnets, amethysts, emeralds and blue sapphires. The vessel is currently owned by the Duke of Devonshire and is part of the Chatsworth collection.

The role of Brigid O'Shaughnessy was first offered to 27-year-old Geraldine Fitzgerald. Although the studio desperately wanted the newcomer in the role, she turned it down flat because it interfered with a scheduled trip to the East Coast. Other candidates for the role included Olivia de Havilland, Rita Hayworth, and Ingrid Bergman.

The climactic confrontation scene lasts nearly twenty minutes, one-fifth of the entire running time of the film. It involves all five principal characters, and filming required over one full week (one day - 4 July 1941 - was taken off).

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #31 Greatest Movie of All Time.

There were several 11-1/2" tall falcon props made for use in the film. Some were cast of plastic resin, some of lead. Only two 45 lb. lead falcons and two 5 lb., 5.4 oz resin falcons are verified to be in existence today. One lead Falcon has been displayed for years at various venues. The second, which was marred at the end of the movie by Sydney Greenstreet, was a gift to William Conrad by studio chief Jack L. Warner. It was auctioned in December 1994, nine months after Conrad's death for $398,500 to Ronald Winston of Harry Winston, Inc. At that time, it was the highest price paid for a movie prop ever sold for. It was used to model a 10 lb. gold replica displayed at the 69th Academy Awards. The replica has Burmese ruby eyes, interchangeable claws (one set of gold, one set of coral) and holds a platinum chain in its beak with a 42.98 flawless diamond at the end. It's valued at over $8 million. The lead and resin falcons are valued in excess of $2 million - coincidentally the value placed on the "real" Maltese Falcon by Kasper Gutman, Greenstreet's character in the 1941 classic movie.

John Huston's first directorial effort.

Contrary to popular opinion, "It's the stuff that dreams are made of", spoken by Humphrey Bogart, is not the last line in the picture. Immediately after Bogart says that, Ward Bond, playing a detective, says, "Huh?" making that the last line in the picture.

There is an inordinate amount of smoking done by the main actors in this film. According to then-studio employee (and future screenwriter) Stuart Jerome, this resulted in a feud between stars Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, and studio head Jack L. Warner. Warner hated to see actors smoking on the screen, fearing it would prompt smokers in the movie audience to step out into the lobby for a cigarette. During the filming of _Maltese Falcon, The (1941)_, Warner told director John Huston that smoking in the film should be kept to a minimum. Bogart and Lorre thought it would be fun to annoy Warner by smoking as often as possible, and got their co-stars, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet to go along with the joke. During the initial filming of the climactic confrontation, all four actors smoked heavily. After seeing the rushes, Warner furiously called Huston to his office and threatened to fire him from the picture if he didn't tell Bogart and Lorre to knock it off. Realizing their prank had backfired, Bogart and Lorre agreed to stop smoking on camera. However, when the next series of rushes came back, it was obvious that the *lack* of smoking by the actors was taking away from the sinister mood of the scene. Huston went back to Jack Warner, and convinced him that the smoking added the right amount of atmospheric tension to the story, arguing that the characters *would* smoke cigarettes while waiting nervously for the Maltese Falcon to arrive.

When Warner Brothers saw how successful the film was, the studio decided to produce a sequel. Director John Huston had written the script for the sequel, which was to be titled 'Three Strangers'. The film was supposed to contain many of the primary characters from The Maltese Falcon, specifically Sam Spade. Before the film reached production; however, Dashiell Hammett informed Warner Brothers that he owned the rights to the characters in The Maltese Falcon and even though the studio had purchased the rights to novel, it did not own the rights to the characters in the novel. The sequel was never made; but, John Huston's script for Three Strangers was eventually filmed. Although the characters differed from The Maltese Falcon, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet both appeared in the film.

Warner Bros. planned to change the name of the film to "The Gent from Frisco" because the novel's title had already been used on the 1931 version. The studio eventually agreed to keep the original title at John Huston's insistence.

Although he story-boarded every scene, John Huston was open to abandoning his plans if his more-experienced cast came up with something better. He estimated that three-quarters of the time, he used his original set-ups, but for the remaining quarter, he adopted ideas that the cast had come up with during rehearsal.

In real life, Dashiell Hammett had been a one-time operative for Pinkerton's Detective Agency. Brigid O'Shaughnessy was partly based on his secretary, Peggy O'Toole, and partly on a woman who once employed him to fire her housekeeper. Joel Cairo was based on a man Hammett picked up on a forgery charge in 1920, while Wilmer, the gunman, was drawn from a petty criminal who went by the nickname of "The Midget Bandit".

Walter Huston did his uncredited cameo as a good luck gesture for his son. He had to promise to the notoriously tight head of studio, Jack L. Warner, that he wouldn't charge for his appearance.

In all the scenes involving Mary Astor, there's a suggestion of prison. In one scene, she wears striped pyjamas, the furniture in the room is striped and the slivers of light coming through the Venetian blinds suggest jailcell bars. When she steps into the elevator at the end of the film, the lighting also suggests bars.

John Huston hated the first two attempts to film "The Maltese Falcon". He felt particularly strongly about the fact that the studio had imposed a happy ending on the previous two examples.

Mary Astor's off-screen notoriety was instrumental in her casting. She was known for being adulterous, having had an affair with John Barrymore, widowed in a plane crash, a multiple bride, and an alcoholic. She also kept a diary of her various sexual exploits that was introduced as evidence in a custody hearing against her estranged husband over who should look after their daughter. The gossip rags thrived on this story.

Most of the film was shot sequentially.

Sydney Greenstreet was cast whenever the production had difficulty finding an actor large enough.

Peter Lorre's favorite of his films.

A copy of John Huston's first draft script was accidentally sent to studio head Jack L. Warner as well as the film's designated producer, Henry Blanke. To his surprise, Warner loved the script and insisted that Huston started shooting it immediately.

Mary Astor was having an affair with John Huston during the making of the film.

For decades, this film could not be legally shown on US TV because of its underlying sexual suggestion.

When Spade visits the murder scene of his partner, in the background can be seen a poster for a film called Swing Your Lady, an in-joke directed at Humphrey Bogart who was one of the stars of this B-movie. Bogart referred to it as "the worst picture I ever made".

Frustrated at seeing his script for Juarez rewritten by Paul Muni, the film's star, John Huston vowed that from then on he would direct his own screenplays and therefore not have to see them get meddled with. He was fortunate in that he had a staunch ally in the form of producer Henry Blanke who was happy to fulfill Huston's wish.

Humphrey Bogart has absolutely no resemblance to the character of Sam Spade as described in the book. There, he is over 6 feet tall, has a hooked nose and blond hair.

After Geraldine Fitzgerald had made it clear that she wasn't interested in doing the film, the next port of call for the part of Brigid O'Shaughnessy was Mary Astor. John Huston and Humphrey Bogart visited her at her home to talk over the script and she was immediately smitten by their palpable excitement in the project. Already familiar with the novel, Astor was even more impressed with the screenplay which she thought was a "humdinger". She signed on straight away.

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 20, 1943 with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre reprising their film roles.

"Academy Award Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on July 3, 1946 with Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Astor reprising their film roles.

Sydney Greenstreet appeared in a special trailer to promote the film.

Walter Huston:  Capt. Jacobi.