Directed by John Huston • 1941 • United States
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor

A cinematic landmark for a number of reasons—it was the first film directed by John Huston, the film that launched Humphrey Bogart to stardom, and one of the first true noirs—this breathlessly entertaining, intricately plotted adaptation of the novel by Dashiell Hammett casts Bogart as the tough San Francisco detective Sam Spade, who, when he takes on the case of a woman (Mary Astor) who claims to be searching for her missing sister, finds himself involved with a deadly band of international thieves who will lie, double-cross, and murder to obtain a small, jewel-encrusted statue known as the Maltese Falcon.