MALTESE FALCON (1941) The stuff dreams are made of

THE MALTESE FALCON is considered by many to be the first true American film noir, but first or not, it's a true classic. No matter how many times I see this tale about a cynical private dick on the hunt for both a murderer and a valuable black bird (“The stuff dreams are made of”) while trying to stay alive and out of jail, I'm always delighted by every scene, every word of dialogue, and every twitch of Bogart’s upper lip (someone once wrote that Bogie made dialing the phone look exhausting). He was, is and always will be Dashielle Hammett's Sam Spade, whose murdered partner he coldly memorializes as “a guy who had ten thousand in insurance, no children, and a wife that didn't like him.” (Trivia note: Dash's story had been filmed twice before - a 1931 version with the same title, character names and dialog, and a 1936 version based on, but in many ways different, from the original, called SATAN MET A WOMAN. It starred Bette Davis and did little to advance her career.)