The Maltese Falcon - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Maltese Falcon or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Maltese Falcon

[carl]

As Sydney Greenstreet performed his first scene flawlessly, John Huston held his breath, a nervous tic that stayed with him throughout his career as a director.

[beth]

The term "Maltese falcon" does not appear in the book until page 424 - 16 pages before the end - when Gutman writes off Wilbur, saying, "...well, by Gad! if you lose a son it's possible to get another - and there is only one Maltese falcon."

[miriam]

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.

[kristen]

Spade's familiarity with the Webley automatic revolver was due to the fact that sometime before 1914 he was in England. No explanation is given as to why he was there. The Maltese Falcon was the only book by Dashiell Hammett in which Sam Spade appears and there is very little backstory. It is stated, however, that at some time in the past Spade had worked for a large private investigation firm which, presumably, was when he made contacts with various police officers, the district attorney, an assistant district attorney, house detectives for various hotels, and at least one owner of a limousine company. As to Spade's age, no gray hair is mentioned and he would presumably have been an adult in 1913, so this would make his age to be somewhere between 27 and 37 years old. At the time of filming, Bogart was 41 years old.

[lonnie]

With the exception of brief parts involving Gutman's remorseful (and drugged) daughter, a wild goose chase to a vacant house to distract Spade, several meetings with Spade's attorney, and dialogue referring to Archer's brother half-suspecting Spade in the murder, the movie follows the book very closely, including virtually all of the dialogue.

[sophie]

John Huston and company tickled themselves with a number of other on-set jokes. As Mary Astor recounted in her autobiography, the cast and crew had a system, whereby Huston would signal for a certain practical joke to be played for visitors to the set. For the benefit of visiting star-struck social club women, the "No. 5" had Humphrey Bogart going into a prepared act with Sydney Greenstreet. He'd start yelling and cursing at him, calling him a fat old fool. "Who the hell do you think you are? You upstaged me, and I'm telling you I'm not having any--," at which point Huston would jump into the act, holding back Bogart's mock rage. Very quickly, the embarrassed and disillusioned ladies would shuffle towards the nearest exit. Meanwhile, the "No. 10" had Peter Lorre coming out of Astor's dressing room at the appropriate moment, adjusting his fly and saying, "See you later, Mary."

[camila]

In the film, Spade's final speech to Brigid is shortened. In the book he lists seven reasons behind his decision.

[jesus]

In the opening, the roof of the Ferry Building has a sign that reads "Golden Gate Bridge Fiesta May 27 - Jun 2" This was for the bridge's opening in 1937.

[marc]

John Huston had Mary Astor run around the set several times before each of her scenes in order to give her a breathless, nervous appearance on screen.

[bernard]

Early in the film, Sam Spade walks past a poster for the non-existent movie 'The Girl from Albany'. This is an in joke aimed at Warner Bros., who had wanted to use the name 'The Gent from Frisco' instead of 'The Maltese Falcon'.

[sylvia]

Despite the numerous practical jokes his cast and crew played, John Huston proved himself to be the consummate professional and was so efficient at his job that the crew often finished shooting for the day early, well ahead of schedule. On one of these days, Huston had set aside an entire day to shoot one elaborate moving camera sequence. The sequence lasted about seven minutes, and they nailed it perfectly in one take; the rest of the day was spent at the golf club. It was because of days like this that production finished two days ahead of schedule and $54,000 under budget.

[bernice]

One of the first films admitted to the National Film Registry in its inaugural year, 1989.

[willard]

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".

[eli]

John Huston recruited Mary Astor to play a prank on his father, Walter Huston, after the elder Huston had filmed his cameo. Astor called up Walter, telling him she was producer Hal B. Wallis' secretary, and that Wallis thought he'd overacted during his scene. Huston was enraged, declaring that he'd never been accused of overacting in his life, but agreed to return the next day to re-shoot the scene. John then took the phone from Astor, identified himself as Wallis, and repeated the criticism. Walter grew even more furious, declaring that he'd already agreed to the re-shoot, and it was only when John exploded in laughter on the other end of the phone that Walter realized his son was playing a prank on him.

[miriam]

In the book Captain Jacobi is a giant. Dashiell Hammett describes his entry into Spade's office as follows; "He stood in the doorway with his soft hat crushed between his head and the top of the door-frame: he was nearly seven feet tall."

[frederick]

Three of the statuettes still exist and are conservatively valued at over $1 million each. This makes them some of the most valuable film props ever made; indeed, each is now worth more than three times what the film cost to make.

[bessie]

Walter Huston wanted to appear in his son's directorial debut picture for good luck.

[melinda]

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. It was next offered to 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 about the project. Already familiar with the novel, she was even more impressed with the screenplay, which she thought was a "humdinger". She signed on straight away.

[bernard]

In a 2003 bestselling book, "Black Dahlia Avenger", author Steve Hodel claims that his late father, Dr. George Hodel, was guilty of the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, famously dubbed "The Black Dahlia" by the press. Hodel further asserts that his accomplice in the crime was Fred Sexton, the artist commissioned by Warner Bros. to create the Maltese Falcon statue.