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The Maltese Falcon

Director: John Huston

Year: 1941

Run-time: 1 hr 41 min

- The Maltese Falcon is a great film, a new high watermark for meticulous plotting in films. Although sometimes called the first film noir, the history of this list should disprove that moniker, nor would I even call it the best of the early noirs. But it's fun and engaging, even if the intricate yarn being spun has an ultimately pretty banal explanation.

- Bogart is pretty great, and the energy he pulls off in every scene without losing his cool is pretty remarkable. But dang, is Peter Lorre's character great - I wish that he had more to do in this.

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