The Maltese Falcon (1931 film)

The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American PreCode crime film, based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film stars Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade and Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly. Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes, and Lucien Hubbard who went uncredited wrote the screenplay. The supporting cast features Dudley Digges, Thelma Todd, Walter Long, Una Merkel, and Dwight Frye.

Late that night, police detective Tom Polhaus J. Farrell MacDonald informs Spade that Archer has been shot and killed while tailing Thursby, but Spade turns down the opportunity to examine the body at the scene. As hes leaving, he has a brief conversation in Chinese with a man loitering in a doorway. Later, Polhaus and his superior, Lt. Dundy Robert Elliott, visit Spade at his apartment. Thursby has been killed, and they want to know where Spades been in the last few hours, they suspect him of killing Thursby to avenge the death of his partner. With no real evidence against Spade, they leave.The next day, Spade calls on Ruth Wonderly in an attempt to find out her real reasons for hiring them. She uses several different ploys to keep Spade on the case in spite of the two murders, but Spade sees through them. Despite this, he gets only a little information from her Thursby was her accomplice whom she no longer trusted, and she feels shes in danger but she wont tell Spade what she and Thursby were trying to pull off. Frustrated, Spade begins to leave, but then thinks better of it. He takes 500 from Wonderly, supposedly the last of her money, and goes. ........

Source: Wikipedia