Gregory, Ross. America 1941: A Nation at the Crossroads. New York: The Free Press, 1989.

The Maltese Falcon is in many ways a film about feeling unsure, used, and confused.  The viewer, as well as the protagonist, is thrown into a convoluted story, and is not sure who to trust, or even what exactly is happening.  That this movie was released in 1941 becomes very important, then, as America itself was caught at a very difficult time, and had to ask itself many of the same questions Sam Spade found himself facing.  In 1941 America, while trying to decide whether or not to go to war, needed to figure out exactly what was happening with the war, and when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7^th, 1941, the Americans learned that they too did not know who to trust.  Because The Maltese Falcon came at such a confusing time for the American nation, this book becomes germane in determining how the confusion portrayed in the movie relates to that felt by the American people.

The book is rather straight-forward, but the most interesting chapter in relation to the movie comes right at the beginning.  The author discusses how, for at least a year before America joined the war, a feeling of war pervaded the nation.  He briefly mentions films at the time, and states that an increase in films with military themes was clearly able to be seen.  He also mentions that theaters usually showed newsreels about the war before their feature films.  This information could be very useful to one studying The Maltese Falcon, since it serves as a reminder that contemporary viewers of the movie would have just been confronted with images of war.  The discomfort caused by these aggressive videos would probably have served to magnify the unease caused by the movie.

The rest of the book vacillates between discussions about what was happening militarily and how the American people felt during this period.  In relation to the movie it is clearly only the second topic that bears interest, as it can further enlighten the reader as to the climate into which this movie was released.

Green, Harvey. The Uncertainty of Everyday Life, 1915-1945. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 2000.

The Maltese Falcon, which was made in 1941, was made at the beginning of the film noir movement. This movement, it is sometimes said, came out of the attitude of the American people, who had just experienced a World War and a depression, and who were just entering a second deadly war. This view is supported in The Maltese Falcon, a movie where the protagonist doesn’t always choose the right action, and even the ending does not tie up all the loose ends.

The Uncertainty of Everyday Life, 1915-1945 details the disquieting feelings that abounded throughout America during this time period. One terrifying aspect of this book is that it does not need to focus on World War One to show how harsh life could be in pre-depression America. Green, in fact, decides to almost completely avoid talking about The Great War, and focuses on other harsh circumstances such as working conditions, the Palmer raids (against people deemed politically radical), and the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan.

This chapter is followed by one about the stock market crash, and how it negatively impacted the entire nation. Green discusses why the crash happened, and explains just how people were effected by it, even long after recovery measures were put into place. He then talks about how Roosevelt was able to right the economy, but ends by telling the reader how shaken and wary the American public felt after such a debilitating period of time.

The rest of the book holds very little for people trying to relate national feelings to The Maltese Falcon, or to film noir in general. Green begins by talking about how hard it was for many people to obtain houses before 1945, but his last chapters focus on leisure time and what life was like for families that could provide for themselves.

Robson, Eddie. Film Noir. London: Virgin Books, 2005. 17-30.

This book exists as a guide to film noir movies, giving a brief synopsis and overview for most of the notable films of the movement.  In its description of The Maltese Falcon, the book begins by stating the specifications of the movie: including its length, producers, and director.  This is followed by a list of the cast and a summary of the movie.  The chapter then covers the life work of the author and director of the movie, followed by a description of the movie’s development, casting, and production.

The chapter becomes much more interesting and pertinent in the next few sections.  Robson addresses the reception the movie received when it was first released.  This section is made especially interesting because it is one of the few film noir movies that was received well by its contemporary audience.  The next section, “Aspects of Noir”, is equally pertinent, because The Maltese Falcon is often considered the first film noir, but that title is still largely contested.  In this section, Robson attempts to pinpoint exactly what makes The Maltese Falcon a film noir movie.  He acknowledges that the lighting in the movie does not conform to the high-contrast style that most film noir movies adopt.  Robson instead attributes the film noir aspect of the movie to come mainly from Humphrey Bogart’s acting and John Huston’s script.  He continues to expand on this idea for the remainder of the Aspects of Noir section, before finishing with a discussion of the movies afterlife.

Robson’s interpretation of what makes The Maltese Falcon a film noir is the most interesting part of this essay, as it tries to pin down exactly what about The Maltese Falcon actually makes it one of the first noir films.  He is willing to admit that the movie does not hold many of the conventions of the movement, which makes one question why it is considered a noir movie at all.  Fortunately, he is able to give a concise and impressive answer to this question, making the essay all the more useful.

Knight, Deborah. “On Reason and Passion in The Maltese Falcon.” The Philosophy of Film Noir. Ed. Mark T. Conard. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2006. 207-221.

Deborah Knight uses her chapter in The Philosophy of Film Noir to look at the seemingly emotionless film noir detectives.  She states that she believes many of these detectives to be both passionate and reasonable, and uses the example of Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon to prove her point.  Knight begins by giving her take on film noir detectives as a whole: what they need to accomplish, how they do so, and how they are separated from so called classic detectives, such as Sherlock Holmes.

After this description, Knight details the relationship between a film noir detective and his client.  Most of the focus in this section is on the relationship between Sam Spade and Brigid O’Shaughnessy.  She outlines most of the interactions between the two characters, and repeatedly brings up the subject of trust.  This leads directly into the next section of the essay, which is in fact titled “The Question of Trust”, and which reminds the reader that trust is a subject brought into question in most film noir movies.   The essay ends with a description of the last scene in the movie, and an explanation of how Sam Spade – the seemingly impassive detective – is able to use reason and passion to escape Brigid and the possible downfall she would lead him to.

The main problem with this essay is that it is written in a very convoluted manner (as one may be able to tell from my summery).  It repeated ly changes focus from the film noir movement to The Maltese Falcon, and these shifts in focus, rather than adding to the author's argument, often serve only to confuse the reader.  This essay does, however, give some important insight into Sam Spade's behavior, and it reminds the reader that the film noir detective is not as one dimensional as he may often appear.

Maxfield, James F.  The Fatal Woman. Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996. 15-25.

The Fatal Woman puts The Maltese Falcon in a curious juxtaposition, because the movie is the only one mentioned in the book in which the femme fatale is not actually fatal.  In fact, in the chapter about The Maltese Falcon, the author goes to great lengths in describing how Sam Spade – the protagonist of the movie – does not allow himself to become ensnared by Brigid O’Shaughnessy; the movie’s would be femme fatale.

The chapter does explain, however, that Brigid O’Shaughnessy is a femme fatale in what she represents.  It describes a femme fatale as a female character who, should the protagonist chose to cave to her wiles and manipulations, would lead the protagonist to his doom.  Brigid had already led Floyd Thursby and Miles Archer to their deaths within the first ten minutes of the movie, and represented the femme fatale for both men.  She tries to similarly trick Sam Spade so that she won’t have to go to jail, but at the end the viewer realizes Sam is too intelligent to be trapped by her.  The chapter, by its conclusion, does not characterize Brigid O’Shaughnessy as an exact femme fatale; since the protagonist of the movie was smart enough to avoid being trapped.  The book suggests, however, that her personality is that of the archetypal femme fatale, willing to use whatever feminine powers she can to accomplish whatever she wants to.  This distinction helps classify an otherwise very hard to describe character, and also draws attention to the fact that Brigid was one of the first in what was to become an important character type, especially in later film noirs.

Silver, Alain and James Ursini.  Film Noir. London: Taschen , 2004. 9-21.

Silver and Ursini use the first chapter of their book Film Noir to outline the characteristics of the film noir movement.  After briefly describing the apathy film noir films were originally met with, the authors explain why that contemporary reaction was completely undeserved.

The authors first point to the two themes that pervade the film noir movement: the haunted past and the fatalistic nightmare.  The book argues that both of these relate to a feeling that America felt as a whole, both through its newfound acceptance of existentialist thought as well as the bellicose and distrustful feelings resulting from World War II.  The authors also recognize the Femme Fatale as an important and unique character of film noir; showing her as an early female alternative to the male rebel.  In looking at other areas that set film noir apart, the authors point to the impressive use of the moving camera, the urban landscape, and the movement back towards German expressionist style lighting.  The authors also point to the poetic quality of the dialogue, ass well as the frequent voice over narration, as unique and innovative characteristics of the film noir movement.

This chapter is an enlightening read in relation to The Maltese Falcon, as the movie is usually considered one of the first (if not the first) films made in the film noir style.  The authors discuss the style in detail; explaining how each of the above mentioned characteristics of film noir movies are used, and how they set film noir apart as an important movement in film history.