The Maltese Falcon (1941) — Screenplay
A San Francisco private eye tangles with three eccentric criminals and a femme fatale, all hunting a legendary jeweled falcon statuette.
- Written by
- John Huston
- Genre
- Drama, Crime, Film-Noir
- Studio
- Warner Bros.
- Length
- 161 pages
The script is a masterclass in tight, hard-boiled dialogue that crackles with subtext, and its serpentine plot keeps the reader guessing until the final reveal. Study how Huston builds tension through clipped exchanges and layered character motivations, making the pursuit of the falcon a study in greed and deception.
Read the full The Maltese Falcon (1941) screenplay in PDF, page by page, right here on Laper — or download the original script to study John Huston’s scene work, dialogue and structure at your own pace. A free resource for screenwriters and film students learning Hollywood script format.