Anniversary …

… After The Maltese Falcon: how film noir took flight | Film | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The Maltese Falcon – in which Bogart simultaneously redefined his own screen persona and gave us the benchmark shady PI, Sam Spade – deserves much credit for sending the genre steadfastly out into the night. But they didn’t even call it film noir at the time; besotted critics referred to Huston’s thriller as the most successful example yet of the hardboiled style.