Summary
As the policemen leave Sam's apartment, Brigid marvels at Sam’s impulsiveness and unpredictability, asking him, “Do you always carry on so high-handed?” Now that she has spoken to Cairo, Sam tells her, she can talk to him and tell him the details of her plight. Brigid agrees, but then rather transparently suggests that it is late and she needs to get home, which Sam doesn’t let her get away with. Sam gives her a shock when he suggests that possibly the boy outside the apartment hasn’t gone home yet, and Brigid jumps to her feet and rushes to the window to check. Lighting his cigarette, Sam once again invites her to tell him her story, and she sits down, smiling coyly as she admires his unpredictability. Sam begins to ask about the Maltese Falcon, and Brigid continues to flirt, asking him if he will do something “wild and unpredictable” if she doesn’t answer his questions, to which he responds, “I might.”
Brigid then begins to tell him about the Maltese Falcon, showing its size with her hands, describing it as black and shiny. When Sam asks her what makes the statuette important, Brigid tells him that she doesn’t know, that they never told her, but that “they” offered her 500 pounds to get it away from the man who had it before, in Marmara. When Sam prompts her to keep telling her story, she tells him that that’s all there is to it, that she helped them get the statuette and that Joel Cairo then deserted them, stealing the statuette and leaving nothing for Brigid or Floyd. In response, she and Floyd stole it back, but she resentfully recalls that Floyd had no intention of sharing the profits equally with her. Sam asks her what the bird is made of, but she doesn’t know—perhaps porcelain or black stone—as she has only seen it once. At this point, Sam doesn’t believe her, smiling and calling her a liar. Brigid can only agree, she is a liar, she’s always been a liar, and when Sam asks how much of her story is true, she admits, “not very much,” and he goes to prepare coffee so they can stay up and get to the bottom of it. Brigid lies back on the couch and laments all of the lies that surround her, “Not being able to tell what’s lies and what’s truth,” as Sam looks at her from above, concerned. As he bends down to kiss her, he notices the rustling curtains of his window, and sees the boy standing below his window watching them. The music swells as the scene shifts.
We cut to a shot of a sign for the Hotel Belvedere, which quickly shifts to show Sam briskly entering the lobby and walking to the phone at the front desk, which he picks up, asking to speak to Joel Cairo. Looking up from the phone, Sam notices a man sitting in a chair around the corner of the wall reading the paper. He hangs up the phone and goes over to sit next to the man around the corner, asking him, “Where is he?” Lowering his newspaper, the stranger is revealed to be the boy who was spying on him outside his apartment. As Sam questions him more about Cairo’s location, the boy feigns ignorance, and when Sam asks him if he’s from New York, the boy tells him to “shove off.” Sam tells him that some of them will have to talk to him before they’re through and that he can “tell the fat man I said so,” which seems to surprise the boy. The boy continues to tell Sam to shove off, and the two men threaten each other, before Sam walks away, giving up.
In the center of the lobby, Sam sees a man named Luke, who comes over and walks with him. Luke is the detective in charge of the Hotel Belvedere, so Sam brings him over to where the boy with the newspaper is sitting, and asks why they let “these cheap gunmen” hang around at the hotel. Luke tells the boy to never come back to the hotel, and the boy looks frightened, before cryptically telling Luke and Sam, “I won’t forget you guys,” as Sam blows cigarette smoke in his face. When Luke asks Sam what that was all about, Sam says he doesn’t know—he just spotted him, and Luke asks to know more about Miles’ death. Before he can tell Luke, Sam spots Cairo speaking to the front desk clerk and rushes towards him, telling him that they need to talk. Bluntly, Cairo refuses to talk to him, given the scuffles that have resulted from their previous conversations.
Sam tries to level with Cairo, insisting that his loyalty to Brigid is based on the fact that she knows the location of the statuette. This does not impress Cairo, who continues to dismiss Sam. Sam then begins to question Cairo about his questioning at the police station, asking Cairo what he told Dundy, and Cairo tells him that he told them nothing, rather he stuck to the story that Sam told them, lamenting that Sam had not “invented a more reasonable story.” After Cairo assures Sam once again that he didn’t tell the police anything, Sam encourages him to get some sleep to catch up from his night of being grilled by the police.
Back at Sam’s office, Effie speaks to someone on the phone as Sam enters. When she hangs up, she tells him that Iva has called him three times that morning, that Brigid is waiting for him in his office, that the district attorney called the office—Mr. Bryan wants to see him—and that someone named Mr. Gutman called, saying that “the young man”—the man in the trench coat—gave him Sam’s message. Hearing this unfamiliar name, the camera closes in on Sam, as he rubs his nose suspiciously. Snapping his finger, he thanks Effie and goes into his office, where he finds a frantic Brigid, alleging that someone has broken into her apartment. When she suggests that the boy followed him there, he insists that he lost him long before going to her apartment, and suggests that perhaps it was Cairo, and that he saw him at the Hotel Belvedere that morning. Brigid is suspicious of Sam having encountered Cairo, and Sam insists that he needs to keep in touch with Cairo if he is going to solve the mystery. He then tells Brigid that they need to find her a new apartment, kisses her on the forehead, and goes back out to Effie.
Sam asks Effie what her “woman’s intuition” is about Brigid, and Effie tells him that while she thinks Brigid got herself into a messy situation, Brigid’s “alright.” Sam then asks if Effie would be willing to put Brigid up for a few days, admitting that Brigid is in danger. Effie agrees, and Sam tells Brigid she can stay with Effie, and that they should leave now and go out the back door, Effie riding with Brigid part of the way, but switching cabs “a few times just to be safe.” As the women leave, Sam tells Brigid he will call her later. Sam goes into his office and calls the district attorney, and makes an appointment with Mr. Bryan. As he is wrapping up his phone call, we see an unidentified figure in the foreground, to whom Sam says, “Hi honey,” before hanging up the phone. The figure is Iva, who tearfully begs for Sam’s forgiveness, confessing that she sent the policemen to his apartment the previous evening out of jealousy, and had told them that if they went to his apartment, they would learn something about Miles’ murder. Sam is exasperated and asks Iva if she identified herself when she called, and she tells him she did not, and that she called from a drugstore across the street from his apartment. Sam urges Iva to go home, because she will likely be hearing from the police soon, and then asks pointedly where she was the night Miles was murdered. Anxiously, she tells him she was home; Sam clearly doesn’t believe her, but tells her if that’s her story, it’s safe with him, before sending her on her way. Sam’s phone rings, and he picks it up quickly to hear Gutman on the other end. He arranges to meet with him in fifteen minutes.
At a hotel, Sam goes to room 12-C to meet Gutman. When he buzzes, the boy who was spying on him answers the door and lets him in. Gutman shakes his hand and invites him in, linking arms with him and leading him over to a chair. As the boy goes into the other room, Gutman pours himself a drink, and raises a toast to “plain speaking and clear understanding.” Sam and Gutman sit, and Gutman tells him that he “distrusts a close-mouthed man,” as Sam insists that he likes to talk. Gutman then tells him, “I am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.” Sam takes this as his opportunity to talk about the statuette. Appreciating Sam’s forwardness, Gutman asks if he is acting as Brigid’s representative, but Sam says he does not have any certain loyalties yet. Gutman, now serious, suggests that Sam’s loyalty depends on Joel Cairo, but Sam does not confirm or deny this. Gutman presses him further, asking if he represents Cairo or Brigid, but Sam cannot give him an answer, and when asked who else is involved, Sam informs him that he is a free agent, working alone. This seems to delight Gutman, who is happy to meet a man “who tells you outright he’s looking out for himself.”
Sam steers the conversation back to the Maltese Falcon, and Gutman asks him if he knows the statuette’s worth, before suggesting that even half of its worth would seem unbelievable. When Sam asks to hear its worth, Gutman realizes that neither Brigid nor Cairo told him any details about the nature of the statuette. Hoping to glean the statuette’s value, Sam tells Gutman that Cairo offered him $10,000 for the statuette, but Gutman laughs off the number, and asks Sam if he thinks Brigid and Cairo know “what that bird is.” Sam lies that he knows where the statuette is, hoping that Gutman will then tell him more about it. Gutman asks it where it is, and when Sam is silent, Gutman insists that he cannot offer any information without information about its whereabouts, calling Sam’s reticence “hardly equitable.” Rising from his seat, Sam appears frustrated with Gutman’s refusal to tell him anything, and breaks a glass angrily, accusing Gutman of wasting his time, threatening to kill the boy who’s been following him, and insisting that he needs an answer before 5 o’clock, as Gutman remains seated, placidly smoking a cigar.
In the hall, Sam puts on his hat and smiles, apparently at his own performance of rage, and gets on an elevator, just as Cairo steps off an adjacent one on the same floor. The scene cuts to the district attorney’s office, where Bryan asks Sam who killed Thursby. He honestly answers that he doesn’t know, and that he isn’t going to speculate now. Bryan presses him, wondering what he has to conceal, to which Sam responds, “Everybody has something to conceal.” When Bryan tells Sam that he is acting in conflict with the law by withholding information, Sam loses his patience and rails against Bryan for all but accusing him of being involved in the murders. In order to clear his name, Sam insists, he needs to bring the murderers to the police himself, and the only way he can do that is if the police stay away from him, as they would only mess things up. Matter-of-factly, Sam tells the district attorney that he has nothing to say to him, and that he needs to be left alone, unless the district attorney is interested in formalizing his case against Sam with a subpoena. The informal meetings, he insists, are a waste of his time.
As Sam walks down the street, he is confronted by the boy, who tells Sam that Gutman wants to speak with him again. The boy leads Sam to the room, and Sam abruptly and forcibly disarms him, holding his arms behind his back. As he enters Gutman’s room, Sam hands him the two revolvers and urges Gutman not to let the boy go around with weapons. Gutman laughs and hands the guns to the boy before leading Sam over to the sitting area. As he starts to apologize to Sam, Sam redirects the conversation to the statuette. Gutman agrees and begins the tale of the Maltese Falcon, which he assures Sam will astound him.
Gutman then asks Sam what he knows about the Knights of Rhodes, a group that Sam vaguely recognizes as a group of Crusaders. This group of knights, Gutman explains, persuaded Charles V to give them the island of Malta, off the south coast of Italy, under the condition that they pay him annually with the gift of a falcon. Gutman explains that these knights were incredibly wealthy, having stolen gems and other valuables from the East for many years. As Gutman attests, “The Holy Wars were largely a matter of loot,” and so grateful for the island of Malta were the knights that they planned to send the golden statuette, covered in jewels, to Charles V. The ship was apprehended by pirates and the statuette never reached Spain; it appeared in the 18th century in Sicily, then in Paris in the 19th century, having acquired a black enamel to disguise its value. It was then found by a Greek dealer, but the dealer was soon murdered and the statuette stolen. Most recently, the statuette was in the possession of a Russian general, who didn’t know its value, and Gutman sent agents to retrieve it, but they never brought it to him. As Gutman pours Sam a drink, he asks him when he can retrieve the Falcon, and Sam tells him he can do it in a couple days.
Toasting, Gutman offers Sam $25,000 when the Falcon is delivered to him, and another $25,000 once he sells the Falcon. Alternately, he offers Sam roughly a quarter of the statuette’s worth, which would be a greater sum, as he believes the Falcon to be worth $1,000,000. “That’s a lot of dough,” Sam says, as his vision begins to blur, and he drops his glass onto the table, losing consciousness. Standing up, Sam can hardly walk, knocking over a table, before Gutman’s henchman knocks him to the floor and kicks him in the head. Cairo enters the room and steps over his body, and he and the boy follow Gutman out of the room.
Analysis
Again in this section, business and love become intertwined, with desire acting as a kind of currency. Seeing Sam’s attraction to her, Brigid begins to wield sex as a means of gaining the upper hand in their interaction and maintaining her secrecy. She plays with the idea of withholding information in the hopes that her sexual wiles might serve as a placeholder. When Sam begins to question her after the police leave, she avoids answering his questions at first by suggesting that perhaps if she refuses to answer, he will do something “wild and unpredictable”—a hint at love-making or seduction. He simply puffs on his cigarette and says, “I might.” Once she knows she has his desire, she answers his question. It is left ambiguous why she agrees to answer his questions—whether it is because Sam has obliquely expressed his desires for her, or if she fears for her safety if she refuses—but sexuality, and the ways that it can unlock access to both physical intimacy and secret information, plays a huge role in the couple’s dynamic.
Indeed, information is precious in the world of the noir, and the viewer can never quite trust anyone, because lies circulate so regularly. Sam has an almost lie-detector ability to suss out whether or not someone is telling the truth, and with a slight chuckle and a nod of the head, he can glean when Brigid is lying to him about the Maltese Falcon. Curiously enough, she doesn’t deny it, wistfully admitting that she’s “always been a liar.” Sam’s response: “Don’t brag about it.” Sam is a man that can spot a lie in an instant, and tell a good one himself, but that doesn’t mean that he thinks it’s an ethical way to be, and he makes this known to Brigid, a woman who languishes and indulges in her own tendencies towards deceit, before then histrionically repenting for her lying ways. Sam has a strong power to tell when someone is deceiving him or withholding, and it is this ability to understand his opponent from their perspective, his ability to think like the enemy, that makes him such a competent private investigator.
Where Sam is incorruptible, an island unto himself who can sniff out a rat in an instant, Brigid is impressionable and corruptible, and bemoans her position in the seedy world of crime. Lying back on the couch dramatically, like a patient in psychoanalysis, she mourns the fact that she cannot distinguish lies from the truth. Brigid does not easily confide information, but she is quick to perform the confidence of her emotions, the ambivalence she feels towards her position, and her wish to be delivered from the danger surrounding her. In this moment, the couple represent gender stereotypes, with Sam as the strong, silent, and discerning macho type, and Brigid as an impressionable and vulnerable damsel in distress, waiting for a hero to save her.
The Maltese Falcon was innovative in its time. Given the heavily-plotted and fast-paced narrative, director John Huston applies many innovations to heighten the drama and clarify the storytelling. Often, the soundtrack is used to highlight the tone of a scene, as the music swells to a crescendo in a moment of high passion or dramatic plot reveal. Additionally, the camera often zooms in at moments like this. Several such moments occur in this chapter of the film. When Sam goes to kiss Brigid as she woefully lies on his couch, the camera frames their faces, but abruptly Sam’s attention goes elsewhere, and the camera pans to follow his gaze and show a close-up of his apartment window, the sheer curtain blowing in the breeze, and the mysterious boy who is following him standing in the corner watching them. To intensify this moment further, the soundtrack swells, creating tension and suspense. Later, when Effie tells Sam that he has a message from Gutman, the camera swoops in to show his face in close up, as he rubs his nose, contemplating the introduction a mysterious new character into his life. Without any underscoring, the shot is dramatic all on its own, as the viewer is left with Sam’s contemplative silence, his anticipation of the complications to come, and his pleasure at piecing together the puzzle of the Maltese Falcon.
In this scene, the viewer meets the true villain of the film, Gutman. His fat frame and his immediate gregariousness are off-putting given his alleged villainousness. He takes Sam’s arm upon meeting him and leads him over to a chair. This display is uncannily warm, given the tone of the rest of the film, and when Gutman raises a toast to “plain speaking and clear understanding,” it is difficult to believe that he truly wants that. As we know, lies abound in the world of The Maltese Falcon, and while Gutman wants to give a performance of trustworthiness, he is in fact the most withholding and controlling with the information he does have. Again, we see the exchange of information and communication bearing a great deal of weight. The tables are turned as Sam—who hitherto has done much of the questioning, begging Brigid to tell him something that will help him—is put to the test with Gutman’s questions. Gutman insists, “I am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk,” a rather convoluted invitation, part threatening and part ingratiating. Indeed, Gutman is a man of contradictions; while he says he wants to share information freely and openly with Sam, he goes on to mistake Sam’s independence as the lone investigator on his case for selfishness, revealing a broader philosophy that every man is out for himself.
