George Raft could have had the part but did not want it. "Not an important picture," he said. The 1931 film version of the novel had been a flop. He had Bogart removed from Manpower (1941) so he could take a starring role in the film. Bogart was free, then, to become Sam Spade for Hollywood's third attempt at filming Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, The Maltese Falcon. The other two versions had failed miserably, in part because they had taken too much license with Hammett's tightly plotted work. The film was John Huston's first as a director. He wrote the script, staying true to the novel. Warner Bros. had low expectations for The Maltese Falcon. They liked it as a low-budget production. Bogart was not yet a major star, though High Sierra, released earlier in 1941, had increased his stature. Mary Astor...