Before 1941, The Maltese Falcon was just another crime novel. No one could have guessed that after two mediocre film adaptations it would ever be much more than that; let alone the masterpiece of American cinema it became. Which explains why, when asked to play the part of Sam Spade, actor George Raft turned down the offer. He wasn't excited about making movies he considered "unimportant", and he certainly wasn't interested in working with a novice director like John Huston. . .