The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American pre-Code crime film, based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film stars Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade and Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly. Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes, and Lucien Hubbard (who went uncredited) wrote the screenplay. The supporting cast features Dudley Digges, Thelma Todd, Walter Long, Una Merkel, and Dwight Frye. The film is based on the 1929 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. (Original publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1929.)