Detective Sam Spade eludes police to wrest the coveted Black Bird from a loquacious fat man, a dapper Egyptian, a psychotic Gunsil, and the very dangerous Ms. O'Shaughnessy. John Houston's decision, for his directorial debut, to rely almost entirely on the words of writer Dashiel Hammet for the screen play, was brilliant.

Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Ward Bond, Elisha Cook JR., Jerome Cowan, James Burke, John Hamilton and dellightful cameo appearance of Walter Houston: Directed by John Huston