English
with the
Maltese
Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is both a book and a movie. It is a novel written by Dashiel Hammett in 1929, featuring the unforgettable private detective Sam Spade. Several film versions of this novel were made, but the one that is remembered as a classic of "film noir" is John Huston's 1941 masterpiece with Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor in the starring roles.

The purpose of these pages is to help the intermediate English student to understand character descriptions and to describe people she sees herself. Just click on one of the buttons on the left to begin the lesson. I suggest you begin with "The Body" and follow the four lessons in the order in which they are listed.

Later, these pages will be expanded to include other aspects of narrative in conjunction with The Maltese Falcon and "film noir". Click here to reach the Falcon Teachers Page. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email me at Philip.Benz@wanadoo.fr

Note that there is no French version of these pages, since they are designed as online lessons. To return to the bilingual "English in the Multiverse" pages, click on the top left button labelled "English Home".