The Maltese Falcon Film Summary & Analysis

Motifs

The Perfect Crime

Is the perfect crime an impossibility or can it be achieved? According to The Maltese Falcon, there is no way to know. Gutman has been chasing the falcon for years, and he is finally convinced he has it when Brigid and her partner try to betray him. He cannot deal with losing the falcon again. His plans, though, consistently go astray. Certainly the theft of the falcon is no perfect crime.

Gutman figures that he has finally pulled off the perfect crime once he has found the falcon, not a small accomplishment, and created a plan to obtain it. After traveling halfway around the world, he discovers that he has trusted the wrong people, and they may now cost him the falcon.

Finally, Gutman gets the falcon that was stolen only to discover that it is a fake. Although he is terribly disappointed, he refuses to give up. He knows...
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