There is no doubt that the 1941 version of “The Maltese Falcon” was superior to the prior two attempts by Warner Brothers at filming Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel.
Sam Spade was perfectly portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, and the supporting cast of Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet and Elisha Cook, Jr. rounded out the main players in a great suspense film that is considered to be the first (if not one of the first) of the film noir genre.
The title cards for the production and cast credits were hand-lettered in a spurred serif type style strongly reminiscent of the Art Nouveau period, so instead of naming the digital version with some “tough guy detective” moniker, it was decided that Detective Client JNL was more appropriate.
After all, this is a reasonably attractive font, and in this kind of film it’s usually the “attractive damsel in distress” [be she the victim or the actual perpetrator] that gets the story rolling…
Detective Client JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.
