MALTESE FALCON (1941):
97 minutes
A gallery of high-living lowlifes will stop at nothing to get their sweaty hands on a jewel-encrusted falcon. Detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) wants to find out why - and who'll take the fall. This third screen version of Dashiell Hammett's novel is a film of firsts: John Huston's directorial debut, rotund Sydney Greenstreet's screen debut, film history's first film noir and Bogart's break-through role after years as a Warner contract player. An all-star cast (including Greenstreet, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook Jr.) join Bogart in this crisply written sizzler the placed in the top quarter of the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest American Films list. Many say it's the best detective drama ever. Each time you see it, you'll find it hard to disagree.

THE BIG SLEEP (1946):
101 minutes
L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) takes on a blackmail case.and follows a trail peopled with murderers, pornographers, nightclub rogues, the spoiled rich and more. But Raymond Chandler's legendary gumshoe solves it in hard-boiled style - and style is what The Big Sleep is all about. Director Howard Hawks serves up snappy character encounters (particularly those of Bogart and Lauren Bacall), brisk pace and atmosphere galore. This whodunit supreme is unpredictable and the furious pace at which the plot unfolds leads to one of the most intense, nail biting scenes you will ever see.

Estimated despatch 5-10 days after ordering.