Admission by donation. Popcorn and cash bar will be available before the show.

Do you know that this is the 75th anniversary of the release of “The Maltese Falcon?”  Originally released in 1941, it starred Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor, and was directed by John Huston. 

PLOT
“Spade and Archer” is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. That’s for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn’t like Miles much. A knockout, who goes by the name of Miss Wonderly, walks into their office; and by that night, everything’s changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wonderly is surrounded by dangerous men.

There’s Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There’s Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men — and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon.

Written by J. Spurlin from IMDB.com

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.