detective fiction and the elements he included are also typical of Hammett's style, "vividness and variety of characterization, poetic descriptions, the all-pervasive sharp edge of Marlowe's wit, an encyclopedic knowledge of locale, including the evocation of its climate and the diverse elements of its society."
In Hammett's novel, vividness and variety of characterization and Spade's sharp edge and wit are what make the novel so engaging. Sam's growing relationship with Brigid as he remains one step behind the cops and those who want the falcon carries the novel as it does Huston's film. Showing his tough, hard-boiled nature, even though Sam loves Brigid he ultimately does not trust her and hands her over to the cops. As he tells her before turning her in, "'I'm going to send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means you'll be out again in twenty years. You're an angel. I'll wait for you.' He cleared his throat. 'If they hang you I'll always remember you'" (Hammett 211). In the dark shadowy world of the detective novel, Spade cannot afford to trust a woman, even one he loves, as women are often fatal to those who are gullible, like Miles Archer.
In Huston's "The Maltese Falcon," many of the elements of film noir are present that are comparable to those of detective fiction. Film noir features a gritty, existential world in which the male protagonist is often an average guy who falls prey to the allure and wiles of the femme fatale, the cinematic equivalent of the black widow spider. Comparable to detective fiction, film noir often features vivid and mysterious characters who exist in a shadowy world that is dark and sinister in atmosphere, and an alienated protagonist who is aloof from others. As one Hollywood historian notes, "Noir has a real place in film history. These movies are celebrated for their stylishness, their subject matter and certainly the f
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