On this day in movie history - The Maltese Falcon (movie & novel):

The Maltese Falcon

directed and written by John Huston,

based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett,

was released in the United States on October 18, 1941.
Music by Adolph Deutsch.

Cast:

Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan, Elisha Cook Jr., James Burke, Murray Alper, John Hamilton, Walter Huston.

Recommended reading:

The Maltese Falcon

By Dashiell Hammett.

Introduction by Richard Russo.

First published 1930.

Published by Vintage Crime / Black Lizard.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679722645

ISBN-13: 978-0679722649

Description:

“Hammett … wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before.” – Raymond Chandler.

Detective Sam Spade is a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. When his partner is killed during a stakeout, he is drawn into the hunt for a fantastic treasure with a dubious provenance – a golden bird encrusted with jewels. Also on the trail are a perfumed grifter named Joel Cairo, an oversized adventurer named Gutman, and Spade’s new client Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime.

These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett’s coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted generations of readers.

“Hammett’s prose [is] clean and entirely unique. His characters [are] as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction.” – The New York Times.

On this day in movie history – Pillow Talk (movie & novel):

Pillow Talk

directed by Michael Gordon,

written by Russell Rouse, Maurice Richlin, Stanley Shapiro and Clarence Greene,

was released in the United States on October 6, 1959.
Music by Frank De Vol.

Cast:

Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams, Karen Norris, Julia Meade, Allen Jenkins, Marcel Dalio, Lee Patrick, Mary McCarty, Alex Gerry, Hayden Rorke, Valerie Allen, Jacqueline Beer, Arlen Stuart.

Recommended reading:

Pillow Talk

By Marvin H. Albert.

Published by Gold Medal.

Published 1959.

ASIN: B000ARHC90

Vintage paperback

Filmed as Pillow Talk (1959), directed by Michael Gordon.

Back cover description:

Good connections.

Doris Day plays the interior decorator who has designs on men.

Rock Hudson and Tony Randall are the men who fall for her, hook, line and sinker.

On this day in movie history - Vertigo (1958):

Vertigo

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor,

based on the novel D’entre les morts,

translation: From Among the Dead, by Boileau-Narcejac (Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac),

was released in the United States on May 28, 1958.
Music by Bernard Herrmann.

Cast:

James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones, Raymond Bailey, Ellen Corby, Konstantin Shayne, Lee Patrick, David Ahdar, Isabel Analla, Jack Ano, Margaret Bacon, John Benson, Danny Borzage, Margaret Brayton, Paul Bryar, Boyd Cabeen, Steve Conte, Jean Corbett, Bruno Della Santina, Roxann Delman, Harry Denny, Molly Dodd, Bess Flowers, Raoul Freeman, Joe Garcio, Joanne Genthon, Kenneth Gibson, Don Giovanni, Roland Gotti, Victor Gotti, Fred Graham, Robert Haines, Buck Harrington, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmie Horan, Art Howard, Catherine Howard, June Jocelyn, Perk Lazelle, John Marlin, Miliza Milo, Lyle Moraine, Forbes Murray, Julian Petruzzi, Ezelle Poule, Kathy Reed, William Remick, Jack Richardson, Jeffrey Sayre, Nina Shipman, Dori Simmons, Ed Stevlingson, Sara Taft.