Film Noir

The Maltese Falcon is known as one of the first film noirs: it defined the genre with its hardboiled, amoral detective, its femme fatale, and its dangerous urban setting. Also, everything is just dark and generally hard to see—the setting is as noir (black) as the characters' morals.

Sam Spade is a deathly serious anti-hero, and Brigid fills the role of deceptive femme fatale. However, since Brigid is captured in the end, and not killed in a fatale fate, she has the opportunity to femme again another day.