5. John Huston, The Maltese Falcon
1941 saw quite an auspicious breakthrough for both director and star of The Maltese Falcon. John Huston cashed in his chips as a struggling writer and documentary film-maker to helm The Maltese Falcon, a terrific film noir surrounding the now infamous totem. Huston also took the initiative to cast a relatively unknown actor in the lead role of private eye Sam Spade, a young up and comer by the name of Humphrey Bogart. With Huston's top notch screenplay and direction and Bogart's terrific performance in the lead, its no wonder The Maltese Falcon became one of the year's biggest hits, and is now considered to be one of the best films of all time. Huston took control of his mastery very quickly, directing in a very cerebral, no-nonsense fashion that continued to progress in a career lasting nearly 50 years. The Maltese Falcon also began a wonderful collaboration with Bogart, who would go on to star in some of their biggest hits together (Key Largo, Treasure Of The Sierra Madre). Not a bad start for a first time outing at all.