Dangerous Female (The Maltese Falcon) (1931-USA) [VHS]

This 1931 film is the first of three movies based on the classic 1930 novel “The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961). All are excellent and worthy of spending time enjoying. The first was made a year after the drama was published. A second followed in 1936 called “Satan Met a Lady.” It is a comedy. The third is the better-known 1941 film directed by the legendary John Huston in his debut film. The 1941 version used virtually the same dialogues as the 1931 version. There is also a 1975 spoof sequel starring George Segal as Sam Spade, Jr. There is drama, suspense, and even humor in how Sam Spade handles the ruthless criminals. There are also several murders in this film noir, including Sam’s partner, whom Sam did not like very much, and whose wife Sam wooed. The gangsters in the film are very dangerous because they lust for the jewel-filled Maltese Falcon worth over two million dollars. A considerable sum in the 1930s. The film is relatively clear, and captions are available.

The DVD was of extremely poor quality (when it played) frequent stops. Unable to play at all at about 20 min. into the film.

But no comparison to the later version. I was surprised to see so much of the dialog the same.

I really like this version of the Maltese Falcon almost as much as the 1941 Bogart version. However, the print is terrible. However, you can get an excellent copy by buying the Bogart Signature Collection Volume II, along with Satan Met a Lady (a forgetable version of the Maltese Falcon!) and a bunch of other good Bogart classics! Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The Maltese Falcon Three-Disc Special Edition / Across the Pacific / Action in the North Atlantic / All Through the Night / Passage to Marseille)

Well it is possible for even a devoted actor Humphrey Bogart and crime novelist Dashiell Hammett aficionado to learn something new. For many years I had assumed that the 1941 hard-nosed Bogie as Sam Spade version of The Maltese Falcon was the original screen version of Hammett's crime noir classic. Then an acquaintance, the old time radical journalist Josh Breslin whose by-line for half the progressive press and alternate vision journals in this country for the past forty years that some readers may know, informed me that an older version (or rather versions existed). That discovery however had to go unchecked until the age of the Internet. Now I have found the film via a very helpful lead from Wikipedia. Kudos.Of course after reading Hammett's crime novel countless times (if for no other reason than that great dialogue even after the plot line wore thin) and viewing the 1941 Bogie version almost as many times certain prejudices were bound to show up. The key is the role of Sam Spade as the world weary scrappy avenger of his partner's murder while "in the line of duty". If for no other reason than for professional pride. And the well-known plot line, basically murder and mayhem by parties known and unknown searching for a bid, "the stuff of dreams," is what let's Sam save the day, his professional pride, and his roughhewn sense of justice.The 1931 Spade (played by handsome Richard Cortez) is less concerned with those gritty issues, more brazenly cynical, and much more of a womanizer than Bogie's Spade (although he is not immune, temporality at least, to femme fatale charms). That as I found out was a result of the change in what was deemed acceptable to the general audience (the so-called Production Code). In the 1931 version it is clear, very clear, why Spade is ready to chase after windmills for the femme fatale (played Bebe Daniels). Sexual tension and adventure were rife. In the 1941 version I was always wondering what there was about Mary Astor (after all she didn't seem Bogie's type on the face of it) that made him all that intrepid. It was never spelled out. Now I know. No question though, despite that new information, that Bogie's Spade is the cinematic standard and Hammett would agree.

This is the first filming of Dasheill Hammett's classic detective story. It predates the John Huston/Humphrey Bogart version by ten years and follows the novel closely. Ricardo Cortez makes a much more smarmy Sam Spade than Bogart, and the pre-code production makes explicit much of what Huston had to hint at. It's worth watching, if only to compare it with the 1941 version and marvel at the inspired casting that made the later work one of the greatest mystery films ever.