MetaFilter posts tagged with maltesefalcon

The Maltese Falcon: Take 1

kirkaracha — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:04:13 -0800

The Maltese Falcon: Take 1. The classic Humphrey Bogart Maltese Falcon (1941) was the third movie version of Dashiell Hammett's novel. The first movie was made in 1931. The movie starred "Latin Lover" Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Krantz) as Sam Spade, Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly, Dudley Digges as Casper Gutman, and Otto Matieson as Joel Cairo. Since it was a pre-Code movie, the 1931 version is considerably racier than the 1941 version. Sam Spade sleeps with every female character: when Miles Acher's widow sees Ruth Wonderly in Spade's bedroom, she exclaims "Who's that dame in my kimono?" Gunsel Wilmer is explicitly Casper Gutman's boyfriend. Both the 1931 and 1941 version are pretty faithful to the novel, except they both omit the Flitcraft Parable and the novel's ending, where Sam Spade renews his affair with Iva Archer. The 1931 version adds a character that solves one of the story's mysteries; it involves Sam Spade speaking Chinese. The second version (trailer) was the 1936 Satan Met a Lady, which starred Warren William as ~~Sam Spade~~ Ted Shan, Bette Davis as ~~Ruth Wonderly~~ Valerie Purvis ("she's as harmless as a hungry panther!"), Alison Skipworth as ~~Kasper Gutman~~ Madame Barabas, and Arthur Treacher as ~~Joel Cairo~~ Anthony Travers. In addition to changing the city and all the characters' names, they're looking for the horn of Roland instead of the Falcon. ("A cynical farce of elaborate and sustained cheapness...a farrago of nonsense." From the contemporary New York Times review.) Bette Davis hated the movie and tried to break her contract with Warner Brothers over it. ("I was so distressed by the whole tone of the script and the vapidity of my part that I marched up to Mr. Warner's office and demanded that I be given work that was commensurate with my proven ability.") "The Three Sam Spades: The Shifting Model of American Masculinity in the Three Films of The Maltese Falcon" from Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media is an interesting comparison of the three movies and their protagonists. The Kniphausen Hawk was supposedly the inspiration for the actual Maltese Falcon statuette. The falcon statuette is one of Adam Savage's obsessions (along with dodos) and he sculpted his own replica. The 1931 version is sometimes called Dangerous Female to distinguish it from the Bogart classic. The three-disc special edition DVD includes all three movies. Warren William, who played the Sam Spade character in Satan Met a Lady, played Perry Mason in a series of films in the earle '30s, and was replaced in 1936 by Ricardo Cortez, the first movie's Sam Spade.

Film Noir: Flip Side of the All-American Success Story

filthy light thief — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:07:47 -0800

Maybe you already know about film noir, how Italian-born French film critic Nino Frank coined the term in 1946, and that Dashiell Hammett's book The Maltese Falcon was adapted for film 3 times in 10 years. Or perhaps you've just browsed through the detailed Wikipedia page, and found the list of film noir series and films to be daunting, and IMDB search provides a list that is lacking. Either way, Noir of the Week has a wealth of information if you crave more details, but focuses on one film per week if long lists are daunting. Not interested in this week's film? They have over 240 movies covered to date.

30's slang lovers rejoice!

Jos Bleau — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 08:36:30 -0800

Is Golan Cipel a "gunsel"? Gov. McGreevey's friend Golan Cipel appears to meet the original Maltese Falcon definition (a young man 'kept' for sex by an older man), but not it's later, derived one. Slantpoint provides a timeline of the relationship.

bilco — Mon, 03 Sep 2001 08:30:33 -0800

The Flitcraft Parable (Warning: RealMedia) This nicely crafted nugget is taken from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. While some literary reputations from the 1920s and '30s are falling (e.g., Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis), Hammett's rep is still rising.

My question: Which so-called genre authors writing today have the greatest chance of still being read in the 22nd century?