The 1931 film does not shy away from homosexual themes: Wilmer is called Gutman's "boyfriend". Title: What may not be wholly obvious is the fact that these three men have homosexual tendencies (as given in the novel), but just look at what's given: Cairo's delicate speech and manner, Wilmer's questionable quick tempered attitude towards Spade (could this be covering up the fact that he finds Spade attractive?) Synopsis: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1929) Sam Spade is a private detective working in San Francisco. His constant smirks and grins in the film's first ten to fifteen minutes seemed annoying. The two accept the assignment because the money is good, even though they disbelieve her story. Retitled DANGEROUS FEMALE in order to avoid confusion with the highly celebrated 1941 version, it has haunted the airwaves ever since. Later that night, Spade arrives back in his office, where he finds Effie asleep behind his desk. Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued when the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus. Was this review helpful to you? The job proves to be more dangerous than either of them expected. Ex-convict Danny Kean decides to become honest as a photographer for a paper. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. Spade tries to get rid of her, but she sees Wonderly in the bedroom doorway and leaves in a huff, threatening to tell everything she knows to Lt. Dundy. There were times when I felt I was watching a filmed play (very common with early talking movies). This prompted Warner Bros. to produce a new version of the film, Satan Met a Lady, starring Bette Davis and Warren William directed by William Dieterle in 1936. The suitcase he was carrying has the precious black bird in it. Remember they were just a poverty row studio mainly known for their Rin Tin Tin silent until The Jazz Singer made them rich. When Dundy and Polhaus show up, they reveal that Wilmer shot Gutman and Cairo dead before being apprehended. ****. The job proves to be more dangerous than either of them expected. These films were followed by other adaptations and parodies, including the 1975 comedy-sequel The Black Bird, in which George Segal portrays Sam Spade Jr., who inherits his father's agency. An insurance representative lets himself be talked by a seductive housewife into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses the suspicion of an insurance investigator. The Maltese Falcon ( 1931) The Maltese Falcon. The dialogue provided by screenwriters Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes and an unaccredited Lucien Hubbard failed to improve over the course of the movie. Gutman then slips Spade a mickey in a celebratory drink, and retrieves his $1000. Crime, Certificate: Passed Looking for a slightly scary movie to watch this Halloween? Miss Wonderly (Bebe Daniels) is shown bathing, and later in the film is strip-searched by Spade over missing money. "... See full summary ». Was this review helpful to you? As he is leaving, he has a brief conversation in Chinese with a man loitering in a doorway. 66 of 94 people found this review helpful. Nevertheless, he agrees to try to recover the statuette. Add the first question. Discovered this original film of "The Maltese Falcon" 1931 and was amazed how this version of the story was produced. Matieson portrayed Cairo as a no-nonsense and practical man who is careful with his money and with whom to trust it.Una Merkel gave a humorous performance as Spade's Girl Friday, Effie. Check out our picks for movies that (hopefully) won't keep you up at night. Later, Polhaus and his superior, Lt. Dundy (Robert Elliott), visit Spade at his apartment. The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American pre-Code crime film, based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and directed by Roy Del Ruth. They soon determine that it is a fake—they have been duped by the previous owner—and Gutman and Cairo decide to make another attempt to steal it. Spade laughs the incident off with a preposterous story which nonetheless gets the police to leave, with Cairo in tow, allowing Spade and Wonderly to continue their "interrogation". During World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer. It turns out she's a knockout with money. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other. But in the end, Cortez grew on me. (Sidenote: The character of Sam Spade was originally offered to George Raft, who turned it down. Frustrated, Spade begins to leave, but then thinks better of it. A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town. It stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his femme fatale client. Certificate: Passed and Gutman's clutching of Spade's arm when Sam arrives at his hotel room. While much of the action and dialogue is considerably dated by modern standards, the film's essential power to mystify and entrance remains undiminished despite its age. When his secretary tells him the new customer waiting outside his office is a knockout, he wastes no time before seeing her. But with the money she's paying, who cares? When the bag shows up, Wilmer escapes out the window while the conspirators are frantically opening it and examining the black bird. Nevertheless, it received mixed or negative reviews. But with the money she's paying, who cares? Spade checks the bag at a baggage check and sends himself the ticket in the mail. As Wonderly leaves to make coffee and sandwiches, Gutman accuses her of stealing one of the bills from the envelope, prompting Spade to have her strip. Three crooks, and all of them are looking for the statuette of a black bird they call the Maltese Falcon. Cortez gave a very sexy interpretation of Spade in his performance. When Thursby and Archer end up murdered, Spade discovered that Miss Wonderly is one of three people searching for a statuette called the Maltese Falcon. It turns out she's a knockout with money. Passed | 1h 20min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | 13 June 1931 (USA) A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon. All of those terms are absent in the dialogue of the better-known 1941 version. Use the HTML below. A cynical American expatriate struggles to decide whether or not he should help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape French Morocco. And she wants to spend it on his services as a private detective. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men -- and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon. ", The Maltese Falcon was not the first Hammett story to be adapted into a motion picture. (1941). The entire case spiraled into a game of cat-and-mouse between Spade, Miss Wonderly, a wealthy fat Englishman named Caspar Gutman and an effeminate continental European named Dr. Joel Cairo.