While watching this 1936 adaption of Hammetts THE MALTESE FALCON, I kept thinking how the film almost felt like a 1930s style RKO musical, except instead of dance numbers every 10 minutes, theres a murder or a gun-point interrogation. I suppose it would be wrong to call SATAN MET A LADY a good film, but it is entertaining. As an adaptation of the Hammett story, its not even close to the quality of the subsequent Huston film, or the earlier DANGEROUS FEMALE, primarily because of its farcical approach to the material. Theres plenty of humor that can be mined from Hammetts story, but it is probably best presented as cynical black humor as opposed to screwball comedy.
The changes to the plot are mainly cosmetic: lead Warren Williams detective is named Shayne-not Spade, a jewel-stuffed rams horn from the days of Roland replaces the Falcon as the stuff of dreams, and we have a fat woman instead of a fat man rounding up the motley crew of villains. Surprisingly, Bette Davis is the casts weak point, though in her defense, she probably realized that the farcical tone and her femme fatale character were not a good mix. Davis could play a lot of things, but playing silly wasnt her forte. Her performance briefly comes to life for a few seconds at the end as she sends William a malevolent, withering stare after her duplicity is revealed. William himself is adequate, he clearly seems to be enjoying himself, but he plays it a bit too lighthearted, not finding the cynicism of Bogart's Spade or the bemused amorality of Ricardo Cortez's earlier Spade. Fish & Chips-man Arthur Treacher has the Lorre-type role, and plays his part as though hes part of an early Monty Python sketch. Theres a Fatty Arbuckle-type in the Elisha Cook Jr. role who wears a goofy beret that William continually takes great delight in knocking off his head. But the real standout here is platinum blonde Marie Wilson as Shaynes secretary Miss Murgatroyd. The private eyes golden hearted secretary has become something of a clicheé in the genre, but Wilsons performance is as fresh, winning, and sexy as anything thats come since (love that hiccup of a laugh). No doubt part of my enjoyment of the goings on here is my familiarity with the source material and watching this as a kind of Bizarro-world alternate take, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The changes to the plot are mainly cosmetic: lead Warren Williams detective is named Shayne-not Spade, a jewel-stuffed rams horn from the days of Roland replaces the Falcon as the stuff of dreams, and we have a fat woman instead of a fat man rounding up the motley crew of villains. Surprisingly, Bette Davis is the casts weak point, though in her defense, she probably realized that the farcical tone and her femme fatale character were not a good mix. Davis could play a lot of things, but playing silly wasnt her forte. Her performance briefly comes to life for a few seconds at the end as she sends William a malevolent, withering stare after her duplicity is revealed. William himself is adequate, he clearly seems to be enjoying himself, but he plays it a bit too lighthearted, not finding the cynicism of Bogart's Spade or the bemused amorality of Ricardo Cortez's earlier Spade. Fish & Chips-man Arthur Treacher has the Lorre-type role, and plays his part as though hes part of an early Monty Python sketch. Theres a Fatty Arbuckle-type in the Elisha Cook Jr. role who wears a goofy beret that William continually takes great delight in knocking off his head. But the real standout here is platinum blonde Marie Wilson as Shaynes secretary Miss Murgatroyd. The private eyes golden hearted secretary has become something of a clicheé in the genre, but Wilsons performance is as fresh, winning, and sexy as anything thats come since (love that hiccup of a laugh). No doubt part of my enjoyment of the goings on here is my familiarity with the source material and watching this as a kind of Bizarro-world alternate take, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
