Film Review: THE MALTESE FALCON (All Three Versions)

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Considered a classic, mainly due to its inventive casting and stylish direction, The Maltese Falcon (1941) wasn’t the first attempt to adapt Dashiell Hammett’s classic mystery novel.

(C) WB Pictures.

Directed by Roy Del Ruth, and starring Ricardo Cortez as morally ambiguous detective Sam Spade, this first cinematic version of the novel is a fun, compelling take on the story, with Cortez a standout as Spade. Unlike Humphrey Bogart’s snarling portrayal of Spade, Cortez is, under the tough guy façade, all smiles and charm, turning an otherwise standard and dated mystery into an entertaining and memorable film.

The script for this version does all the heavy lifting for all adaptations to follow, and John Huston’s famous adaptation borrows liberally from the structure of this version. With the exception of some of the characterization of the side characters and a different ending, the main difference between the 1931 and the 1941 versions is the tone.

Led by Cortez’s lighthearted portrayal of Spade, this version is less morally complex, and, technically, much less polished than the 1941 version. But, arguably, Ricardo Cortez’s portrayal of the legendary detective is the best.

In 1936, another adaptation of The Maltese Falcon was released, this time called Satan Met a Lady, and starring Warren William as Ted Shane, a renamed version of Sam Spade. William plays Shane/Spade as a sleazy con-artist with barely any scruples, which, of course, sets a completely different tone to the whole affair than all other versions.

(c) WB Pictures

But what a fun film Satan Met a Lady is! Thanks to an energetic script, ample support from a young Bette Davis as the femme fatale, and kinetic direction by cinematic wizard William Deiterle, this adaptation of the novel is a fast-paced blast, and probably the most entertaining out of the three versions. Where it falls short is in its portrayal of the villains, who come off as weak and forgettable. But, overall, Satan Met A Lady is an original take on The Maltese Falcon, and one worth rediscovering.

Five years later, the most famous adaptation of the novel was released, as The Maltese Falcon, scripted and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut. This version has been analyzed and lauded to death, so there’s little point in lingering over its merits. What is fascinating to note, though, is how stagey and confusing this version is, something which all adaptations of the novel struggle with. Which begs the question: why is Dashiell Hammett’s novel so attractive to filmmakers? Its plot is overly complex; its settings limited; and almost all of its characters are unsympathetic. These aspects of the novel prove difficult to overcome in the film adaptations, and Huston, surprisingly enough, seems to struggle with them the most, never fully succeeding in transcending the limitations of the original story.

(C) WB Pictures

What the 1941 version has in spades (no pun intended) is polish. Thanks to Huston’s tight direction and the stylish cinematography of Arthur Edeson (who also shot 1936’s Satan Met A Lady), this version is the most visually accomplished of all the adaptations. Bogart’s take on Spade is interesting, but it’s too humorless for its own good, and Mary Astor delivers what can only be called a subpar performance. But Sydney Greenstreet as The Fatman, and Peter Lorre as Cairo, steal the show, and Huston’s emotional climax proves to be the best ending of all three versions.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer