GManfred Striving to make a clever headline, you may think I'm dismissing an inferior imitation of the Humphrey Bogart movie. Not so. This film can stand on its own; I just mean it's a truncated version of the later classic. It is a pre-code and is a little more daring than the '41 picture, and depicts Sam Spade as a ladies man. Bogart was scowling and all business, but here he is genial and smiling.Ricardo Cortez plays Spade but was not nearly the actor Bogart was. There are similarities between the two versions but are not exact copies of one another. This earlier one is easier to follow but the crucial role of the femme fatale suffers with Bebe Daniels in the part. She was no match for Mary Astor. Dudley Digges plays Casper Gutman almost as well as Sidney Greenstreet, who must have patterned his part after Digges's. But Greenstreet's was a more idiosyncratic portrayal and not nearly as eccentric. And Peter Lorre was a more fascinating Cairo, and, combined with Greenstreet, they made a more explosive team. Left out for obvious reasons was a scene in which Spade is looking for a missing 1,000 bill and makes Bebe Daniels strip (off-screen) to prove she didn't steal it. This is a scene from the book which was omitted in the later version.Most reviewers know the story, but it's always interesting to compare different versions of the same film. The later film is a well-known favorite to most of us, but there is a lot to recommend this earlier picture. If you get a chance, check it out. It's good but suffers by comparison.

sol ***SPOILERS*** Original version of the film "The Maltese Falcon" that has the Latin lover looking Ricardo Cortez, who's real name was Jacob Krantz, as San Francisco private eye Sam Spade the part that made Humphrey Bogart the Hollywood legend that he was to become some 10 years later.Spade gets himself involved in a missing person case that soon mushrooms into murder that leaves some half dozen people dead by the time the film is over. One of those murdered was Spade's partner fellow PI Miles Archer, Walter Long. It was Archer's wife Iva, Thelma Todd, whom Spade was having an affair with while he was on vacation. Ruth Wounderly, Babe Daniels, shows p at Spade's office looking for her sister whom she tells Spade has took off with her boyfriend someone called Thursby. Miss.Wounderly is very concerned about her sister in that she feels that Thursby is a mental case and threat to her sisters safety. Spade realizes that Miss. Wounderly's story is nothing but a load of BS but takes the case anyway because the money, a $200.00 retainer, is more then he expected. Spade has Miles tailing Thursby who ends up getting shot and killed the first night on he's on the case. Within an hour after Miles' body was discovered Thursby himself is found shot to death with Thursby's partner Sam Spade being the prime suspect in his murder. The police feel that Thursby's death was an act of revenge on Spade's part. It's later that Spade is confronted by a Dr.Cairo, Otto Matieson, who at first offers him $5,000.00 for this mysterious black bird statuette whom his boss Casper Gutman, Dudley Diggs is willing to pay him. It's when Cairo gets a little pushy by pulling a gun on Spade, who quickly disarmed him, that he took his offer seriously. By then all the pieces of this mysterious case starting coming together in that the black bird was the Maltese Falcon that had disappeared from sight over 70 years ago and was worth a cool two million dollars. And even more disturbing it was Miss.Wounderly,Spade's client, and the late Mr. Thursby who were the last person to have possession of the bird! Not as good as the Humphrey Bogart version of the film but still worth watching in Cortez's, who was an odd choice for the part, as private dick Sam Spade. Cortez seemed to have trouble taking the role of Sam Spade seriously! He just could't stop smiling, which made you wounder in watching the movie if it was either a screw ball comedy or serious hard boiled detective story!

gullwing592003 I first saw this original pre-code 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon titled "Dangerous Female" on the big screen in 1994 & I was shocked & impressed by just how good it was & it gives the classic 1941 version a run for it's money. For it's an interesting historical curiosity. I can see why this version was very successful & well received in 1931 but I can also see why it was soon forgotten.Having read the novel by Dashiell Hammett detective Sam Spade was a ladies man but not to the extent to where Ricardo Cortez took him. Cortez went too far & was a bit excessive & extreme even for a pre-code movie. Spade was also a hard boiled cynical private eye with a code of ethics. Cortez did capture this to a certain point when he wasn't womanizing.Because of it's suggestive, sexual explicitness this version was not re-released when the strict censorship code was enforced in 1934 governing morality & decency. This original version deviates from the book considerably & only touched on the original story & the cast is not that memorable for the most part with the exception of Dwight Frye, we all know him from Dracula & Frankenstein.Ricardo Cortez, Otto Matiesen & Dudley Digges pales in comparison to their 1941 counterparts more stronger screen presence of Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre & Sydney Greenstreet in their respective roles as Sam Spade, Joel Cairo & Kasper Gutman the fatman. I will say that it's a toss up with Dwight Frye & Elisha Cook Jr. as Wilmer the gunsel. Both were equally good & right for the part.As for the females, Bebe Daniels, Thelma Todd & Una Merkel are very sexually seductive exciting women more so than Mary Astor, Gladys George & Lee Patrick respectively as Brigid Wonderly, Iva Archer & Spades secretary Effie. Even though the women in the 1941 version were less appealing, for some reason they were more memorable than the more sizzling hot women in the 1931 version. Although I don't think Mary Astor was a great Brigid, I think Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck would've been better.It was these factors in addition to the definitive indelible 1941 version that contributed to why this pre-code version was reduced to a dim memory. Did people even remember this version by 1941 ?? Of the 3 versions of The Maltese Falcon it was the John Huston directed film that was the most faithful & closest adaptation that stayed true to Dashiell Hammett's book.It was John Huston's direction giving the film a dark, cynical, gloomy & atmospheric quality that permeates through the entire story. And the dramatic use of lighting & shadows & the expressive camera-work of Arthur Edeson bringing us into the world of film noir. This is why the 1941 version became the enduring classic cinematic quintessential prototype private detective thriller. Something that the 1931 version lacks to some extent.But this original version should be seen & enjoyed in it's own right as a forerunner to the later classic & also as a historical reference point as to what these early talkies were like before 1934. I would like to see this version again & obtain a copy on DVD & watch it back to back with the '41 classic. If you're into pre-code cinema by all means see this original version.

adamk-2 I recently sat down and watched the more-renowned 1941 version of this and then, by way of comparison, watched this earlier take on the same story. It's an approach I'd recommend, as the two versions complement each other wonderfully. While the 1941 is proto-noir with all its labyrinthine motivations and machinations, this lesser-known version creaks a fair bit and, although the performances are generally awkward and the direction stilted, everyone has their moments. Bebe Daniels, for instance, shines as the "heroine", exhibiting far more bubble and downright sexiness than Mary Astor did. Which segues neatly into this version's most startling asset: sex. Quite a bit of it, by Hollywood 30s standards. coming pre-Hays Code, there's a fair amount of flesh on view and an abundance left to the imagination. The scene with Daniels taking a bath was astonishing for its sexiness and the homosexual frisson between Gutman and Gunsel was quite marked.The script is very much the same, and it's fascinating seeing such familiar lines coming out of unfamiliar mouths. This film, however, fills in some holes that the '41 version skated over (Spade's affair with Mrs Archer, for instance) so, seen together, they can be seen as two pieces of the same jigsaw puzzle. As I said, the performances are a little stiff, there are some delightful moments (watch as they wait for the arrival of the falcon: Daniels cheating at Solitaire and watching to see if anyone sees her; Cortez as Spade playing with a kid's game, chewing gum and idly looking around). It could use a little jazz-age looseness in its staging, but I think this is a worthy predecessor to the '41 version, and fans of that should definitely take a looks at this one.