The Maltese Falcon

Came across this blog about one of my all-time favorite films: The Maltese Falcon. The last sentence says all that need be said: Nobody will ever make a better Sam Spade than Humphrey Bogart. 

01.27.12 

Guest blogger Angela Petteys 
(Note: Links not operative)

When you have more than one screen adaptation of a novel, usually one is more faithful to the book than the other. However, in the case of Dashiell Hammett's  The Maltese Falcon, it has two pretty accurate translations. The first version, released in 1931, stars Ricardo Cortez as detective Sam Spade, Bebe Daniels, and Thelma Todd, and it does a pretty good job of sticking to the source material. However, director John Huston's 1941 film, with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet, is an even more accurate representation. It doesn’t stick to the novel exactly, but most of the dialogue is taken verbatim and the key story elements are kept intact. (Editor's Note: There was also a very loose 1936 adaptation, with Warren William and Bette Davis, entitled Satan Met a Lady.)
Most of the differences are pretty subtle and probably were changed for the sake of pacing. For example, in the 1941 movie Sam finds out about the arrival of the boat La Paloma after he wakes up in Kasper (“The Fat Man”) Gutman’s hotel room and starts looking around the room. It’s a much more drawn out process in the book. In the book, Sam finds out Brigid O’Shaughnessy didn’t go to his secretary Effie’s apartment like she was supposed to. Instead, she had the cab stop to get a newspaper, then she asked to be brought to the ferry building. So Sam gets a copy of the paper in question to look for clues, but doesn’t figure it out until he starts snooping around Joel Cairo’s room and notices that the newspaper section with ship arrivals was of particular interest to him. Although there’s nothing wrong with the way that part plays out as written by Hammett, if it were filmed that way, it would have slowed the picture down. Another difference is that the character of Gutman’s daughter is completely absent from the Bogart movie (as well as from the Ricardo Cortez version, for that matter), but she wasn’t exactly a vital character in the book.
A lot of the other changes were definitely made because of Hollywood’s production codes. What’s interesting about that content is that neither the 1931 nor the 1941 version gets it exactly right. The 1931 film tends to be a bit more scandalous than the book was, but it does include things that were in the book that couldn’t be included in the 1941 remake. There’s no way director Huston could have gotten away with the scene where Spade strip searches O’Shaughnessy after noticing that $1,000 of the $10,000 Gutman promised him was missing, but it was in the 1931 version. The 1941 movie also really had to downplay the fact that Cairo and Wilmer were both supposed to be gay, whereas the earlier adaptation made that fact much clearer. In the book, when O’Shaughnessy finds out that Sam has been talking to Cairo--who is prepared to pay more money than she can-- she offers to sleep with him and proceeds to spend the night at Sam’s apartment. When it comes to that part in the 1941 version, Brigid can’t offer herself to Spade or spend the night, so Sam just kisses her instead. As for Spade’s affair with Iva Archer, his partner Miles’s widow, the 1941 movie actually depicts what went on more accurately than the 1931 version. The first film made that affair more salacious than the book described. First of all, the book made Iva Archer out to be a little past her prime, which Thelma Todd most certainly was not. There also weren’t any scenes involving Iva showing up at Sam’s apartment and finding Brigid wearing her kimono, nor were there any of Miles listening on the extension while Sam and Iva set up a tryst.
I really enjoyed reading The Maltese Falcon, and I think anyone who likes either movie version would, too. Like I said, what you see in the two screen adaptations is pretty much what you get in the novel. And since it’s not a terribly long book, either, I definitely recommend reading it. As for which movie I prefer, I think it goes without saying that the Humphrey Bogart version wins hands down. The Ricardo Cortez version is good, but it doesn’t have the flawless cast and direction that the later one did. I always loved the cast of the 1941 film, but while I was reading the book and got to read exactly how each character was described, I feel like that version had some of the most perfect casting of all time. Nobody will ever make a better Sam Spade than Humphrey Bogart.
Angela runs the blog The Hollywood Revue and is a classic film enthusiast from Detroit. To keep up with the latest from The Hollywood Revue, please join her on Facebook.

Selecting a candidate

I am sorry we won't have a chance to vote for Vermin Supreme in South Carolina's Republican primary on Saturday, nor later in the year. He was on the ballot apparently only in New Hampshire. He campaigned on such issues as "mandatory tooth-brushing, zombie preparedness, and federal funding of time travel research so he can 'kill Hitler with my bare hands.'" He also was going "to give free ponies to all Americans." Considering all the inane political rhetoric we are exposed to in this primary season, Vermin's platform has some appeal. Oh, by the way, did I mention he is a Democrat? 

Wikipedia to go black; death of a comedian

"Wikipedia, the popular community-edited online encyclopedia, will black out its English-language site for 24 hours to seek support against proposed US anti-piracy legislation that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said threatens the future of the internet.
"The service will be the highest profile name to join a growing campaign starting at midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday that will see it black out its page so that visitors will only see information about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).
"The information will urge Wikipedia readers in the US to contact their local congressman to vote against the bills. Other smaller sites leading the campaign include Reddit.com and Cheezeburger.
" 'This is a quite clumsily drafted legislation which is dangerous for an open internet,' said Wales in an interview." (Source: Aljazeera.com website, 1/17/2012)

In a nutshell this is the issue: If a website publishes intellectual property, be a movie or a song or something similar, without permission, the website would be forced off the air, even if the publication was incidental and unintended. If you did a search on Google, for example, and it turned up this second website that contained the unauthorized material, Google could be closed down. The present procedure is to send notice to the offending website and have them remove the property in question. If they fail to do so other legal remedies are available to the rightful owners. Hollywood and other backers of the proposed legislation say the SOPA and PIPA legislation is essential to protecting their investments against intellectual piracy, which is a problem centered mainly outside the United States.  Critics say the legislation goes too far and, as Wales put it, "threatens the future of the internet."

*****

In a new book Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There, by Tom Davis the author recounts how entertainers and  artists of all types tried desperately to get on the Johnny Carson show. In the 70s, an appearance on Carson was the key to success and good fortune. It opened doors everywhere for a performer. One comedian, Davis recounts, had a tryout and used his best material and gave it everything he had. He was rejected by the talent director and staff. Ten days later he jumped off the roof of a hotel and landed in the parking lot of the Comedy Club in Hollywood. He had note in his pocket with his name on it and three words: "I was a comedian." (Source: delanceyplace.com, website, 1/17/2012)


(Complete blog is here.)

The Good (?) Old Days

"A performer called 'The Human Fish' ate a banana, played a trombone, and read a newspaper while submerged in a tank of water." This is one example of the vaudeville entertainment that traveled around the country from about 1880 to 1930. This and other tidbits of that bygone era are highlighted for our attention in a recent book: American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee by Karen Abbott (Random House.)

For almost five decades vaudevillians traveled the United States and Canada and sang, juggled, told jokes, acted out skits, swallowed swords and belched fire to thrill and entertain. They hung on in the face of silent movies, sometimes appearing on stage before a movie. When talkies came in it was the beginning of the end of "The Human Fish" and other weird acts: an old dowager, Lady Alice, kept audiences gaping as she performed with rats. One of them sat on her head blowing a kazoo while others paraded across her arms. Lady Alice's long kept secret: a trail of Cream of Wheat slathered on her neck and shoulders. 

Movies won out until the late 1940's when television was in its infancy and for a few years the vaudevillians were back. The respite was (mercifully) brief and they did not survive. 

I am indebted to delanceyplace.com for some of this information. 

(Complete blog here.)

Marsh Walk

(Click photo to enlarge)
I sat on the concrete bench provided and looked across the marsh bathing in the sun that flitted in and out behind wisps of clouds. The quiet beauty of the scene made the walk worthwhile and the memory would stay with me on the return walk to Franke at Seaside.
The Mt. Pleasant Waterworks has created the Marsh Walk just beyond the dog run behind their headquarters and plant on Rifle Range Road. It took about 40 minutes to walk to the scene but with the temperature about 65 degrees it was pleasant. (You can drive to this same area and park only a couple of minutes from the walking path.)
Along the path are numerous large oak trees. How long they have been there is anyone’s guess. Some hang over the trail and combine to block out the sun. Perhaps later in the day when the sun is higher in the sky it may break through the overhanging growth. Part of the walk is asphalted for convenience but it ends a hundred yards or so from the marsh. When I visited last year we could walk out into the marsh, but now there are small signs “ No humans beyond this point.” This is understandable and does not detract from the joy of the trip. At this point on the walk the view is gorgeous and celebrates the magic of the Creator. Sitting there for a few moments in silent contemplation renews the soul. I recommend this, at least once a year!
(The complete blog is here,)