MetaFilter posts tagged with samspade Posts tagged with 'samspade' at MetaFilter. Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:04:13 -0800 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:04:13 -0800 en-us 60 The Maltese Falcon: Take 1 <a href="">The Maltese Falcon: Take 1.</a> The classic Humphrey Bogart <cite>Maltese Falcon</cite> (1941) was the third movie version of Dashiell Hammett's novel. <a href="">The first movie</a> was made in 1931. <a href="">The movie</a> starred <a href="">"Latin Lover"</a> <a href="">Ricardo Cortez</a> (born Jacob Krantz) as Sam Spade, <a href="">Bebe</a> <a href="">Daniels</a> as Ruth Wonderly, <a href="">Dudley Digges</a> as Casper Gutman, and <a href="">Otto Matieson</a> as Joel Cairo. Since it was a pre-<a href="">Code</a> movie, the 1931 version is considerably <a href="">racier</a> than the 1941 version. Sam Spade sleeps with every female character: when Miles Acher's widow sees Ruth Wonderly in Spade's bedroom, she exclaims "Who's that dame in my kimono?" <a href="">Gunsel</a> Wilmer is explicitly Casper Gutman's boyfriend. Both the 1931 and 1941 version are pretty faithful to the novel, except they both omit <a href="">the Flitcraft Parable</a> and the novel's ending, where Sam Spade renews his affair with Iva Archer. The 1931 version adds <a href="">a character</a> that solves one of the story's mysteries; it involves Sam Spade speaking Chinese. The <a href="">second</a> <a href="">version</a> (<a href="">trailer</a>) was the 1936 <a href=""><cite>Satan Met a Lady</cite></a>, which starred <a href="">Warren William</a> as <strike>Sam Spade</strike> Ted Shan, <a href="">Bette Davis</a> as <strike>Ruth Wonderly</strike> Valerie Purvis ("she's as harmless as a hungry panther!"), <a href="">Alison Skipworth</a> as <strike>Kasper Gutman</strike> Madame Barabas, and <a href="">Arthur</a> <a href="">Treacher</a> as <strike>Joel Cairo</strike> Anthony Travers. In addition to changing the city and all the characters' names, they're looking for the <a href="">horn of Roland</a> instead of the Falcon. ("A cynical farce of elaborate and sustained cheapness...a farrago of nonsense." From the contemporary <a href=""><cite>New York Times</cite> review</a>.) Bette Davis <a href="">hated</a> the movie and tried to break her contract with Warner Brothers over it. ("I was so distressed by the whole tone of the script and the vapidity of my part that I marched up to Mr. Warner's office and demanded that I be given work that was commensurate with my proven ability.") <a href="">"The Three Sam Spades: The Shifting Model of American Masculinity in the Three Films of <cite>The Maltese Falcon</cite>"</a> from <cite>Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media</cite> is an interesting comparison of the three movies and their protagonists. The <a href="">Kniphausen Hawk</a> was supposedly the inspiration for the actual Maltese Falcon statuette. The falcon statuette is one of <a href="">Adam Savage's obsessions</a> (along with dodos) and he sculpted his own replica. <small>The 1931 version is sometimes called <cite>Dangerous Female</cite> to distinguish it from the Bogart classic. The three-disc special edition <a href="">DVD</a> includes all three movies. Warren William, who played the Sam Spade character in <cite>Satan Met a Lady</cite>, played Perry Mason in a series of films in the earle '30s, and was replaced in 1936 by Ricardo Cortez, the first movie's Sam Spade.</small>,2009:site.84628 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:04:13 -0800 kirkaracha