IMDb RATING
6.8/10
3.4K
YOUR RATING
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
Agostino Borgato
- Capt. John Jacobi
- (uncredited)
Tiny Jones
- Jailbird Seeking Cigarette
- (uncredited)
Cliff Saum
- Baggage Clerk
- (uncredited)
Morgan Wallace
- District Attorney
- (uncredited)
Lucille Ward
- Sarah - Prison Matron
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaArt director Robert M. Haas performed the same function on The Maltese Falcon (1941).
- GoofsThe same prop is used for the suitcase that Spade finds in Miss Wonderly's room and the suitcase which contains the falcon. The travel stickers are identical on each one.
- Quotes
Effie Perrine: Sam, it's a gorgeous new customer.
Sam Spade: Gorgeous?
Effie Perrine: A knockout.
Sam Spade: Send her right in, honey.
Effie Perrine: [to the off-screen customer] Will you step in, please?
[Joel Cairo walks in.]
- ConnectionsFeatured in Great Performances: Bacall on Bogart (1988)
Featured review
Not bad, but a tad stale
It might have been wise to watch the two earlier versions of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon before I re-watched the 1941 classic. It would have reminded me just how great Huston's film is. The '31 version isn't bad, per se. It has the same major flaw that most films of this early talkie era had: leaden dialogue delivery. It's also a bit stagy, though by no means the worst I've seen from the time. None of the actors are as good as their '41 counterparts, with the possible exception of Bebe Daniels, most famous for her role in 42nd Street. She's a bit sexier than Mary Astor, and it's more believable that she could hold sway over men. I also thought Otto Matieson was pretty good as Joel Cairo. Una Merkel is very cute as Effie, Spade's secretary. Thelma Todd, of Marx Brothers' movies fame, also co-stars as Iva Archer. Ricardo Cortez plays Sam. He's a bit too nice for the part, like he should rather be starring in musicals (Daniels doesn't suffer this way she's appropriately ruthless). The film only runs 78 minutes, but it feels a lot longer. It excises even more of the novel than Huston's version, but the pacing is really slow (the '41 movie runs 100 minutes). It seems the major success in Huston's movie well, besides the awesome cast was its lightning pacing. It also changes some things around at the end, if I remember right. I actually really liked the final sequence, not in the '41 version and (if memory serves me correctly) not in the novel, either, where Spade visits Ms. Wonderly (which isn't a pseudonym in this movie) in prison. I wouldn't say it surpasses the '41 version in any way, but then again I've never quite been satisfied with Spade's final exchanges with Brigid O'Shaughnessy either.
helpful•116
- zetes
- Oct 15, 2006
- How long is The Maltese Falcon?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 20 minutes
- Color
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