The Maltese Falcon (1940)

The 1940 version of The Maltese Falcon was the third version of the novel to be filmed and the most successful. It was also the film truest to the spirit of the novel, though the 1931 version (with the same title) followed the plot very closely without capturing the inherent spirit of the piece. The second version--Satan Met a Lady in 1936--was very poor and made what had been a dark detective story into a comic romp with a detective more buffoon than threat. John Huston returned to the original novel for his version of the story and clearly tried to stick closely not only to the story but also to the spirit of the piece, with its moral ambiguities intact as they had not been in the 1931, more traditionally hero-vs.-villain rendering. Yet, Huston had of necessity to make changes by curtailing certain scenes, altering the order and point of view to a degree, and shifting action in a way that was more filmic while also using some shorthand to convey information that the novelist could squeeze out more slowly and indirectly. A comparison of several scenes from the novel with those in the film will show how this was accomplished.

The movie and the book open with the same scene, but the movie first utilizes a crawl to explain the background of the Maltese Falcon, something that will not be explained for some time in the book. The movie builds a sense of suspense and even historical and mystical wonder in this fashion right from the beginning, supported by the underlying te

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tion (Hammett 4). In the novel, Miss Wonderly asks if either Spade or Archer could handle the matter personally, and Archer says he will. In the film, Archer volunteers, and in this way Huston consolidates the leer with the offer. The film scene ends with the same bit of dialogue as the print version. in the book, this is where Spade starts to make a cigarette, while Huston has moved that action to the beginning of the film scene. Huston frames the scene in a way that Hammett does not, and this frame has an ironic component. The scene opens with a close-up of the names "Spade and Archer" in the window and ends with the shadow of these words on the office floor, ironic in that the partnership is to be dissolved in the next scene when Archer is killed. The death of Archer is the one scene in the film that does not appear at all in the book. Hammett moves directly from the scene in the office to Spade waking up when the telephone rings, but Huston intersperses the scene at the corner of Bush and Stockton when Archer stands smiling just before he is shot and rolls down the hill. This is also the only scene that does not take place with Spade present. By including the scene, Huston prepares the viewer for many of Spade's later

Category: Film - T