In this lighthearted version of The Maltese Falcon, con artist Ted Shayne (Warren William in the Spade role) was just kicked out of town so drums up some business for his old partner Ames (Porter Hall in the Archer role) and then rejoins his detective agency in another city. He, of course, hits on secretary Miss Murgatroyd (Marie Wilson in the Effie role) and Amesâs wife, before Valerie Purvis (Bette Davis in the OâShaughnessy role) pops in to hire them to find the man who jilted her. The job is a fake and Ames ends up dead. It turns out Purvis is connected to eccentric Englishman Anthony Travers (Arthur Treacher in the Cairo role), famous criminal mastermind Madame Barabbas (Alison Skipworth in the Gutman role), and youthful killer Kenneth (Maynard Holmes in the Wilmer role), all of whom are searching for an animal horn filled with jewels.
This second of three adoptions of The Maltese Falcon in ten years has the worst reputation, but I prefer it to the first as it has a reason to exist, and so, thereâs a reason to watch it. Itâs different, closer to a comedy than to Noir. The 1931 version is just a pale take on the 1941 masterpiece with a misunderstanding of Sam Spade. This one, for good or ill, mainly ill, is something different. The changes come because Warner Bros wasnât making this due to the book it is based on or the previous movie, but rather due to the success of the witty and playful The Thin Man movie. They wanted more like that, or rather, they wanted more they could sell in the same way. So, another fun breezy mystery based on a work by the same author seemed to be the ticket. Change the name and they could ignore the book in advertising, replacing it with âBy the author of The Thin Manâ and change the character names and the item they were searching for and maybe no one would notice theyâd tried this five years earlier.
The story changes were substantial from the book and older movie, but far less than in a majority of film adaptations of novels. The real change is in tone. Everything is light. Murders are no big thing and no one is taken seriously. Warren William laughs through his linesâreally, he seldom recites a full line without a giggle. Shayne is past being happy and is clearly on some really effective drugs. Purvis laughs less but also seems to care less, which is fitting as Bette Davis didnât care, only showing up after she was suspended by WB. Arthur Treacher plays Travers the same way William plays Shayne and I have to assume at least the two of them were having a good time on set. And Miss Murgatroyd is around for dumb blonde comedy at all times (she even gets a scene where she forgets how to spell her name).
Yes, it is all pretty dumb, but then it wasnât trying to be smart. It was trying to be fun, and to a mild degree, it succeeds. The cast (minus Davis) is game for the task and if the jokes donât all land, enough do to make me occasionally smile. No, it canât stand up against the Huston/Bogart The Maltese Falcon, but then few films can and this one isnât trying. It doesnât have anything to say, the characters have no depth, and it had no effect on the history of motion pictures. But, as an oddity, it isnât a bad time.