Satan Met a Lady

Infobox Film
name = Satan Met a Lady


imagesize = 213px
caption = from the theatrical poster
director = William Dieterle
producer = Henry Blanke
writer = Dashiell Hammett "(novel)"
Brown Holmes
starring = Bette Davis
Warren William
music =
cinematography = Arthur Edeson
editing = Warren Low
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = 22 July fy|1936 "(US)"
runtime = 74 minutes
country = FilmUS
language = English
budget =
gross =
imdb_id = 0028219

"Satan Met a Lady" is a 1936 Warner Bros. comedy/detective film loosely based on Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon", and starring Bette Davis – who reportedly considered it one of the worst films of her career – and Warren William. Adapted for the screen by Brown Holmes, who was the co-writer of the 1931 version of "The Maltese Falcon", the film was directed by William Dieterle.

In this light-comedy version of the story, the character names have all been changed, although their function and relationships for the most part are the same, and the macguffin is an 8th century ram's horn full of jewels rather than a statuette of a falcon.

Plot

Private detective Ted Shane (Warren William) is thrown out of yet another city and returns to work with his former partner Ames (Porter Hall), who is not particularly happy to see him, because his wife, Astrid (Winifred Shaw), is in love with Shane. A new client, Valerie Purvis (Bette Davis) wants the help of the detectives in finding a man called Farrow, and Ames and Farrow both end up dead, with Shane the chief suspect for both murders. After demanding the truth from Valerie, Shane finds that his office and apartment have been ransacked, and his secretary, Miss Murgatroyd (Marie Wilson) locked in the closet, by Anthony Travers (Arthur Treacher). Travers is searching for "Roland's trumpet", an 8th century ram's horn rumored to be crammed with jewels, which Shane suspects is what Valerie is after as well. Madame Barabbas (Alison Skipworth), a notorious criminal, is also searching for the horn and sends a gunman to bring Shane to her. Working all sides of the street, Shane makes deals with each of them to find the horn, and eventually winds up in possession of the package supposedly containing it—but it turns out to be full of sand instead of jewels. The police round up all the suspects, but Shane and Valerie escape. He baits Valerie into confessing to Ames's murder and turns her over to the police, then runs off with Miss Murgatroyd.

Cast

(original character names from "The Maltese Falcon" are given in "italics")

*Warren William as Ted Shane ("Sam Spade")
*Alison Skipworth as Madame Barabas ("Kasper Gutman")
*Bette Davis as Valerie Purvis ("Brigid O'Shaughnessy")
*Arthur Treacher as Anthony Travers ("Joel Cairo")
*Winifred Shaw as Astrid Ames ("Iva Archer")
*Marie Wilson as Miss Murgatroyd ("Effie Perrine")
*Porter Hall as Ames ("Miles Archer")
*Olin Howlin as Sergeant Roy Dunhill ("Detective Tom Polhaus")
*Charles C. Wilson as Lieutenant Pollock ("Lt. Dundy")
*Barbara Blane as Babe
*Maynard Holmes as Kenneth ("Wilmer")

Production

In 1936, Warner Brothers had attempted to re-release the 1931 version of "The Maltese Falcon", but was denied approval by the Production Code Office due to the film's "lewd" content. They therefore made this light comedy in order to capitalize on the popularity of the earlier film.

The film has been shown under various alternative titles, including "Hard Luck Dame", "Men on Her Mind" and "The Man In" (or "With") "the Black Hat". The film began production on December 1, 1935, and was originally released on July 22, 1936. [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=937&category=Notes Notes] ] [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=937&category=Overview Overview] ]

Notes

External links

*
*
*
*