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

tensions of the unresolved musical score. The book begins more sedately and allows its

sense of mystery to build. The book and the movie have essentially the same beginning in

terms of action and dialogue--Sam Spade is seated in his office when his secretary, Effie,
enters and tells him a girl waiting to see him. Spade asks if she is a customer, and Effie says:

"I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway: she's a knockout" (Hammett 1). The same line

appears in the film, as does Spade's "Shoo her in" (Hammett 1). Hammett, of course, has to

describe his characters, while Huston merely shows them. However, Hammett also is able

to convey much about inner character and modes of thinking in the way he describes his

characters, while Huston has to accomplish the same thing through the many elements he

can include in the frame, from the mode of dress to the design of the office, from the way

the actors relate to one another physically in a scene to the expressions they use as they

speak and look at one another. Hammett describes Sam Spade first, fitting since Spade is

the central character and since he is always present in every scene thereafter. He is

described as looking "pleasantly like a blond satan" (Hammett 1), a characterization that

does not apply physically to Humphrey Bogart but that Bogart plays to the hilt just the

same, combining the strong qualities of Spade with a sense of darkness beneath, as if

veering between hero and satan throughout the film. Right from the beginning, he is an

ambiguous character as the camera slides down from reading the letters reversed in his

window--"Spade and Archer"--to find him rolling cigarettes when Effie comes into the

office. The angle Huston chooses as the camera looks up at Effie and the expectant, smiling

challenge in her manner gives an edge to the simple announcement that someone is here to

see her boss. In the novel, Effie leans against the door after she comes in, a gesture with

some of the same familiarity as seen in the film but without that added low-down quality of

the film. In this first scene, every action tends to point to something more sinister,

dangerous, and sexual to come, all rolled into each gesture and camera angle.
The scene unfolds much as in the book. Huston allows the character of Miss Wonderly to

convey the exposition in a rush, without as many interruptions from Spade as are found in

the book before Miles enters. Hammett describes the scene using small details to convey

the attitude shown by Miles and the way the man thinks:

While the girl looked at her bag he looked at her. His little brown eyes ran their bold

appraising gaze from her lowered face to her feet and up to he face again. Then he looked at

Spade and made a silent whistling mouth of appreciation (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 deductions about why Archer has his coat buttoned and seems to

have been willing to go into the alley with his killer. The scene also emphasizes the ironies

of the previous scene and generates the energy carrying through into the sext several

sequences.

Huston dissolves from the office scene, from the words on the floor, to the next setting with

the street signs, then cuts to Archer as he steps into the alley and turns expectantly. The

previous scene has ended with a wide-shot of the two partners, one on each side of the

screen, with desks in the same room and yet oddly separated in physical space and attitude.

The shot has resonance for much of what is to come, both in terms of the lack of real feeling

Spade has for his partner and for the duty he feels to do something just because his partner

is killed and because investigating the death is the right thing to do. "Spade and Archer" is a

pairing reinforced by the shot, by the opening shot of the window, and by the closing shot

of the shadow on the floor. Huston uses visual cues to set these concepts in the viewer's

mind while Hammett does not feel the need to do this beyond the action of the scene itself

with the two partners meeting and asking questions of Miss Wonderly. Hammett reveals

the same attitudes on the part of Spade, but Huston represents them visually as well as

aurally while Hammett present them primarily in terms of dialogue.

In the third scene, Huston uses the scene as a way of setting concepts and preparing for

later events. Hammett simply has Spade awakened by the phone call telling him of Archer's

death, after which he rolls a cigarette and gets up and dresses. Huston has Spade make a
phone call to Effie to tell her what has happened and to have her prepare the widow for the

news, since he does not want to tell her himself. This scene is key for what takes place later

in the office when the widow and Spade meet and show that they have had a relationship

which is now ended for him and not necessarily for her. Huston shoots the scene in

darkness, and we only hear Spade's voice coming from one side after he picks up the phone.

Until he is finished, he does not turn on the light. When he does, we see it is 2:05 in the

morning, the same time as in the book. The visual style of the scene is to place the viewer in

the same half-wakened darkness Spade finds himself in when the phone rings and to

concentrate the viewer's attention on listening to what Spade is saying on the phone.

Throughout the film, Huston uses the positioning of the camera and the movement of

camera and actor within a scene to convey a sense of the control exercised by the detective.

In the opening scene, the precise way Spade makes his cigarette and does not stop even

when Effie comes in shows how he controls every action and interaction. He has an

authority that is emphasized by both camera and actor. When the widow is about to enter

the office, Spade positions himself before his desk with a half-smile and waits--there is

something precise and calculatingly theatrical about the way Spade prepares for

encounters, placing himself in the best position and waiting for the scene to unfold before

him. He plays his part, but he is always watching the other person closely, seeking clues to

truth and falsity, to innocence and guilt. In the opening scene, he watches Miss Wonderly in

this fashion. As she takes money from her purse, he and Archer look at one another, both

assessing the woman, her story, and the money she is about to present.
As noted, all of this is in keeping with the spirit of the novel but is accomplished through

filmic terms, with the mise-en-scène and the montage operating to direct the attention of

the viewer toward important information and emphasizing relations between scenes,

people, and verbal expressions. Huston makes the film more unified than the book and uses

shorthand to convey ideas, which the novelist can be less direct about presenting.

Work Cited

Dieterle, William. Satan Met a Lady. Warner Brothers, 1936.

Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930.

Houston, John. The Maltese Falcon. Warner Brothers, 1941.