Better Late Then Never

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I'll try to be fair in my review of this early version of "The Maltese Falcon", but with Bogart as my favorite actor and the 1941 remake as one of my Top 10 films, it's going to be difficult. Not that this isn't a serviceable story, it is, but if you've seen the Bogey crew in action, there's no comparison, at least for this viewer.I never read the Dashiell Hammett novel, so I don't know which Sam Spade more closely resembles the literary version. I can say though, that I didn't care for the Ricardo Cortez portrayal here all that much. Perhaps it's because he was a flagrant womanizer, or because he didn't trade barbs with Polhaus (J. Farrel MacDonald) and Dundy (Robert Elliott) with the sardonic wit of Bogart's Spade. On the flip side though, the fact that Spade understood Chinese was an interesting idea; it's not till late in the story that we learn that Lee Fu Gow told Spade who killed his partner. So he knew all along, and kept it close to the vest to see how things played out.Character for character match-ups between the two pictures makes it a hands down proposition for the later film. How can you top Greenstreet, Lorre and Elisha Cook, Jr. as the heavies compared to the statue hunters here? As Ruth Wonderly, Bebe Daniels uses only one name in the story compared to Mary Astor's character, and Sam's secretary in this version, portrayed by Una Merkel, gave every indication that she had a past, present or future in the romance department with her boss. Bogart's Spade wisely kept his hands to himself around his secretary, maintaining a professional relationship instead of a lecherous one.I guess there are those who'll see things just the other way around with this pre-code version of The Falcon. There's something to be said for the free wheeling attitude displayed toward sexual innuendo in the story. It helps explain how Miss Wonderly wound up with a woman's kimono in Sam's apartment - it belonged to partner Archer's wife!! I did get a big kick out of one thing that blows by pretty quickly if one is not attentive to it. Listen carefully when Sam Spade makes a call to Effie's home phone - her number is Berkeley, Double O-7! It would be a couple decades before writer Ian Fleming came up with that designation for his secret agent, James Bond! I wonder if he saw this picture.

It is amazing to me how the 1931 version with Cortez and the third version with Bogart are so similar. Actors using the same inflection of voice etc. The middle version (second) is not worthy of mention even though it almost cost Bette Davis her career. She complained she was being forced to film "junk" after completing a prestige project like The Petrified Forest. She failed to report to the set. "I was so distressed by the whole tone of the script and the vapidity of my part that I marched up to Mr. Warner's office and demanded that I be given work that was commensurate with my proved ability," she later recalled in her autobiography. She was suspended on December 3 and, angry and resentful but in need of her salary to cover living expenses and other family expenses she reported on December 6. .

When Warner Brothers did the original The Maltese Falcon, they had in mind trying to convert silent star Ricardo Cortez from an ersatz Rudolph Valentino. Latin lovers were going out of style and the cynical Sam Spade character seemed just the thing to give Cortez a new image. Though Cortez did a good job, this Maltese Falcon was put in the shade by the classic with Humphrey Bogart.Cortez's Spade is more of a smart aleck than a cynic. If you've seen the Bogart version you know exactly what happens here. The cast that Warner Brothers assembled to support Cortez and Bebe Daniels as Ms. Wonderly is a good one. I particularly liked Dudley Digges as Guttman and Dwight Frye as Wilmer. The gay relationship is more pronounced as this version is before the Code.It's a good film, but a curiosity most of all to those of us who are fans of the John Huston version.

This film, like the 1941 version of the same movie, is about a group of rogues searching for a famed gold and jewel encrusted statue. Along the way, greed resulted in the murders of several people and the police suspect Sam Spade (Ricardo Cortez) for the murders--or at least thinking he knows far more than he's admitting.While the 1941 version of THE MALTESE FALCON has become a classic, this original version from 1931 is oddly forgotten. While I could understand a little of this (after all, Bogart was better as Sam Spade), it's not fair that the 1931 be given its just due. That's because much of this 1931 film is copied word-for-word in 1941--making the 1941 a rather by the numbers remake. Sure, there are improvements here and there, but nothing essentially ground-breaking or significantly different.So how is the original better and worse than the 1941 film? Well, it's better because Spade is grittier and more amoral--much more like you'd think a real private eye might be. Plus, since it is original, I usually feel that original's are best and deserve to be seen. On the negative side, the 1931 film is lacking much of the wonderful incidental music. This was common for films in 1931, but the 1941 movie sounds better and this makes the film come alive. The pace is also much better in 1941--as the film is less rushed and hence unfolds better. Also, Bogart was a bit better in the lead--a bit more rugged and bigger than life. Finally, the tacked on ending in the 1931 film was unnecessary and actually blunted the impact on the final confrontation scene.Now one way they are VERY different but which is neither better nor worse is that the 1931 film was made before the strengthened Production Code was enforced. This allowed Spade to be much more of a sexual Lothario and there was a scene where it strongly implied that he'd had sex with Bebe Daniels' character--something that did NOT happen in the later film.Overall, this is a terrific film--especially since it was so much better than the average fare of the day. While not quite as good as the 1941 version, it's so close that frankly it's almost a toss up as to which is best. Despite all the hype, the 1931 FALCON is a great film and one not to be missed by film historians and lovers of Pre-Code cinema.