Wonderful character development!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The issue with this second adaptation of The Maltese Falcon is that Warner brothers wanted to not really adapt the book; they had adapted it years before, but that was in a pre-code, early-sound era studio that was trying things out. In 1934 Hammett's The Thin Man became a big hit and clearly they saw the author name and thought they could lock in to another winning turn by, in so many words, thin-manning the Maltese Falcon.But these are two very different modes of the author - the Thin Man is a light comedy that has some serious undertones and is commanded by Powell and Loy, and the Maltese Falcon was a hard-boiled detective story where Sam Spade has to avenge his partners murder and becomes embroiled with a host of characters - and director William Dieterle thought he could have it both ways. Certainly Warren William tried to channel Powell a lot here, and he might be good in other movies (I don't recognize him), but he's really a discount William Powell, a guy trying really hard to have that charming, sarcastic patter with everyone. The script doesn't really give the audience a break from his attitude so that when he has to play serious it doesn't stick so much.It may be unfair at first thought to try to compare this to the Huston film since, if for no other reason, this was a world that didn't exist. The one thing that this film can possibly compare favorably is Bette Davis. It's an understatement to say she stole the show; she is having so much fun in this part and at the same time doing her darndest to uplift everyone around her. She is beaming and on fire and alive in every moment on screen and there are a few seconds where it seems like she might, might, get a spark of a connection with William. And she's in about 20 minutes of the 74 minute run time.I think this can be judged on its own terms, and on its own it just compelling past being a typical B movie comedy-cum-thriller. All of the supporting players are trying. Sort of. But a couple of actors, like Marie Wilson as (not) Spade's secretary, are given one character trait and it is grating. The tone is all just off and it is trying to be too light when it needs some darkness or at least some commitment to the dramatics of the story. I will give one little extra point to the end of the film and again how Davis is giving an A+ barn burning performance in the middle of a C-grade production.

Second film version of The Maltese Falcon is worth a look but pales by comparison to either the 1931 version or the 1941 classic. The problem is they cut so much of what makes the story great, particularly most of Dashiell Hammett's great dialogue. They also add a lot of unfunny comedy to things. Warren William is Ted Shane (not Sam Spade) and he spends the whole movie trying to be as annoying as possible. I think he was supposed to be roguishly charming but it just came across as smug and irritating. Marie Wilson, who I normally like, also gets on my nerves here. Worth seeing for the curiosity factor, as well as Bette Davis, who looks great and is the most interesting part of the movie.

True, it's based on Dashiel Hammet's "The Maltese Falcon," just like the Bogart movie a few years later, but the basics of the plot are about all they have in common. "Satan Met A Lady" is breezy and whimsical. As "Ted Shane," the private eye, Warren William is always chuckling and laughing. He finds humor in every situation and his dialog consists of wisecracks and flirtatious double entendres. He strides around, grinning in his long overcoat and wide-brimmed fedora. Brings to mind an opening line of an old novel: "He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." Bette Davis as the character who would later become Brigid O'Shaugnessy, has little to do except respond in a pop-eyed fashion to William's antics. Joel Cairo is gone, replaced by Arthur Treacher as a ten-foot tall Englishman. The most interesting figure, so to speak, is the sexy blond, Marie Wilson, who has taken the part of Effie, Sam Spade's secretary. Wilson is dutiful but dumb. When William asks how she spells her last name, Murgatroyd, she has to stumble through it, letter by letter, and then jumps for joy when she gets it right.It's not a BAD movie. It's just very different from the John Huston version. "Satan Met A Lady" fits better into the genre of fast B-level detective stories that were so common in the 30s, often as second features. God knows the plot of the novel is confusing enough, but when the characters themselves don't really care much about it, the viewer is left deserted, marooned.I'll give one example of the difference in tone and then quit. In Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" (as in the novel), Miles Archer is lured into an alley and shot dead. Spade shows up, looks down at the body of his partner from a distance, then shrugs and moves away with no comment of importance and no display of emotion. Today, the city of San Francisco has a small brass plaque on the corner of a building that fronted the alley, memorializing the event. Bogart's behavior is entirely serious during the scene, and it adds another layer of mystery. The murdered body of his partner is lying at the foot of a hill but Bogart reveals nothing of his feelings. What's going on? In "Satan Met A Lady," William gets a phone call and shows up at the crime scene -- a cemetery this time, with his partner's legs sprawled awkwardly across a tomb stone. William shakes his head a bit, as if having discovered a hangnail, and the situation provides material for a joke: Well, at least if he's going to die, he found the most suitable place for it. The impression is not one of mystery, of feelings or thoughts withheld, but one of shallowness. William seems genuinely not to care.At any rate, if you're looking for a filmed version of the novel, you won't find it here. If you're looking for something that won't challenge you a great deal -- as long as you don't try following the anfractuous plot -- this may be your kind of movie.

Of the three versions of Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon", it is ironic that it is the third version that has become the classic, and the archetype for private eye mysteries. The first version (made under the original title starring Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels, but re-titled "Dangerous Female" after the third version to avoid confusion) was actually pretty good, with its pre-code elements quite thrilling. But the heat of that version was defused for this version, which actually focuses on the search for a mysteriously cursed musical instrument, a trumpet (sometimes referred to as a saxophone or a french horn to cause some confusion) that has caused some of its owners to die mysteriously. Involved in the search for it is a mysterious blonde (Bette Davis) and a heavyset con-artists (Alison Skipworth) who mystify private investigator Warren William and his dumb bunny secretary (Marie Wilson) as to their desire to have it.Why this film fails has nothing to do with the writing or the structuring, but mostly for the performance of the usually entertaining Warren William. He plays the private investigator as if he was making fun of the whole idea. In fact, the film seems like it was made as some sort of prank, like it was not meant for public view but simply a clowning exercise for some of Warner Brothers' top talent to show at a studio party as a practical joke. Fortunately, Bette Davis and Alison Skipworth take their roles (somewhat) seriously, although Wilson (with the bizarre last name of Murgatroyd), Arthur Treacher (as a really idiotic Englishman interested in the trumpet), and Maynard Holmes in what would become the Peter Lorre role of Joel Cairo in the third version, all seem to be drilling for oil with their tongue in cheek. This destroys the impact of some of the most clever lines and the result is a disaster. The third version remains the best because of its impact on the future of a certain genre called film noir.