#Effie Perine

[noirgasmweetheart]

"The Black Bird" (1975)

The stuff dreams are made of.

The kind of dreams you have when you pass out on the sofa after O.D.-ing on Cheetos, Mike's, and unrelated movies from wildly different eras.

If you're a fan of the film noir classic "the Maltese Falcon" from 1941, you may have heard about 1975's failed attempt at a comedy sequel, called "the Black Bird." Well, it's on YouTube for free, I watched it on Friday, and I actually enjoyed it.

Before you let this change your opinion, you should probably know that I also enjoyed "Meet the Feebles," "Leprechaun in Space," and "Lord of the G-Strings."

It's a '70s exploitation film (whether intentionally or not)

If you want a truly funny comedy worthy of Mel Brooks, you'll probably hate this movie. If you want a serious tribute to "the Maltese Falcon," you'll definitely hate it. But if you enjoy bad '70s exploitation flicks, you might actually find "the Black Bird" amusing.

If you're unfamiliar with the term, "exploitation films" were a genre from the '70s and '80s. Usually over the top (for the time) in violence and vulgarity, exploitation films pandered to things like shock value, or revenge fantasies for minorities (leading to the "Blaxploitation" genre).

"The Black Bird" is not a particularly violent movie. Instead of exploiting violence, sex or any minority group, "the Black Bird" exploits a famous classic. While there's no nudity and almost no blood, it has many other staples of a classic '70s exploitation flick: mismatched buddy-cop relationships, bad acting, awkward sound dubbing, face-palming racial humor, vaguely Disco-ish music (when there is any music), funky '70s fashion, and a Nazi dwarf (Felix Silla).

Lest you forget that this is a '70s movie.

If you're entertained by "Blackula," "Lisztomania," "They Saved Hitler's Brain," "Gums," or any of Ralph Bakshi's earlier films, "the Black Bird" might be up your alley.

The Plot:

34 years after the events of "The Maltese Falcon," Kasper Gutman is shot dead, after apparently living to be around 100 (and at his weight!). His dying words: "It's black, and long as your arm." Frankly, I can think of no better sentence to illustrate the transition from classic '40s noir to the new lowbrow grit of the 70s.

On the case is Sam Spade Jr. (George Segal), whose surname is the source of many a racial punchline. To be fair, Sam Jr. says in-universe that he's tired of hearing that joke every five minutes. Junior has herited his father's name, job and secretary. Lee Patrick revises her role as Effie, who Spade Jr. calls "Godzilla."

Her character is possibly the only thing that is unironically great about this movie. The sassy young Effie aging into a draconian old lady would be believable and wonderful even in a serious sequel.

Elisha Cook Jr. also returns as Wilmer, but only for one scene.

If you wanted Wilmer to live to a ripe old age....well he did. But if you wanted him to die in a cabin in the woods surrounded by birds, after having gone straight for the last 30 years of his life, this might disappoint you. But it's probably closer to how a gunslinger like Wilmer would've wanted to go.

The new femme fatale is Anna Kemindov (Stéphane Audran), daughter of the unseen general from the first movie. I can't say that her character's motivations made much sense, but she does sport some funky 70s fashion and one sweet-ass hideout.

The Good

Much of the dumb humor made me laugh, even when I saw it coming a mile away. The running gag about Spade Jr.'s old car entertained the Muppet fan in me, and the "stand up Spade" moment was worthy of "Blazing Saddles." The final ending gag was the most predictable and unoriginal joke in the entire film, but something about the shark's face and how it moved was just hilarious.

One thing I unironically really liked was how in the dark Spade Jr. was regarding the Maltese Falcon. He knows it was his dad's biggest case, but doesn't care. He isn't familiar with the names Wilmer Cook, Kasper Gutman or Admiral Kemindov, and can't keep them straight. And he doesn't recognize any of the Easter eggs Wilmer, Anna or Effie drop into their dialogue.

Missed Opportunites:

I would really have liked at least one reference to Joel Cairo, and can't believe a movie of this type passed up the opportunity to have someone do a bad Peter Lorre impression while recounting past events.

There's also no mention of Brigid O'Shaughnessy, nor who Spade Jr.'s mother is. Having Brigid give birth to Jr. in prison and then more or less discard him would have fit perfectly into Spade Jr.'s backstory, and the movie's style of black comedy.

With the movie's vulgar humor, I'm also stunned that the word "gunsel" never came up when Spade Jr. was dealing with Wilmer. On that subject, more than one cameos from Wilmer would've been appreciated. But maybe Elisha Cook Jr. was only available for one scene.

Cannon?

The literal events onscreen are too ridiculous to truly take place in the same universe as "the Maltese Falcon." But I could imagine that a caper similar to this occurred, and is being recounted by a very sardonic, bitter, and drunk Spade Jr., who is embellishing and maybe misremembering.

Like, maybe the villain was really just a very short man with a Nazi history, who Spade Jr. is sarcastically remimagning as a literal dwarf in an S.S. uniform. Maybe Anna Kemindov just seemed a bit off to Jr, and his drunk mind is exaggerating her antics. Maybe when the jailer said "Get up Spade," Spade's Black cell mates just gave the jailer a look until realizing in awkward silence that it was the white guy's name. "The Black Bird" certainly seems like the story a bitter drunkard would be spinning.

The one thing Spade Jr. is not embellishing or misremembering though is "Godzilla." Effie is every bit the firey old lady portrayed onscreen. That, in my head, is 100% canon.

[that-one-stressed-person]

YOU GUYS, I GOT A NEW BOOK!!!!

[londonhalcyon]

Sevika????? The old enforcers general??? I can't think of any other fem character that isn't considered a main one??? Unless Babette?

Ohhh, you might be disappointed to learn just how vanilla I am.

To be fair, I do like several different types of characters; this just happens to be one of the most prominent ones.

Arcane Season 2, Act 1 spoilers below the cut—plus a body horror jumpscare and a loooong essay on the inner workings of my mind.

It’s Elora! Who kinda might be already very dead by the start of the next act.

If you’ve seen how I write Kathy in The Mad Witch or Ellie in my Fallout 4 fics—or even just how I adore characters like Effie Perine from The Maltese Falcon—you might be able to guess how much I love the “keen-eyed assistant with a witty sense of humor” kind of character. The ones who are present for major events but stand off to the side, not directly involved but certainly observing.

I liked Elora well enough in Season 1. We aren’t given too much about her, but Arcane is brilliant at sneaking in small details—enough to make me go, “Huh! What’s going on with you?” From context, we’re able to tell:

While Elora is Mel’s assistant, they have a really friendly relationship that appears grounded in loyalty and trust, which is fascinating considering the whole political chess game always going on.

It’s highly likely Elora followed Mel into exile from Noxus, which raises a whole host of questions about any life she may have left behind.

It’s possible Elora may be required to report on Mel to Ambessa. She definitely handles communications with her. Though, if this is the case, she seems loyal to Mel first.

So Season 1 got me idly asking questions, but my general reaction was still, “Cool! Fun background character!”

Now we have Act 1 of Season 2. Y’all…the show can’t do this to me. It’s not fair.

In like two minutes of screen time we get confirmation that Elora does serve as a sort of spymaster for Mel—and the girl is stressed. She seems almost distraught that Mel had to seek information from another source, that she can’t work out what Ambessa is planning. And that reaction caught me off guard? Like, hold on, now I really want to know what’s going on with you.

Only then they’re immediately attacked by the Black Rose and as I’m internally screaming, “Nononono, don’t you dare, don’t you dare,” Elora is doing a horror movie turn towards the camera in tears as roses grow out of her face and you can’t do this to me—you can’t get me asking questions about a character and then threaten to kill that character off a minute later.

So, I foresee one of three things happening next:

The roses killed her, meaning she’ll be dead at the start of the next act,

She survives, at least for a minute, or

She’s actually a double agent and her anxiety was either a deception or because she knew what was about to happen.

But I do trust Arcane’s writers. Even minor character deaths have a tendency to haunt the narrative, so I’m very curious what effect there will be if she does die. Depending on what happens, though, I might have to write something just to give myself closure, because I have already spent way too much time thinking about a character who stands in the background for most of the show.

[beatricebidelaire]

the sugar bowl as the maltese falcon

kit snicket as sam spade beatrice baudelaire as brigid o’shaughnessy

count olaf as floyd thursby duchess r as effie perine bertrand as miles archer dewey denouement as iva archer esme as casper gutman geraldine julienne as joel cairo carmelita spats as wilmer cook

[whoslaurapalmer]

watched in a lonely place and putting my small thoughts under a cut bc this was the sort of movie where, for me, if on the first watch it had been spoiled, it would have irreparably ruined the tension, and I will discuss the ending

-it had more romance I felt than the average noir? which was, ugggggg, heartbreaking with how it turned out!

-I wasn't sure if dix had done it -- I thought it would be most narratively satisfying, though, if he hadn't, bc of the emphasis on how much he could have, esp bc he had no real motive -because it's not about WHO did it, really, in this movie, it's the POSSIBILITY of dix having done it, and that's really the truth of noirs set up like this, the -- okay funnily enough, the capability of humphrey bogart specifically to "did he or didn’t he" commit murder -maltese falcon.........the two mrs. carrolls.......conflict........i guess you could count dark passage, a little........and now in a lonely place...........

(-okay it's been like almost 20 years since I've seen the two mrs. carrolls but I'm pretty sure that particular tension IS in there)

-that's where the fear is, the tension, the horror, and then the tragedy, in this movie in particular, he didn't but he could have, in the right circumstances, he didn't but he almost killed two other people, he didn't but he is so clearly capable of a level of extreme violence

-noir is about the right circumstances pushing people to their worst, to being capable of their worst -and it's so potent here!

-i did think the ex-boyfriend being the killer was a bit of a letdown, especially with him trying to commit suicide, bc we see so little of him for it to truly matter, but, it's really neither here nor there in the ultimate thematic scope of the movie -although that's a bummer for mildred :( i liked her a lot and she deserved better :( -i considered the thought that dix might try and kill himself, too, but that might've been too much after the boyfriend, and dix walking away at the end was powerful -especially bc, the reveal of the killer doesn't magically fix the damage that, technically he's done, but that specifically dix has done -i knew so little about the movie going into it that when mildred showed up i was like 'ohhh is she the one who's gonna get drawn into the web of a detective-esque man's shadiness and despair........wait i'm thinking of effie perine my beloved. ......wait is mildred dead????? oh holy shit what the fuck!' -really funny that there WAS still an effie in the movie. effie my beloved vacuum-toting maid who just wants to clean the damn apartments

-me: ........is this sazz's apartment building??????? oh okay no separate but very similar apartment complexes, thanks only murders reddit.

-laurel and dix really are doomed in this and like. dooming each other. themselves. it hurt!!! ugggggggg I really liked it!!!!!!!!!!!!! -he really is in. a lonely place.

-bogart really fucking killed it here too, like I REALLY liked his acting especially, it was exceptionally great acting from a man who was consistently good in the first place -super charmed w gloria grahame's eyebrows. and her whole face

-sylvia's actress reminded me a little of pat hitchcock, which was neat! i wish pat hitchcock had acted more bc she was an absolute delight when she did. i really liked sylvia's character too -"i wanted to say those things out loud and be laughed at. but you're not laughing" is like, a legitimately haunting scene

[notmuchtoconceal]

( o ) The Maltese Falcon ( o )

I . Spade & Archer

Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were horizontal. The v motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down -- from high flat temples -- in a point on his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan.

He said to Effie Perine: "Yes, sweetheart?"

She was a lanky sunburned girl whose tan dress of thin woolen stuff clung to her with an effect of dampness. Her eyes were brown and playful in a shiny boyish face. She finished shutting the door behind her, leaned against it, and said: "There's a girl wants to se you. Her name's Wonderly."

"A customer?"

"I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway: she's a knockout."

"Shoo her in, darling," said Spade. "Shoo her in."

Effie Perine opened the door again, following it back into the outer office, standing with a hand on the knob while saying: "Will you come in, Miss Wonderly?"

A voice said, "Thank you," so softly that only the purest articulation made the words intelligible, and a young woman came through the doorway. She advanced slowly, with tentative steps, looking at Spade with cobalt-blue eyes that were both shy and probing.

She was tall and pliantly slender, without angularity anywhere. Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow. She wore two shades of blue that had been selected because of her eyes. The hair curling from under her blue hat was darkly red, her full lips more brightly red. White teeth glistened in the crescent her timid smile made.

Spade rose bowing and indicating with a thick-fingered hand the oaken armchair beside his desk.

He was quite six feet tall.

The steep rounded slope of his shoulders made his body seem almost conical -- no broader than it was thick -- and kept his freshly pressed grey coat from fitting very well.

Miss Wonderly murmured, "Thank you," softly as before and sat down on the edge of the chair's wooden seat. Spade sank into his swivel-chair, made a quarter-turn to face her, smiled politely. He smiled without separating his lips. All the v's in his face grew longer.

The tappity-tap-tap and the thin bell and muffled whit of Effie Perine's typewriting came through the closed door. Somewhere in a neighboring office a power-driven machine vibrated dully. On Spade's desk a limp cigarette smoldered in a brass tray filled with the remains of limp cigarettes. Ragged grey flakes of cigarette-ash dotted the yellow top of the desk and the green blotter and the papers that were there. A buff-curtained window, eight of ten inches open, let in from the court a current of air faintly scented with ammonia. The ashes on the desk twitched and crawled in the current.

Miss Wonderly watched the grey flakes twitch and crawl. Her eyes were uneasy. She sat on the very edge of the chair. Her feet were flat on the floor, as if she were about to rise. Her hands in dark gloves clasped a dark handbag in her lap.

Spade rocked back in his chair and asked: "Now what can I do for you, Miss Wonderly?"

She caught her breath and looked at him. She swallowed and said hurriedly: "Could you --? I thought -- I -- that is --" Then she tortured her lower lip with glistening teeth and said nothing. Only her dark eyes spoke now, pleading.

Spade smiled and nodded as if he understood her, but pleasantly, as if nothing serious were involved. He said "Suppose you tell me about it, from the beginning, and then we'll know what needs doing. Better begin as far back as you can."

"That was in New York."

"Yes."

"I don't know where she met him. I mean I don't know where in New York. She's five years younger than I -- only seventeen -- and we didn't have the same friends. I don't suppose we've ever been as close as sisters should be. Mama and Papa are in Europe. It would kill them. I've got to get her back before they come home."

"Yes," he said.

"They're coming home the first of the month."

Spade's eyes brightened. "Then we've two weeks," he said.

"I didn't know what she had done until her letter came. I was frantic." Her lips trembled. Her hands mashed the dark handbag in her lap. "I was too afraid she had done something like this to go to the police, and the fear that something had happened to her kept urging me to go. There wasn't anyone I could go to for advice. I didn't know what to do.

... What could I do?"

"Nothing, of course," Spade said, "but then her letter came?"

"Yes, and I sent her a telegram asking her to come home. I sent it to General Delivery here. That was the only address she gave me. I waited a whole week, but no answer came, not another word from her. And Mama and Papa's return was drawing nearer and nearer. So I came to San Francisco to get her. I wrote her I was coming. I shouldn't have done that, should i?"

"Maybe not. It's not always easy to know what to do. You haven't found her?"

"No, I haven't. I wrote her that I would go to the St. Mark, and I begged her to come and let me talk to her even if she didn't intend to go home with me. But she didn't come. I waited three days, and she didn't come, didn't even send me a message of any sort."

Spade nodded his blond satan's head, frowned sympathetically, and tightened his lips together.

"It was horrible," Miss Wonderly said, trying to smile. "I couldn't sit there like that -- waiting -- not knowing what had happened to her, what might be happening to her." She stopped trying to smile. She shuddered. "The only address I had was General Delivery. I wrote her another letter, and yesterday afternoon I went to the Post Office. I stayed there until after dark, but I didn't see her. I went there again this morning, and still didn't see Corinne, but I saw Floyd Thursby."

Spade nodded again. His frown went away. In its place came a look of sharp attentiveness.

"He wouldn't tell me where Corinne was," she went on, hopelessly. "He wouldn't tell me anything, except that she was well and happy. But how can I believe that? That is what he would tell me anyhow, isn't it?"

"Sure," Spade agreed. "But it might be true."

"I hope it is. I do hope it is," she exclaimed. "But I can't go back home like this, without having seen her, without even having talked to her on the phone. He wouldn't take me to her. He said she didn't want to see me. I can't believe that. He promised to tell her he had seen me, and to bring her to see me - if she would come - this evening at the hotel. He said he knew she wouldn't. He promised to come himself if she wouldn't. He--"

She broke off with a startled hand to her mouth as the door opened.

( o )

The man who had opened the door came in a step, said "Oh, excuse me!" hastily took his brown hat from his head, and backed out.

"It's all right, Miles," Spade told him. "Come in. Miss Wonderly, this is Mr. Archer, my partner."

Miles Archer came into the office again, shutting the door behind him, ducking his head and smiling at Miss Wonderly, making a vaguely polite gesture with the hat in his hand. He was of medium height, solidly built, wide in the shoulders, thick in the neck, with a jovial heavy-jawed red face and some grey in his close-trimmed hair. He was apparently as many years past forty as Spade was past thirty.

Spade said: "Miss Wonderly's sister ran away from New York with a fellow named Floyd Thursby. They're here. Miss Wonderly has seen Thursby and has a date with him tonight. Maybe he'll bring the sister with him. The chances are he won't. Miss Wonderly wants us to find the sister and get her away from him and back home." He looked at Miss Wonderly. "Right?"

"Yes," she said indistinctly. The embarrassment that had gradually been driven away by Spade's ingratiating smiles and nods and assurances was pinkening her face again. She looked at the bag in in her lap and picked nervously at it with a gloved finger.

Spade winked at his partner.

Miles Archer came forward to stand at a corner of the desk. 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 her face again. Then he looked at Spade and made a silent whistling mouth of appreciation. Spade lifted two fingers from the arm of his chair in a brief warning gesture and said:

"We shouldn't have any trouble with it. It's simply a matter of having a man at the hotel this evening to shadow him away when he leaves, and shadow him until he leads us to your sister. If she comes with him, and you persuade her to return with you, so much the better. Otherwise --if she doesn't want to leave him after we've found her -- well, we'll find a way of managing that."

Archer said: "Yeh." His voice was heavy, coarse.

Miss Wonderly looked up at Spade, quickly, puckering her forehead between her eyebrows.

'"Oh, but you must be careful!" Her voice shook a little, and her lips shaped the words with nervous jerkiness. "I'm deathly afraid of him, of what he might do. She's so young and his bringing her here from New York is such a serious -- Mightn't he -- mightn't he do -- something to her?"

Spade smiled and patted the arms of his chair.

"Just leave that to us," he said. "We'll know how to handle him."

"But mightn't he?" she insisted.

"There's always a chance." Spade nodded judicially. "But you can trust us to take care of that."

"I do trust you," she said earnestly, "but I want you to know that he's a dangerous man. I honestly don't think he'd stop at anything. I don't believe he'd hesitate to -- to kill Corinne if he thought it would save him. Mightn't he do that?"

"You didn't threaten him, did you?"

"I told him that all I wanted was to get her home before Mama and Papa came so they'd never know what she had done. I promised him I'd never say a word to them about it if he helped me, but if he didn't Papa would certainly see that he was punished. I - I don't suppose he believed me, altogether."

"Can he cover up by marrying her?" Archer asked.

The girl blushed and replied in a confused voice: "He has a wife and three children in England. Corinne wrote me that, to explain why she had gone off with him."

"They usually do," Spade said, "though not always in England." He leaned forward to reach for pencil and pad of paper. "What does he look like?"

"Oh, he's thirty-five years old, perhaps, and as tall as you, and either naturally dark or quite sunburned. His hair is dark too, and he has thick eyebrows. He talks in a rather loud, blustery way and has a nervous, irritable manner. He gives the impression of being -- of violence."

Spade, scribbling on the pad, asked without looking up: "What color eyes?"

"They're blue-grey and watery, though not in a weak way. And -- oh, yes -- he has a marked cleft in his chin."

"Thin, medium, or heavy build?"

"Quite athletic. He's broad-shouldered and carries himself erect, has what could be called a decidedly military carriage. He was wearing a light grey suit and a grey hat when I saw him this morning."

"What does he do for a living?" Spade asked as he laid down his pencil.

"I don't know" she said. "I haven't the slightest idea."

"What time is he coming to see you?"

"After eight o'clock."

"All right, Miss Wonderly, we'll have a man there. It'll help if --"

"Mr. Spade, could either you or Mr. Archer?" She made an appealing gesture with both hands. "Could either of you look after it personally? I don't mean that the man you'd send wouldn't be capable, but - oh! - I'm so afraid of what might happen to Corinne. I'm afraid of him. Could you? I'd be -- I'd expect to be charged more, of course." She opened her hand-bag with nervous fingers and put two hundred-dollar bills on Spade's desk. "Would that be enough?"

"Yeh," Archer said, "and I'll look after it myself."

Miss Wonderly stood up, impulsively holding a hand out to him.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she exclaimed, and then gave Spade her hand, repeating: "Thank you!"

"Not at all," Spade said over it "Glad to. It'll help some if you either meet Thursby downstairs or let yourself be seen in the lobby with him at some time."

"I wil," she promised, and thanked the partners again.

"And don't look for me," Archer cautioned her. "I'll see you all right."

( )

Spade went to the corridor-door with Miss Wonderly. When he returned to his desk Archer nodded at the hundred-dollar bills there, growled complacently, "They're right enough," picked one up, folded it, and tucked it into a vest-pocket. "And they had brothers in her bag."

Spade pocketed the other bill before he sat down. Then he said: "Well, don't dynamite her too much. What do you think of her?"

"Sweet! And you telling me not to dynamite her." Archer guffawed suddenly without merriment. "Maybe you saw her first, Sam, but I spoke first." He put his hands in his trousers-pockets and teetered on his heels.

"You'll play hell with her, you will." Spade grinned wolfishly, showing the edges of his teeth far back in his jaw. "You've got brains, yes you have."

He began to make a cigarette.

[motherwitch]

Having one of those days where I want to start a multi even though I can’t keep up with the one I have.

[ehlihr]

listen. if they ever re adapt the maltese falcon for the big screens and dont make effie perine a lesbian. the director is going to have my fists meet their face

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Una Merkel as Effie Perine in The Maltese Falcon (1931). Una's other honorable mentions are Broadway Melody of 1936 and Born to Dance.

[chiseler]

Hammett Made It Easy

To put it bluntly, it is simply, humanly impossible to watch Roy Del Ruth’s original 1931 film version of The Maltese Falcon without drawing comparisons and parallels with John Huston’s much more popular (if not exactly “timeless”) version from a decade later. After all, in many fundamental ways the films are a nearly identical match, scene for scene and line for line. Almost, anyway. Enough so that you’d notice.

The fault for this lies squarely on the shoulders of author Dashiell Hammett. whose 1930 novel made straying from the original source material extremely difficult. The sharp dialogue, the snappy pacing, and the already cinematic scene structure are all so very good that there was little reason to go messing with it. In fact, as the story goes, when screenwriter John Huston made the decision to move into directing, Howard Hawks gave him a copy of the book as a potential first project shortly before Huston left on a vacation. Huston handed the book to his secretary and told her to type it up in script format. She did, and it was that initial version straight from the book that was green-lighted by the studio—even before Huston had had a chance to read it.

Huston later made a few minor changes and additions, but one has to wonder if ten years earlier screenwriters Maude Fulton and Brown Holmes didn’t work much the same way, given how much of the 1931 film’s dialogue reappears verbatim in Huston’s—with the notable exception of the Shakespeare quote that closes the latter (a line supposedly suggested by Humphrey Bogart).

Granted, Huston’s film runs twenty minutes longer than Del Ruth’s spiffy 80-minute number (for a number of reasons, including a much larger role for the hapless gunsel Wilmer and an extended final sequence), but nevertheless if you remove the script from the equation, comparing the two films becomes much easier. At that point the remaining important factors are the directors and their styles, and the casts and their performances.

By 1931, Del Ruth was already well underway in a directing career that would find him making comedies, musicals, dramas, Westerns, and even the occasional horror film. Although comedies were his real forte (he would soon direct Lee Tracy in Blessed Event), taking on something like the Hammett novel was not that unusual. He was not a particularly remarkable director, and stylistically his films resembled most other standard films of the day. The scenes were quick, the camera was static, he didn’t have much time for pizzazz. As was the case of so many of the films of the era, his pictures often resembled filmed stage plays. He was on a tight schedule, and as soon as he finished one he had to be on to the next in a couple days. In the end he crafted an entertaining, well-told story, and that’s all the studio and audiences were looking for.

Meanwhile, The Maltese Falcon was going to be Huston’s directorial debut after having solidly established himself as a respected screenwriter. Some of the suits at Warner Brothers were hesitant to let him make the leap, so he had to prove to them he could do it, and approached the film with the kind of energy and big ideas you find with so many first-time directors. Although the film wasn’t as flashy and inventive as Citizen Kane, Huston did pull out a few tricks, like the famed seven-minute take, and the camera work was fluid and energetic. Even if audiences didn’t notice a number of his little flourishes, it was still a very confident film. More importantly, it was an entertaining, well-told story—and that’s what the studio and audiences were really looking for.

(It’s worth noting, however, that Huston’s version was much tamer than Del Ruth’s—perhaps for obvious reasons. In Del Ruth’s version there’s no pussyfooting around the fact that Sam Spade really is having an affair with his partner’s wife. Nor is there any question what happens after Spade accuses Ruth Wonderly/ Brigid O'Shaughnessy of only using money to buy his allegiance.)

What Huston really had on his side was, if not star power exactly, then at least a handful of familiar faces. It might have been Sydney Greenstreet’s film debut, but audiences certainly recognized Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook, and Bogart. Up until this point of course Bogart had only been a character player, but his star was definitely on the rise, and broke with this film.

Del Ruth, on the other hand, was working with an armload of good, available B actors. Most of them worked regularly, but they weren’t exactly Joan Blondell or Douglas Fairbanks.

It’s in looking at the performances of the two groups that the real differences between the films arises. Take the character of Sam Spade, for instance. Bogart’s performance as the womanizing, sharp tongued private dick always struck me as stiff and stagey—you can almost hear him thinking of each gesture before he makes it, and each line before he speaks it. There’s something tangibly artificial in his performance, the feeling that we really are watching an actor, and moreover one who’s not trying very hard.  Or maybe one who’s letting his stage training get the better of him, thinking the dialogue alone will carry the day. I of course love Bogart, just not here, particularly.

Ricardo Cortez (in reality the NYC-born son of Austrian immigrants) portrayed a much looser, more easy-going Spade, always ready with a quip and forever chasing skirts. He gives a much more relaxed performance that often borders on the straight comic. In spite of the fact that Cortez is much more comfortable in the role, it seems, his Spade is almost out of place here, smirking his way through a double murder investigation.

Seen today, Greenstreet’s   Gutman seems so unique a performance that it immediately became iconic, and a character and performing style he would go on to recreate for the rest of his career. It seems unique anyway, until you see Dudley Digges Gutman from a decade earlier. The similarities between the two performances are shocking. The intonation, vocal tones, the side mutterings, the laughter, the gestures, even the facial expressions are so nearly identical it’s almost as if Greenstreet studied  Digges’ performance closely and decided to recreate it for the remake. Strange thing is, for American character actor Digges, it was a unique role quite unlike anything else he’d played before or would play again. Unless you care to argue that the spirit of the true Kasper Gutman inhabited both actors (and then stayed in Greenstreet), it’s a mighty remarkable coincidence.

One of the more interesting distinctions can be seen in the character of Spade’s secretary, Effie Perine, and more specifically it boils down to a single line reading.

In one of the first and most famous lines of the film, Effie informs Spade that a new client is waiting to see him. In the Huston version, bubbly Lee Patrick says, “You’ll wan to see this one anyway—she’s a knockout!” She seems awfully enthusiastic about it, happy to encourage her boss’s assorted flings. It seems a little odd, but then she spends the rest of the film running errands for Spade and we never give her another thought.

In Del Ruth’s version,  Una Merkel’s Effie does not smile and does not chirp when she says dourly, “You’ll want to see this one anyway. She’s a knockout.”  There’s so much stifled bitterness, frustration, and jealousy in the line that we can read her entire character—almost her whole life—in those few words. And for the rest of the film, whenever Spade asks her to run another errand or do another favor, we know what she’s thinking when she agrees. Thanks to Merkel, Effie becomes the one honestly tragic figure in the entire story, with the possible exception of Wilmer.

As Gutman’s henchman and punk, far be it from me to compare anyone with the great Elisha Cook, Jr.—unless of course it’s the equally great Dwight Frye. Sadly Frye has been given very little to do here except look sullen and angry. In fact he’s only been given a single line of dialogue (“I’ll fog him”). Still, he’s always fun to watch—though admittedly not as much fun here as Cook, who gets to give Bogart a vicious kick in the head.

In the end and over time, the choice of which, if either, version is superior is a simple matter of taste. It does become easier to understand, though, why in the 1950s Del Ruth’s version was redubbed Dangerous Female in order to distinguish it from Huston’s.

by Jim Knipfel

[meme-streets]

of all the major characters in the maltese falcon–and note that i am including effie perine–sam spade is the only straight one and he's honestly not even likable

[noirgasmweetheart]

My headcanon is that events similar to "the Black Bird" really happened to Sam Spade's son, and what we see onscreen is his drunk embellishment of the caper.

[doctorbluesmanreturns]

The Maltese Falcon in HeroForge!

From top: Sam Spade, Brigid O’Shaughnessy, Joel Cairo, Caspar Guttman, Wilmer Cook, Effie Perine, Lt. Dundy, Sgt. Pulhaus, and Iva Archer

[quiet-hubris]

So yeah, Effie Perine from The Maltese Falcon is a lesbian!

Effie Perine: There’s a girl that wants to see you. Her names Wonderly. Sam Spade: Customer? Effie: I guess so. You’ll wanna see her anyway, she’s a knockout.

[tcmparty]

“You’re a good man, sister.” Lee Patrick, born this day in 1901, as Effie Perine in THE MALTESE FALCON

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

In San Francisco in 1941, private investigators Sam Spade and Miles Archer meet prospective client Ruth Wonderly. She claims to be looking for her missing sister, who is involved with a man named Floyd Thursby. Archer agrees to follow her that night and help get her sister back.

Spade is awakened by a phone call early in the morning and the police inform him that Archer has been killed. He meets his friend, Police Detective Tom Polhaus at the murder scene and then tries calling his client at her hotel, but she has checked out. Back at his apartment, he is grilled by Polhaus and Lieutenant Dundy, who tell him that Thursby was also murdered the same evening. Dundy suggests that Spade had the opportunity and motive to kill Thursby, who likely killed Archer. Archer's widow Iva later visits him in his office, believing that Spade shot his partner so he could have her.

Later that morning, Spade meets his client, now calling herself Brigid O'Shaughnessy. She explains that Thursby was her partner and probably killed Archer, but claims to have no idea who killed Thursby. Spade distrusts her, but agrees to investigate the murders.

At his office, Spade meets Joel Cairo , who first offers him $5,000 to find a "black figure of a bird", then pulls a gun on him in order to search the room for it. Spade knocks Cairo out and goes through his belongings. When Cairo comes round, he hires Spade. Later that evening, Spade tells O'Shaughnessy about Cairo. When Cairo shows up, it becomes clear that Spade's acquaintances know each other. Cairo becomes agitated when O'Shaughnessy reveals that the "Fat Man" is in San Francisco.

In the morning, Spade goes to Cairo's hotel, where he spots Wilmer, a young man who had been following him earlier, and gives Wilmer a message for his boss, Kasper Gutman. When Spade goes to meet Gutman, alias the "Fat Man", in his hotel suite, Gutman will only talk about the Black Falcon evasively, so Spade pretends to throw a temper tantrum and storms out. Later, Wilmer takes Spade at gunpoint to see Gutman. Spade overpowers him, but meets Gutman anyway. Gutman relates the history of the Maltese Falcon, then offers Spade $25,000 for the bird and a quarter of the proceeds from its sale. After Spade passes out because his drink is spiked, Wilmer and Cairo come in from another room and leave with Gutman.

On coming round, Spade searches the suite and finds a newspaper with the arrival time of the freighter La Paloma circled. He goes to the dock, only to find the ship on fire. Later, the ship's captain, Jacobi, shot several times, staggers into Spade's office before dying. The bundle he was clutching contains the Maltese Falcon.

O'Shaughnessy calls the office, gives an address, then screams before the line goes dead. Spade stashes the package at the bus terminal, then goes to the address, which turns out to be an empty lot. Spade returns home and finds O'Shaughnessy hiding in a doorway. He takes her inside and finds Gutman, Cairo, and Wilmer waiting for him, guns drawn. Gutman gives Spade $10,000 for the Falcon, but Spade tells them that part of his price is someone he can turn over to the police for the murders of Thursby and Captain Jacobi, suggesting Wilmer. After some intense negotiation, Gutman and Cairo agree and Wilmer is knocked out and disarmed.

Just after dawn, Spade calls his secretary, Effie Perine, to bring him the bundle. However, when Gutman inspects the statuette, he finds it is a fake and Wilmer escapes during the tumult. Recovering his composure, Gutman invites Cairo to return with him to Istanbul to continue their quest. After they leave, Spade calls the police and tells them where to pick up the pair. Spade then angrily confronts O'Shaughnessy, telling her he knows she killed Archer to implicate Thursby, her unwanted accomplice. She confesses, but begs Spade not to turn her over to the police. Despite his feelings for her, Spade gives O'Shaughnessy up.