Line #25 Film/TheMalteseFalcon1931


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2	[[caption-width-right:350:That's not Creator/HumphreyBogart!]]
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4	''The Maltese Falcon'' is a 1931 film directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels. It was the first of three film adaptations of the 1929 [[Literature/TheMalteseFalcon novel of the same name]] by Creator/DashiellHammett.
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6	Sam Spade (Cortez) is a private investigator in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, half of the detective firm of Spade and Archer. He's an incorrigible ladies' man, with his partner Archer's wife Ida just one of his many girlfriends. Archer knows about the affair Spade is having with Archer's wife.
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8	Simultaneously, the very attractive Ruth Wonderly (Daniels) comes to the office to enlist Spade and Archer in tracking down her sister, who has run away with one Floyd Thursby. Spade and Archer are skeptical of this excuse but take Ruth's $200. In short order, both Thursby and Archer are killed. With the police zeroing in on Spade as the likely killer, either of Thursby to avenge Archer, of Archer because of the affair with Ida, or both--Spade has to find the real killers. His situation is further complicated when an odd cast of characters appear, in pursuit of what is also Ruth's real goal: an obscenely valuable bejeweled statue called the Maltese Falcon.
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10	This story would be made again in 1936 as a loose comic adaptation called ''Film/SatanMetALady'', starring Creator/BetteDavis. It would be remade yet a third time in 1941 as ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon\|1941}}'', a film that has gone down in movie history as an iconic example of FilmNoir, and one that has pretty much completely CoveredUp this version in public memory.
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12	Creator/DwightFrye, better remembered as Renfield in the 1931 ''[[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} Dracula]]'' and as a wild-eyed psycho in several other horror films of the era, here appears as Wilmer, the part played by Creator/ElishaCookJr in the 1941 film. Una Merkel plays Effie, Sam's secretary.
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15	!!Tropes:
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17	* AdaptationExpansion: This film adds an epilogue not found in the novel in which Spade visits Ruth in prison and she tells him that she really did love him.
18	* AdaptationNameChange: In the original novel (and in the 1941 film), "Wonderly" is revealed to be an alias for the woman really named Brigid O'Shaughnessy. In this version, Ruth Wonderly is her actual name.
19	* AlmostDeadGuy: As with the 1941 film, a mortally wounded Captain Jacoby staggers into Spade's office with the falcon before he collapses and dies.
20	* BathtubScene: One notable difference of this version is a lot more {{Fanservice}} than the 1941 film. Some of it comes when Ruth is depicted in the bath.
21	* BeardOfEvil: This version of Joel Cairo has an ObviouslyEvil Van Dyke beard.
22	* ChekhovsGunman: The Chinese merchant seen chatting with Sam at the murder scene turns out to be an eyewitness who puts Wonderly away.
23	* DeadpanSnarker: This version of Spade is much more this and not nearly so much of a KnightInSourArmor as the Humphrey Bogart version.
24	* DecoyDamsel: Ruth Wonderly, manipulating Spade for her own greedy ends.
25	* {{Fanservice}}: It's a pre-Code film, so, loads. Besides Ruth's BathtubScene, there's multiple shots of her in {{lingerie\|scene}}, as well as some LegFocus shots of Ina (Thelma Todd).
26	* {{Gayngster}}: This film, being made in UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra, is more explicit about the gay coding of Gutman and his gang. Gutman actually caresses Wilmer's cheek before agreeing to give him over, and Sam later refers to Wilmer as Gutman's "boyfriend." The rather effete manner of both Gutman and Cairo is much more overt in this version as well.
27	* GirlFriday: Effie, whom Spade is clearly also carrying on with, although it seems to be more of a FriendsWithBenefits situation than either his messy affair with Ina or his love affair with Ruth.
28	* HighClassGlass: Gutman sports one of these, which mostly serves to make him look silly.
29	* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: Capt. Jacoby has a delivery.
30	* LikeASonToMe: Gutman says this word-for-word of Wilmer before betraying him. This film lacks the ice-cold "if you lose a son, it's possible to get another" line that Gutman follows this remark with in the 1941 film.
31	* MacGuffin: The Maltese Falcon, worth $2 million.
32	* MockGuffin: The Falcon is a fake.
33	* MaleGaze: Sam's lecherous "Yes sir!" when staring at Effie's rear end as she walks away.
34	* PlotHole: If the Chinese merchant told Spade what happened at the beginning--they are seen talking--why did he ever take up with Ruth?
35	* RealityHasNoSubtitles: None given for Spade's conversation with the Chinese merchant. This was convention at the time but also avoids a spoiler.
36	* SexyDiscretionShot: Spade strip-searches Ruth for the missing $1000. The camera stays on Spade while she flings articles of clothing at him from off-screen. This scene comes from the book but was cut from the 1941 film as there was no way to get it past the censors.
37	* SmokingIsGlamorous: Ruth is seen with a cigarette for the first time when she makes an appearance wearing nothing but a slip and kimono, saying "I love your apartment" to Sam in a bedroom voice. Later she takes the cigarette from Sam's mouth as she seduces him on the couch.
38	* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Ruth pulls her $500 bankroll out of the Compartment to give to Sam as his fee. Played for a gag when, after trying to withhold the last $100 from Sam while claiming it's all she has to live on, she pulls a much fatter bankroll out of her stocking.
39	* VillainousBreakdown: Cairo freaks out, shouting about Gutman's stupidity in giving away the secret to Kemidov.

Context Film / TheMalteseFalcon1931