Satan Met a Lady (1936)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Brown Holmes (screenplay)
Dashiell Hammett (novel)

Release Date:

22 July 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Sardonic detective Shane, thrown out of one town for bringing trouble, heads for home and his ex-partner's detective agency...

Plot Keywords:

Horn | Train | Shot To Death | Widow | Spoof

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Valerie Purvis
Warren William	...	Ted Shane
Alison Skipworth	...	Madame Barabbas
Arthur Treacher	...	Anthony Travers
Marie Wilson	...	Miss Murgatroyd
Wini Shaw	...	Astrid Ames (as Winifred Shaw)
Porter Hall	...	Milton Ames
Olin Howland	...	Detective Dunhill
Charles C. Wilson	...	Detective Pollock (as Charles Wilson)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Alexander	...	Black Porter (uncredited)
J.H. Allen	...	Bootblack (uncredited)
May Beatty	...	Mrs. Arden (uncredited)
Barbara Blane	...	Babe (uncredited)
Billy Bletcher	...	Father of Sextuplets (uncredited)
Raymond Brown	...	Fourth City Fathers Committee Member (uncredited)
James P. Burtis	...	Detective (uncredited)
Frank Darien	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
William B. Davidson	...	Spokesman - City Fathers Committee (uncredited)
Don Downen	...	Reporter (uncredited)
John Elliott	...	City Fathers Committee Member (uncredited)
Sol Gorss	...	Jackie Farrow (uncredited)
Kid Herman	...	Bootblack (uncredited)
Maynard Holmes	...	Kenneth - Barabbas's Young Gunman (uncredited)
Joe King	...	Detective (uncredited)
Alice La Mont	...	Mother of Sextuplets (uncredited)
Alphonse Martell	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Edward McWade	...	City Fathers Committee Member (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse	...	Extra on Dance Floor (uncredited)
Edmund Mortimer	...	Extra on Dance Floor (uncredited)
Jack Richardson	...	Second Photographer (uncredited)
Cliff Saum	...	Patrol Officer (uncredited)
Francis Sayles	...	Detective (uncredited)
Eddie Shubert	...	Detective (uncredited)
Ray Turner	...	The Porter (uncredited)
Huey White	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Leo White	...	Room Service Waiter (uncredited)
Douglas Williams	...	Dock Walloper (uncredited)
Jack Wise	...	Pushy Photographer (uncredited)

Directed by
William Dieterle

Writing credits
Brown Holmes		(screenplay)
Dashiell Hammett		(novel)

Cinematography by
Arthur Edeson		(photography by)

Film Editing by
Warren Low

Art Direction by
Max Parker

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly		(gowns)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director (uncredited)
M.K. Jerome	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)
Bernhard Kaun	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)
Heinz Roemheld	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)

Other crew
Gene Lewis	....	dialogue director
Henry Blanke	....	supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1936) (USA) (theatrical)
• Vitaphone Corporation, The (1936) (USA) (theatrical) (as The Vitaphone Corp'n.)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (video)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Man in the Black Hat (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #1869)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The second of three film adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon," this film has notable connections to both other versions. First, this film's screenwriter, Brown Holmes, was also credited as a screenwriter on the 1931 version, directed by Roy Del Ruth. Second, this film's cinematographer, Arthur Edeson, was also the director of photography for John Huston's version in 1941. Third, Warren William, who plays the Sam Spade character (Ted Shane) in this film, also played Perry Mason in a series of films beginning in 1934, but was replaced in 1936 by Ricardo Cortez - who had played Sam Spade in the 1931 "Maltese Falcon". Finally, Bette Davis filled in for Raymond Burr when he had to have surgery in "The Case of the Constant Doyle".

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The sign at the site of the first murder is misspelled; it reads "Glen Lawn Cemetary."

Quotes:

Anthony Travers: Then you have the trumpet?
Ted Shayne: No.
Anthony Travers: But you know where it is?
Ted Shayne: Nope.
Anthony Travers: What? You've just inveigled me into telling you what it is. I say that's a pretty rotten trick, old boy. That's not cricket!

Movie Connections:

References King Kong (1933)

Soundtrack:

I'd Rather Listen to Your Eyes

Quite fun, actually; a nice companion piece to the 1941 masterpiece

The second version of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon came in the wake of the big success of a cinematic adaptation of another of the author's novels, The Thin Man. So here we get a comic version starring a wise-cracking gentleman, Warren William (who had played Julius Caesar in DeMille's Cleopatra). The comedy is sometimes desperate. It's played WAY over the top. If they had toned in down a tad, and maybe got William Powell instead of Warren William, it would have been a great film. Which would have been terrible because then, if it had been a success, Warner Brothers wouldn't have deigned to remake it five years later. We wouldn't have the 1941 masterpiece, John Huston's career might have went an entirely different way, and film noir wouldn't have developed as we know it. Film history might look damn different just because of this goofy little adaptation! It's generally considered the worst of the three adaptations, but I really liked it. It's a heck of a lot better than the stale '31 version, and it stands as a nice little companion piece to the '41 version. A couple of the actors I really liked, notably Alison Skipworth in the Gutman role (all character names have been changed, by the way, but I'll keep to the originals), Arthur Treacher as Cairo, and Maynard Holmes as Wilmer (shockingly uncredited where several less important characters were!). The best of the best, though: Marie Wilson in the Effie role. Oh. You thought I was going to say Bette Davis. Nah. She's probably the least of the three Brigids. The secretary role is expanded a bit, and she's almost made Spade's love interest. Wilson gives a very cute comic performance. Well worth checking out.