Satan Met a Lady

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Satan Met a Lady
part of the theatrical poster
Directed by	William Dieterle
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Written by	Dashiell Hammett (novel The Maltese Falcon) Brown Holmes
Starring	Bette Davis Warren William
Cinematography	Arthur Edeson
Editing by	Warren Low
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	July 22, 1936 U.S. release
Running time	74 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Satan Met a Lady is a 1936 Warner Bros. film loosely based on the novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett and starring Bette Davis (who reportedly considered it one of the worst films of her career) and Warren William. Adapted for the screen by Brown Holmes (the co-writer of the 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon), it was directed by William Dieterle.

In 1936, Warner Brothers had attempted to re-release the 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon, but was denied approval by the Production Code Office due to the film's "lewd" content. They therefore made this light comedy in order to capitalize on the popularity of the earlier film. In this version the character names have all been changed (although their function and relationships for the most part are the same) and the macguffin is an 8th century ram's horn full of jewels rather than a statuette of a falcon.

The film has been shown under various alternative titles, including Hard Luck Dame, Men on Her Mind and The Man In (or With) the Black Hat. The film began production on December 1, 1935, and was originally released on July 22, 1936.

[edit] Cast

(original character names from The Maltese Falcon are given in italics)

Warren William as Ted Shane (Sam Spade)
Alison Skipworth as Madame Barabas (Kasper Gutman)
Bette Davis as Valerie Purvis (Brigid O'Shaughnessy)
Arthur Treacher as Anthony Travers (Joel Cairo)
Winifred Shaw as Astrid Ames (Iva Archer)
Marie Wilson as Miss Murgatroyd (Effie Perrine)
Porter Hall as Ames (Miles Archer)
Olin Howlin as Sergeant Roy Dunhill (Detective Tom Polhaus)
Charles C. Wilson as Lieutenant Pollock (Lt. Dundy)
Barbara Blane as Babe
Maynard Holmes as Kenneth (Wilmer)

[edit] Synopsis

Private detective Ted Shane (Warren William) is thrown out of yet another city and returns to work with his former partner Ames (Porter Hall), who is not particularly happy to see him, because his wife, Astrid (Winifred Shaw), is in love with Shane. A new client, Valerie Purvis (Bette Davis) wants the help of the detectives in finding a man called Farrow, and Ames and Farrow both end up dead, with Shane the chief suspect for both murders. After demanding the truth from Valerie, Shane finds that his office and apartment have been ransacked, and his secretary, Miss Murgatroyd (Marie Wilson) locked in the closet, by Anthony Travers (Arthur Treacher). Travers is searching for "Roland's trumpet", an 8th century ram's horn rumored to be crammed with jewels, which Shane suspects is what Valerie is after as well. Madame Barabbas (Alison Skipworth), a notorious criminal, is also searching for the horn and sends a gunman to bring Shane to her. Working all sides of the street, Shane makes deals with each of them to find the horn, and eventually winds up in possession of the package supposedly containing it—but it turns out to be full of sand instead of jewels. The police round up all the suspects, but Shane and Valerie escape. He baits Valerie into confessing to Ames's murder and turns her over to the police, then runs off with Miss Murgatroyd.