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Satan Met a Lady

  • 1936
  • Approved
  • 1h 14m
IMDb RATING
5.8/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
Bette Davis and Warren William in Satan Met a Lady (1936)
Film NoirHard-boiled DetectiveSatireScrewball ComedyComedyCrimeMystery

A double-crossing woman, the two-timing P.I. she hired, the corpulent "empress of crime", and a gentleman thief are all after a legendary priceless eighth-century ram's horn.A double-crossing woman, the two-timing P.I. she hired, the corpulent "empress of crime", and a gentleman thief are all after a legendary priceless eighth-century ram's horn.A double-crossing woman, the two-timing P.I. she hired, the corpulent "empress of crime", and a gentleman thief are all after a legendary priceless eighth-century ram's horn.

  • Director
    • William Dieterle
  • Writers
    • Brown Holmes
    • Dashiell Hammett
  • Stars
    • Bette Davis
    • Warren William
    • Alison Skipworth
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.8/10
    2.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • William Dieterle
    • Writers
      • Brown Holmes
      • Dashiell Hammett
    • Stars
      • Bette Davis
      • Warren William
      • Alison Skipworth
    • 52User reviews
    • 22Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos6

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    Top cast39

    Edit
    Bette Davis
    Bette Davis
    • Valerie Purvis
    Warren William
    Warren William
    • Ted Shane
    Alison Skipworth
    Alison Skipworth
    • Madame Barabbas
    Arthur Treacher
    Arthur Treacher
    • Anthony Travers
    Marie Wilson
    Marie Wilson
    • Miss Murgatroyd
    Wini Shaw
    Wini Shaw
    • Astrid Ames
    • (as Winifred Shaw)
    Porter Hall
    Porter Hall
    • Milton Ames
    Olin Howland
    Olin Howland
    • Detective Dunhill
    Charles C. Wilson
    Charles C. Wilson
    • Detective Pollock
    • (as Charles Wilson)
    John Alexander
    • Black Porter
    • (uncredited)
    J.H. Allen
    • Bootblack
    • (uncredited)
    Sam Appel
    Sam Appel
    • Steamer Captain at Cafe
    • (uncredited)
    May Beatty
    May Beatty
    • Mrs. Arden
    • (uncredited)
    Barbara Blane
    Barbara Blane
    • Babe
    • (uncredited)
    Billy Bletcher
    Billy Bletcher
    • Father of Sextuplets
    • (uncredited)
    Raymond Brown
    • City Fathers Committee Member
    • (uncredited)
    James P. Burtis
    James P. Burtis
    • Detective
    • (uncredited)
    Frank Darien
    Frank Darien
    • Hotel Clerk
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • William Dieterle
    • Writers
      • Brown Holmes
      • Dashiell Hammett
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews52

    5.82.5K
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    Featured reviews

    nite_raynger

    Easy Breezy Dramedy!

    Surprise! Satan Met a Lady is an easy breezy detective dramedy VERY LOOSELY based on the Dashiell Hammett Book, The Maltese Falcon. This book had been adapted for the film before (in 1931) and, more famously, after (1941), This version made its way to the silver screen in 1936, with Bette Davis in rare form in a comedic role. Warren William, who could be as suave as the similar and better known actor William Powell, plays it fast and loose as a detective out to settle a mystery-and maybe find himself very rich. This version of the Hammett tale has been sadly underrated due to the fact that many of its naysayers were suffering under a misapprehension concerning the tenor of the film. In their attempt to set it under the same microscope as its more famous remakes and premakes, many of the critics overlooked the simple truth that this is a light, comic bit of film fluff concocted to entertain a mid-Depression Era audience with its confection of comedy, mystery, and romance. It has none of the nihilistic brooding of the original book, nor the leering innuendo or virtuoso performances of the two other films. What it does provide is a diverting pastiche of one liners and clever story lines that keep its audience on the edge of their seat. Even if they're almost falling out of their seats for laughter, there's always a reason for the viewers to use (and not lose) their heads. I'd like to see most movies do that today (and at 76 minutes.)

    The casting of the principal stars is first rate. There's always a glint of a coiled cobra in Warren Willliam's silver-tongued shamus. But most of the time he keeps his gun in his pocket and his tongue in his cheek. Even his name is a parody of the nickname for a detective. Bette Davis matches him line by line and sets the movie at its pace. she was still a young actress and everything she says and does is as real and as fresh as homebaked bread. Allison Skipworth makes a charming but sinister villianess. Arthur Treacher (hilarious as a thief with manners) and portly Porter Hall round off this mad quad of moneygrubbers all showing that not only is the love of money the root of all evil, it can also be very, very, funny. Like Arsenic and Old Lace and Beat The Devil, Satan Met a lady is one movie that was ahead of its time and, after more than 65 years, is still got plenty of zest and zing. A Thumbs up for Satan Met a Lady.
    priscilla-hopkins

    Take it on its own terms

    I can practically recite "The Maltese Falcon" by heart, so I was intrigued by this alternate filming. I put the tape in and immediately went "What the. . . ." Then I picked up the box and saw the word "comedy." so I sat down and watched it on its own terms. It's a hoot. the trick is to never really think about the great Bogart version and just think of it as a send-up of the genre. It is much better this way. I especially the ditsy blonde secretary, and the bumbling gunsel.
    6blanche-2

    If you wanna stump it, bump it with a trumpet

    Boy, once Warner Brothers bought a property, they did everything but serve it for dinner. 1936's "Satan Met a Lady" is yet another version of "The Maltese Falcon," which was finally given the classic touch by John Huston in 1941. This particular version is out of control but manages to be a lot of fun at the same time.

    This time Sam Spade is named Shane, and he's played by '30s star Warren William. William was a tall, handsome man with sharp features and a refined speaking voice - by this time, he was the Warners version of William Powell, though he had started his career as an unsympathetic, precode villain. A more extroverted performer, he excelled at the William Powell-type vehicles. He even took over for Powell as Philo Vance. William was the movie Perry Mason, and if you think this is a wild "Maltese Falcon," you should see what was done to Perry before the TV series. Put it this way - Della Street wore diamonds.

    In this version, the falcon is the Horn of Roland, a trumpet stuffed with jewels, and it's being sought by a young, pretty Bette Davis in the Bebe Daniels-Astor role, and now the Sydney Greenstreet character has had a sex change in the form of Madame Barrabas (Alison Skipworth). Though there's no doubt Barrabas a ruthless character. and the usual people have been murdered by the usual people, this version is pretty much played for laughs. It moves faster than the Cortez version, and while Cortez played Spade as a delightful rogue, William has a ball, laughing at the whole thing as he collects money from everyone. In the Cortez version, Spade had some feeling for Ms. Wonderly (Bebe Daniels); here, William clearly enjoys playing the field and never takes the Davis character seriously. Shane's secretary in "Satan Met a Lady" is played by Marie Wilson, whose part is quite large. She's very funny. Davis is okay, but her sincerity isn't believable - at this point in her career, she's still a little stagey.

    The very tongue-in-cheek William runs this show, which is done in the style of "The Thin Man." Though it was a bomb when it was released, today it's of interest for Davis, its handling of the material, and also as a chance to see William, who died in 1948, in top form. After this film, he went into character roles.

    Recommended.
    tedg

    The Devil's Secretary

    Dash Hammett wasn't a very good writer, but he was something of a genius in creating characters that sell. Films with his characters were only successful when heavily filtered through the inventive context of a filmmaker.

    Hammett hated it, this messing with his tone. But the original "Falcon" was something of a disaster. Someone had the idea (possibly Van Dyke) of making the Thin Man as a comedy. It was a huge success and has in retrospect been one of the most influential films of the era. So it only made sense for us to see this similar reworking of "Falcon" shortly after the Thin Man's success.

    But Van Dyke had a sense of timing and the ability to integrate that rhythm into the whole long form. This poor fellow has no such sense, so the humor is all over the place, each character driving their own bus.

    So when you watch it, you have to decide which character to align your perspective with. Though I cannot recommend the picture, if you do see it, I do recommend you become the ditsy blond secretary (who cannot even spell her own name).

    She's every bit capable of carrying this movie, where the detective cannot.

    I don't suppose she invented the ditz, but it was this girl, here a nineteen year old Marie Wilson who combined a Betty Boop "whoop" to become the sexually available, innocent but hungry, absolutely sweet but terminally dumb blond. Its great fun watching her mouth, a great mouth, one of the era's great mouths managed by an unappreciated master.

    The end of the movie is supposed to be something of a tragedy as the Bette Davis character is lost. But because our detective (something of a breezy dolt) has this ready girl to fall back on, the effect is lost.

    Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
    8zetes

    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.

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    Related interests

    Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946)
    Film Noir
    Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1944)
    Hard-boiled Detective
    Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
    Satire
    Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal in What's Up, Doc? (1972)
    Screwball Comedy
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
    Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
    Mystery

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Bette Davis frequently referred to this as the worst film she ever made.
    • Goofs
      The sign at the site of the first murder is misspelled. It reads "Glen Lawn Cemetary."
    • Quotes

      Valerie Purvis: Do you mind very much, Mr. Shane, taking off your hat in the presence of a lady with a gun?

    • Connections
      Featured in Great Performances: Bacall on Bogart (1988)
    • Soundtracks
      I'd Rather Listen to Your Eyes
      (1935) (uncredited)

      Music by Harry Warren

      Played as background music during and after Shayne ransacks Miss Purvis' room

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    FAQ14

    • How long is Satan Met a Lady?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 22, 1936 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Man with the Black Hat
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 14m(74 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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