DivX Clásico

Satan Met a Lady
(The Man in the Black Hat, working title)
(USA, 1936) [B/N, 74 m.].
IMDb

Ficha técnica.
Dirección: William Dieterle.
Argumento: Dashiell Hammett (novela "The Maltese Falcon").
Guión: Brown Holmes.
Fotografía: Arthur Edeson.
Música: Bernhard Kaun, Heinz Roemheld (no acreditados).
Productora: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Sardonic detective Shane, thrown out of one town for bringing trouble, heads for home and his ex-partner's detective agency. The business is in a sad way, and Shane, who has had the forethought to provide himself with a 250-dollar commission from an old lady on the train, is welcomed with open arms. When pretty Valerie Purvis walks in the next day willing to pay over the odds to put a tail on the man who did her wrong, Shane's way with the ladies looks like paying off yet again. But things start to go wrong when his partner is murdered, and Shane himself comes home to find his apartment wrecked by a gentlemanly crook who comes back to apologise -- and to tell him a fascinating fairy-story about the fabled Horn of Roland that looks like not being so mythical after all. Miss Purvis wants protection. The police want answers. And all sorts of people want the 'French horn'... but Shane is one jump ahead of everyone all the way. Well, almost (IMDb).

AMG Sinopsis: While John Huston's screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon is widely regarded as a screen classic, it wasn't the first time Hammett's novel had been brought to the screen, and this comedy drama offers a decidedly different spin on the same story. Detective Ted Shayne (Warren William) is hired by a woman named Valerie Purvis (Bette Davis) to find a woman named Mme. Barrabas (Alison Skipworth). Valerie, however, won't tell Ted what she wants from her, and as he tries to track down Barrabas, Barrabas' people come to him in search of Valerie. When Ted and Barrabas finally meet, she claims Valerie has a valuable piece of her property -- a jewel-encrusted ram's horn -- and she'll gladly pay Ted to return it to her. Certain Valerie hasn't been on the level with him, Ted asks his partner to trail her, but when Valerie discovers she's being watched, she kills the second detective. Unaware that she's killed Ted's partner, Valerie asks that Ted pick up a package for her from a ship arriving from Asia the next day, which Ted realizes is the precious horn that has caused all the trouble. Satan Met a Lady was actually the second feature film based on The Maltese Falcon; the first, also called The Maltese Falcon, was released in 1931.

AMG Review: Anyone who may, for some strange reason, have wondered what The Maltese Falcon might be like if transformed into a madcap comedy can get the answer by viewing the strange (but strangely fascinating) Satan Met a Lady. The second screen treatment of Falcon (following the straightforward 1931 version and followed by the classic 1941 adaptation), Satan shares a surprising amount of plot points and dialogue (as well as adding in a great deal of its own) -- but it treats the similar dialogue and plot points with such a light touch that the result verges on screwball. It's an uncomfortable melding, and it simply doesn't work, but it's so odd, so bizarre that it exerts an undeniable power. Warren William plays the Sam Spade role (here called Ted Shayne) as if he were understudying William Powell, but he lacks Powell's class, commitment, and ability. Bette Davis comes off better, playing against later type and seeming to be enjoying herself, and Alison Skipworth is quite a bit of campy fun. The rest of the cast is fairly unremarkable, with only Marie Wilson actively annoying. Perhaps this odd mélange of styles might have worked with the right director, someone who recognized how peculiar the whole project was; unfortunately, William Dieterle directs in a fairly straightforward manner. The result is nothing like a good film -- but it is a unique one.

Satan.Met.a.Lady.1936.dvdrip.XviD-CycLOPS.avi

Satan.Met.a.Lady.1936.dvdrip.XviD-CycLOPS.avi
Tamaño....: 701 MB (or 717,976 KB or 735,207,424 bytes)
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Codec.....: XviD
Duración..: 01:14:17 (106,864 fr)
Resolución: 608x448 (1.36:1) [=19:14]
Bitrate...: 1185 kb/s
FPS.......: 23.976
------------------ Audio ------------------
Codec.....: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
Bitrate...: 128 kb/s (64/ch, stereo) CBR 

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