A Few Words About A few words about...™ Satan Met a Lady -- in DVD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

William Dieterle's Satan Met a Lady, starring Warren William, and a young Bette Davis, is an interesting film.

I had read about it when I was in my teens, but somehow the ability to view it always escaped me.

I finally caught up with it courtesy of its release via the Warner Archive Collection, and its a film not to be missed.

It's Based upon a novel by Dashiell Hammett, who wrote some wonderful detective fiction beginning in the late 1920s, and stopped -- just stopped -- in 1934.

Satan Met a Lady is filled with private dicks, gun molls, cute, dumb secretaries, stupid henchmen, and pushy coppers, and strangely, it's played for comedy.

There was a more serious variant, based upon the same underlying lit, produced only five years later.

Comparing the story, the selection of actors, and the way the two films come together can be ceaseless wonder.

Although DVD, the quality shines on this release, as the original film elements used for its basis, are gorgeous.

A highlight is Marie Wilson, the quintessential "dumb-blonde."

Highly Recommended

RAH

 

[Dave B Ferris]

There was a special 3-disc release of "The Maltese Falcon" on (pressed) DVD that included, as bonus features, "Satan Met A Lady" *and* the 1931 version of "The Maltese Falcon".




I do not remember whether the same two movies were also included when "The Maltese Falcon" was released on Blu.

 

[schan1269]

There was a special 3-disc release of "The Maltese Falcon" on (pressed) DVD that included, as bonus features, "Satan Met A Lady" *and* the 1931 version of "The Maltese Falcon".

http://www.amazon.com/Maltese-Falcon-Three-Disc-Special/dp/B000GIXLW0/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1438872668&sr=1-3&keywords=satan+met+a+lady+dvd

I do not remember whether the same two movies were also included when "The Maltese Falcon" was released on Blu.

I have that MF version. No the Blu-ray does not have either older films. It is first up whenever the topic "replacing DVD comes up" threads on when BD is just an addition.

Depending how inexpensive this is(haven't looked) might buy it just for comparison.

 

[Will Krupp]

This is the stinker that made Bette Davis bolt Warner Bros. and sue to get out of her contract, prompting this quip by Bosley Crowther in his New York Times review:

Without taking sides in a controversy of such titanic proportions, it is no more than gallantry to observe that if Bette Davis had not effectually espoused her own cause against the Warners recently by quitting her job, the Federal Government eventually would have had to step in and do something about her. After viewing "Satan Met a Lady," at the Strand, all thinking people must acknowledge that a "Bette Davis Reclamation Project" (BDRP) to prevent the waste of this gifted lady's talents would not be a too-drastic addition to our various programs for the conservation of natural resources.

ouch!


Warner had already filmed the story in 1931 but, once the Production Code grew teeth after July 1934, that version could no longer be distributed (studios were forced to basically make three piles: movies that could pass, movies that could pass with cuts, and movies that would be shut in the vault in perpetuity while the code was in force.) It's obvious that Warner was enamored of the unexpected and overwhelming success of MGM's THE THIN MAN and decided, with one eye on the boxoffice, to try to shoehorn THEIR Hammett property into something resembling it. You can almost SEE Powell and Loy standing over Bette and Warren's shoulders when they trade some of their flippant repartee. The problem is, of course, that, same author notwithstanding, the two properties couldn't be more different and trying to turn the MALTESE FALCON into a comic adventure (without going all the way into CHEAP DETECTIVE parody) is grotesque.


I always try to give this one the benefit of the doubt but as soon as I see the great Warren William reduced to swinging from the chandelier while imitating a gorilla I just get sad.


Bette Davis always considered this to be her worst film at Warners and pretended, for the rest of her life, to never remember its name.


Some more gems from Crowther's poisonous review (they're too good not to post!)

A cynical farce of elaborate and sustained cheapness, it causes still other intelligent actors and actresses—including Warren William, Arthur Treacher and Alison Skipworth — to behave like numskulls, and deserves to be quoted as a classic of dullness, in future press notices, as often as "The Thin Man" —also based on a Dashiell Hammett theme—has been quoted as a classic of scintillating wit. As Mr. William's blonde and nit-wit secretary remarks, about midway of the action :"I've got a cousin who specializes in brain diseases. Maybe we'd better turn the case over to him." The suggestion is tempting but probably wouldn't work for the good reason that this particular case would defy the diagnostic technique of a Crile.

So disconnected and lunatic are the picture's incidents, so irrelevant and monstrous its people, that one lives through it in constant expectation of seeing a group of uniformed individuals appear suddenly from behind the furniture and take the entire cast into protective custody. There is no story, merely a farrago of nonsense representing a series of practical studio compromises with an unworkable script. It is the kind of mistake over which the considerate and discreet thing is to draw the veil of silence, even if it takes three paragraphs.

I don't think he liked it...

 

[Robert Harris]

For those who might consider picking up the old DVD to own Satan, it isn't suggested. The old master is ancient, while the Archive version is derived from a newly restored 35mm fine grain master.


RAH

 

[Matt Hough]

I kept my DVDs from that deluxe set to have the two earlier versions for reference, but the 1941 version is SO perfect that there isn't much temptation to revisit either of the earlier efforts, even to this die hard Bette Davis fan.

 

[cadavra]

Robert, thank you for this. SATAN is an undiscovered treasure and I do everything I can to get people to see and love it. Yes, it's a comedy, but so what? It works. WW has seldom been so jolly, Treacher and Skipworth are hoots, and Wilson walks off with the show. Okay, so someone forgot to tell Davis it's supposed to be funny, but apart from that, it's utterly delightful, and I'm glad its reputation is finally getting some tarnish removed.


Mike S.

 

[Robert Harris]

Robert, thank you for this. SATAN is an undiscovered treasure and I do everything I can to get people to see and love it. Yes, it's a comedy, but so what? It works. WW has seldom been so jolly, Treacher and Skipworth are hoots, and Wilson walks off with the show. Okay, so someone forgot to tell Davis it's supposed to be funny, but apart from that, it's utterly delightful, and I'm glad its reputation is finally getting some tarnish removed.


Mike S.

Apparently, Ms Davis wished she'd stayed in Tunbridge Wells...


RAH

 

[Hollywodland]

I watched WILLIAM DIETERLE´s ˝THE LAST FLIGHT˝ about 2 months ago and i LOVED IT! I´ve watched it about 20 times since then. Wonderful film, you should buy it on WB MOD DVD, you won´t be sorry... The cast is marvelous - David Manners, Richard Barthelmess, Helen Chandler, Elliot Nugent and especially John Mack Brown... And the last WARREN WILLIAM film that I watched was BEAUTY AND THE BOSS, also a great film and also a wonderful cast, MARIAN MARSH stands out as the best - but only if I really have to point someone out...! The film is also on WB MOD DVD... Check it out, folks!!!

 

[bujaki]

I had the pleasure of watching The Last Flight during MoMA's WB retrospective in 1973. We were treated to an archive 35mm nitrate print of a film we knew nothing about. It immediately became one of my favorite films, recreating so well the feeling of the Lost Generation. Did you know it was turned into a B'way musical? Nikki's Boys, I believe it was called.

Also, to get back to the topic of this thread, during the same retrospective, we were treated to all 3 versions of The Maltese Falcon in one day, a great way to compare and evaluate the merits of each film. All three were also 35mm nitrate prints. Although the '41 version is definitely the best, the '31 version had its pre-Code pleasures that could only be hinted at in the '41 version. However, many in the audience were aghast at the '36 version, with Davis overacting, and the overall tone of the film. It definitely fell flat on the audience that day. I must admit I haven't watched it since, while I have watched the other 2 versions a number of times.

 

[Robin9]

Robert, thank you for this. SATAN is an undiscovered treasure and I do everything I can to get people to see and love it. Yes, it's a comedy, but so what? It works. WW has seldom been so jolly, Treacher and Skipworth are hoots, and Wilson walks off with the show. Okay, so someone forgot to tell Davis it's supposed to be funny, but apart from that, it's utterly delightful, and I'm glad its reputation is finally getting some tarnish removed.


Mike S.

I'm not sure that Satan Met A Lady is an undiscovered treasure, but it's far better than its reputation suggests. As you point out, it's played for comedy and anyone expecting a straight drama is going to be disappointed. What I notice very clearly is that the core story line is pretty much the same as in the John Huston classic.

I certainly agree with Robert Harris that the Warner Archive disc is excellent and with you both that Marie Wilson is the standout talent in this film. I wish she'd had more opportunities in films. There's a good, very basic biography of her, Not So Dumb, which is available from the usual sellers.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Is it even fair to call Satan Met a Lady an adaptation of Maltese Falcon? It changes so much in terms of tone and plot points that the connection is superfluous at best.

 

[Robin9]

Is it even fair to call Satan Met a Lady an adaptation of Maltese Falcon? It changes so much in terms of tone and plot points that the connection is superfluous at best.

Well, adapt means to fit something; to modify; to change, and that's what this film does with the original novel. I can well understand admirers of Dashiell Hammett's novel disliking this adaptation but it undoubtedly is an adaptation.