I'm not sure that the casting per se is the problem here. It
seems to me
that the whole part of Effie is more "feminized" (not to be
confused with
sexualized) in the Huston film--while sensual in the book,
she's repeatedly
described as "boyish" in one way or another. In the film, she
strikes me
as being written more passively and conventionally--and this,
helped along
by the removal of the "coda" in Spade's office, weakens her
relationship to
Spade and to the plot itself.
Having just come back to TMF after not reading it for several
years, I'm
really struck by how neatly Hammett uses synecdoche (sp?) in
his
characterizations. Wilmer's eyelashes, Cairo's handkerchief,
Effie's
"dampness", Spade's eyes and the crease on his forehead--it's
very easy to
get a mental snapshot of the characters via a particular
mannerism or
characteristic, which sticks much better than the full
descriptions do.
And yet, you don't get the impression that Hammett is using
these to avoid
fuller characterization--though I'd be hard-pressed, on
closer examination,
to call (say) Cairo or Wilmer a fully developed character.
Nicely done.
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