It's too bad the film of The Maltese Falcon is so
"perfect" as it stands. It could do with a remake without the
restrictions of the Hayse office. In the book, when Guttman
accuses someone of stealing $1000 from the $10,000 he's been
tossing around, Spade forces Brigid to strip naked at gun
point to prove she hasn't got the cash. In the movie, he just
asks her and she tells him she hasn't got it with a shake of
her head. This gives the false impression that Spade trusts
her. The book removes all doubt on that score... and makes
for a very lively scene as well. Obviously, you don't force a
woman to strip naked in a roomfull of other men for the
purpose of proving she's not a thief if you have a deep
romantic attachment to her. Not unless you're both into some
pretty unusual foreplay! Spade is playing Brigid from the
moment she walks into the office. That's why Archer gets the
case: he's not smart enough to see that there's more going on
than a run-away sister. Spade's last classic speech to Brigid
is ironic and sarcastic, because he's done to her what she's
done to Thursby and Jacoby and who knows how many others.
Throughout the novel, Spade uses people to his own ends: he
plays the villians against each other; he uses the police by
understanding their protocols, and again, plays one off the
other. Sam Spade is an amoral man in an immoral world. The
illusion that he can reform Brigid O'Shaunassy and make a
life with her never once enters his head. He knows her for a
psychopath from the very beginning.
Patrick King
--- Michael Robison <
miker_zspider@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Juri Nummelin wrote:
>
> I'm pretty much with William here: Sam Spade
doesn't
> really fall in love with the broad. Maybe the
film
> gives a wrong impression about the whole
case.
>
> ***********
> My reading is that he does fall for her. The
whole
> point of his long dialogue at the end was to
explain
> that he refused to be ruled by his emotions and
let
> a
> snake like her go. A major theme of the book
is
> that
> Spade survives in a wicked world by not
succumbing
> to
> sentiment. Succumbing to impulse and
emotion
> invites
> doom.
>
> If you have the time, Juri, reread just the last
12
> pages of the book and see what you think
afterwards.
>
> miker
>
>
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 09 Oct 2007 EDT