Showing posts with label Maltese Falcon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maltese Falcon. Show all posts

Sunday, January 29, 2012

All roads lead

The Film Noir Festival currently underway at the Castro Theater in San Francisco concludes Sunday with a tribute to Dashiell Hammett. The author of The Maltese Falcon and other classic works of detective and crime fiction will be celebrated with the screening of six films based on his work. It is a not-to-be-missed all-day affair - and one with more than one connection to Louise Brooks.
The Film Noir Festival tribute is fitting.

Arguably, the noir aesthetic sprang from Hammett's work. His hardboiled characters and grim plots - which served as a counterpoint to the work of S.S. van Dine (another leading mystery writer of the time) - set the tone for a good deal of the noir fiction and film which followed. And secondly, Hammett lived in San Francisco in the 1920s. It is here that he wrote the novels and stories for which he is still read today.

Before beginning his life as a writer, Hammett worked for the Pinkerton detective agency. And it was as a private detective that he came to San Francisco. One of his assignments involved gathering evidence for the defense of Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle at the time the famous comedian was tried for murder.

Hammett wrote most of his now classic work during the eight years he lived in San Francisco. From apartments on Eddy, Hyde, Monroe, Post and Leavenworth streets he pounded out story after story, drawing inspiration from almost everything around him. Notably, more than half of Hammett's stories take place in the city, as do his novels The Big Knockover, The Dain Curse, and, of course, The Maltese Falcon. Also set in San Francisco is his longest series -- three novels and 28 stories -- concerning an unnamed operative for the Continental Detective Agency.

In the single best source for information on the writer's time in San Francisco, The Dashiell Hammett Tour: A Guidebook (City Lights, 1991 / expanded and revised edition 2010, Vince Emery Productions), Hammett expert Don Herron wrote, "Hammett's San Francisco stands as one of the great literary treatments of a city - it has been compared with Joyce's Dublin and Dickens' London for its evocation of place and time. . . . In the Continental Op tales, the nameless detective goes to every neighborhood in the city and encounters every level of society, from bankers with wandering daughters in Pacific Height's mansions to cheap gunmen living in furnished rooms in Tenderloin hotels who do their drinking in North Beach speakeasies."

All told, some 32 films or television episodes have been based on a Hammett story or novel. On Sunday, the San Francisco Film Noir Festival will screen six of them.

Roadhouse Nights(1930, Paramount, 68 min.)
At 12:00 noon: This rarely shown film - the first based on a Hammett book - is loosely based on the author's classic gang-war novel Red Harvest, a story which proved too brutal and cynical for pre-Code Hollywood. In this Hobert Henley-directedadaption, Hammett’s story becomes an action-comedy starring sultry torch singer Helen Morgan, Charles Ruggles, Fred Kohler (who played in the early gangster film, The City Gone Wild), and newcomer Jimmy Durante. Not on DVD.

The Maltese Falcon (1931, Warner Bros. 80 min.)
At 1:20 pm: This first of three adaptions was made the year after Hammett's landmark novel of the same name was published. This pre-Code version, directed by Roy Del Ruth and sometimes titled Dangerous Female, flaunts a sexier tone than John Huston's more famous 1941 remake. Here, Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels star as Sam Spade and Ruth Wonderly (the Brigid O'Shaughnessy character), with other parts played by Una Merkal and the doomed Thelma Todd. And don’t miss an “appearance” by Louise Brooks, whose photograph hangs in Spade’s apartment as a curious piece of set dressing.


City Streets (1932, Paramount, 83 min.)
At 3:00 pm: In City Streets, Gary Cooper plays a carny sharpshooter who goes crooked in order to free his love (played by Sylvia Sidney) from prison. Paul Lukas, Willam Boyd and lovable Guy Kibee round out the cast. This film was made from the only story Hammett wrote specifically for the screen, and it's brilliantly realized by director Rouben Mamoulian and cameraman Lee Garmes. Restored print courtesy the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Not on DVD.

Mr. Dynamite (1935, Universal, 67 min.)
At 4:45 pm: Originally conceived as a second Sam Spade novel, Mr. Dynamite is the most rarely seen of all films based on Hammett's work. Edmund Lowe stars as a disreputable private dick hired by a gambler to solve a murder within the casino. The cast includes Jean Dixon, Victor Varconi and lovely Esther Ralston (who starred in The American Venus). Directed by Alan Crosland. Archival print courtesy of Universal Pictures. Not on DVD.

The Glass Key (1942, Paramount, 85 min.)
At 7:00 pm: Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake add lots of sex appeal to this second adaption of The Glass Key, Hammett's gritty behind-the-scenes novel of the dirty work that goes on in big-city politics. Director Stuart Heisler is at his rapid-fire best, eliciting terrific support from dashing Brian Donlevy and thuggish William Bendix. Not on DVD.

The Maltese Falcon (1941, Warner Bros. 100 min.)
At 9:00 pm: Noir City's 10th Anniversary celebration closes with an encore screening of the film version of the most influential work of crime fiction ever written. This classic film features legendary performances from Humphrey Bogart (whom Brooks knew and wrote about), Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and San Francisco's own Elisha Cook Jr. Written and directed by John Huston.

One other event Hammett fans won't want to miss takes place next month at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco. On Tuesday, February 21st, Myrna Loy biographer Emily Leider will speak about "Nick and Nora's San Francisco." Leider's event will be presented by the San Francisco Historical Society and Museum.

According to the San Francisco biographer, whose Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood was published late last year by the University of California Press, her talk will focus on three figures: Hammett, who wrote The Thin Man and created its sleuthing characters Nick and Nora Charles; actor William Powell (who starred as Philo Vance in The Canary Murder Case), who played Nick in the 1934 MGM movie of the book which spawned five sequels; and Loy (who played in A Girl in Every Port), the actress who portrayed Nora in all six films.

Utilizing film clips and photographs, Leider will discuss Hammett’s relationship with Nick, Nora and San Francisco, and the experiences of Powell and Loy in The City while filming After The Thin Man (1936) and Shadow of The Thin Man (1941) - two movies in the series shot in part in San Francisco. Leider will also touch on San Francisco’s reputation as a “wet” city during Prohibition, and on the impact of Prohibition’s repeal in 1933 on the audience for The Thin Man.



Dashiell Hammett character Nick Charles confronts S.S. van Dine character Philo Vance (both played by William Powell) in the trailer for The Thin Man. Curiously, both Hammett and van Dine did not care for one another or their writings, and they sparred in print.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Louise Brooks lights up screens in coming months


Louise Brooks was one of a handful of early movie stars given a cinematic shout-out in Martin Scorsese's 2011 blockbuster, Hugo. (if you haven't already seen it - go do so! You will love it.) That film, along with The Artist, has spurred renewed interest in the silent era and its many personalities.

This revival of interest includes Brooks, three of whose silent films will be shown in the coming months. Notably, not among them is Pandora's Box (1929) or even Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), two of Brooks' most frequently screened and popular films. 

Instead, the films being shown are three of Brooks' lesser seen American silent films. Each of these events give fans an opportunity to see a rare Brooks film - none of which have been commercially released on DVD. If you live near any of these screenings, get your tickets now. (Follow the linked titles.)


A Girl in Every Port is being screened as part of a 25 film, four month Howard Hawks retrospective at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California. This early Hawks' film is considered by many to be the most important of the director's silent efforts. Why? Because as a "buddy film" it is the first to introduce the themes and character types Hawks would continue to explore throughout his long and distinguished career. A Girl in Every Port is a “love story” between two sailors (Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong) which features an alluring high-diver, played by Brooks, as the woman who attempts to break up their friendship. The film was a huge hit both in the United States and Europe. The novelist and poet Blaise Cendrars said A Girl in Every Port "definitely marked the first appearance of contemporary cinema." A Girl in Every Port will be introduced by UC Berkeley professor Marilyn Fabe, and will be Judith Rosenberg on piano.


No, this is not a Brooks film. And no, it's not the Bogart version of Hammett's classic story, but rather the original - made the year after Hammett's landmark novel was published. This pre-Code adaptation, directed by Roy Del Ruth and originally titled Dangerous Female, flaunts a sexier tone than John Huston's much more famous 1941 version. Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels star as Sam Spade and Ruth Wonderly (the Brigid O'Shaughnessy character). What's little known is that Brooks also makes an "appearance" in the film. In a key scene in Spade's apartment, a picture of Brooks can be spotted hanging above Spade's telephone;  curiously, the camera lingers on this prominently placed piece of set dressing. Why Brooks is there  . . . is a mystery.


The Street of Forgotten Men is a romance (between Neil Hamilton and Mary Brian) and underworld story set among professional beggars in New York City. At the time of its release, director Herbert Brenon was praised for his gritty depiction of Bowery life, while star Percy Marmount was rightly compared to Lon Chaney for his vivid, dramatic performance as a fake cripple. And in an uncredited role, Brooks enjoys some 5 minutes of screen time in this, her first film. She makes a lasting impression.  Long thought lost, six of the film's seven reels were found a number of years ago at the Library of Congress - that is the archive which will be providing the print for this rare screening. Though a date has not been set, this screening has been announced on the Cinefest Facebook page. 
Cinefest takes place March 15-18 near Syracuse, New York.


Over the last couple of years, the Dodge Brothers - a British country blues, rockabilly and skiffle four-piece outfit - have made a name for themselves among British cinema fans for their live accompaniment to Beggars of Life. The 1928 William Wellman-directed film stars Louise Brooks as a girl, wanted by the law, who dresses as a boy and goes on the run and rides the rails in pre-Depression America. At this special event, the Dodge Brothers will be joined on stage by one of the world's best known silent-film accompanists, Neil Brand, to provide a live soundtrack for Beggars of Life at the Bradford International Film Festival. The Dodge Brothers will be playing guitars, harmonica, banjo, double bass and a washboard, with Brand on piano, in the National Media Museum's renowned Pictureville cinema.
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