It's bizarre to see the pre-John Huston adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. I've now seen both prior adaptations of the film and I have to say that Roy Del Ruth's The Maltese Falcon is easily the better of the two. The film does a fine job giving the cliffnotes version of the book's plot and characterizations, even matching some of Hammett's original dialogue line for line. Though it's about 20 minutes shorter than Huston's version, nothing really feels excluded or rushed. But what the film gains in brevity it loses in atmosphere and tone. Ricardo Cortez is less Sam Spade than Nick Charles; he acts with a smug insouciance as if life is just one big game and only he has the full set of instructions. It's not a bad adaptation, just a mediocre one lacking the heart and soul of Hammett's novel.
6/10
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