Michael Schlesinger on SATAN MET A LADY

This 1936 production is the second film to have been based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 The Maltese Falcon and although the names have been changed, the crimes remain the same… though this time the object of interest is not a jewel-encrusted falcon but a ram’s head filled with gems. Warner Bros. assigned Bette Davis to this right after The Petrified Forest and the feisty actress was so appalled by the script she walked off the set. John Huston and company did it right (really right) five years later and the rest is movie history.

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[LolliPop]

That Skipworth character must have been based on Gertrude Stein, whose Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was a best seller in 1935; she came back from France on a speaking tour and was on the cover of Time.

[Setebos]

The film works if you take it as a comedy.

[MAMoreno]

I didn't like the film, but I agree with the sentiment that if you're going to milk a property for all it's worth, you might as well switch up the title and the genre while you're at it.

[genacunningham]

I enjoyed it far more than the Maltese falcon

[AnthonySmith-tyij]

I agree with you Michael. Satan Met a Lady, would not be remembered if it wasn't for Bette Davis.