The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese FalconThe Changing Of Characters
Many time in our lives, we have seen the
transformation of novels into movies. Some of them
are equal to the novel, few are superior, and most
are inferior. Why is this? Why is it that a story
that was surely to be one of the best written
stories ever, could turn out to be Hollywood
flops? One reason is that in many transformations,
the main characters are changed, some the way they
look, others the way they act. On top of this,
scenes are cut out and plot is even changed. In
this essay, I will discuss some of the changes
made to the characters of the Maltese Falcon as
they make their transformation to the “big
screen.”
The first character that we read or see is Sam
Spade. In the book he is written as being tall and
lanky with blond hair, and a recurring v-motif
that makes him out to be what Hammett describes as
a “blond Satan.” With these descriptions, we can
easily make out a powerful image of what Sam Spade
must look like in our heads. When we have an image
of what something is going to be like and it turns
out to not at all be what we expected, we are
often let down, disappointed.This is due to the
casting of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. His hair
is brown, and his, round, soft face is the
farthest a face can come from having a satanic
v-motif. Although Humphrey Bogart’s acting was
very good, it was intruded by my perception of
what Sam Spade was supposed to look like.
Brigid O’Shaunessey is the villianess of this
story, the “femme fatale”
as we sometimes refer to her in class. She is
always lying and scheming to get what she wants.
In the book, her quest is aided very well by her
gorgeous looks. The first image we get of Miss
O’Shaughnessey is that of a tall redhead with long
legs, red hair, and beautiful red lips. This image
of her may have been influenced by the picture
that is on the cover of the book, but the
publishers wouldn’t have pout it there if that
wasn’t the image they got of her either.
The movie does not do Miss O’Shaughnessey justice
as the novel very well does. In the novel, she is
portrayed as a young, voluptuous, beautiful woman.
Although she is somewhat beautiful in the movie,
she does not reach the standards that are set for
her in the novel. The legs that Sam Spade sees as
she enters his office offer an idea as to what
kind of person Miss O’Shaughnessey is: someone who
uses her sexuality to persuade others. This is a
very important part of the story, and the movie
failed to deal with it. A technological
disadvantage that the movie had was the absence
color. In the novel, Miss O’Shaughnessey’s hair is
described as “darkly red.” Her red hair helps to
develop a devilish theme that goes along very well
with her intentions and her personality. This is
also missed in the movie.
The character Joel Cairo is one of the most
interesting in the book, and the movie as well. I
thought he was perfectly cast by the production
crew...
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