| Bette Davis | ... | Valerie Purvis | |
| Warren William | ... | Ted Shane | |
| Alison Skipworth | ... | Madame Barabbas | |
| Arthur Treacher | ... | Anthony Travers | |
| Marie Wilson | ... | Miss Murgatroyd | |
| Wini Shaw | ... | Astrid Ames (as Winifred Shaw) | |
| Porter Hall | ... | Milton Ames | |
| Olin Howland | ... | Detective Dunhill | |
| Charles C. Wilson | ... | Detective Pollock (as Charles Wilson) | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| John Alexander | ... | Black Porter (uncredited) | |
| J.H. Allen | ... | Bootblack (uncredited) | |
| May Beatty | ... | Mrs. Arden (uncredited) | |
| Barbara Blane | ... | Babe (uncredited) | |
| Billy Bletcher | ... | Father of Sextuplets (uncredited) | |
| Raymond Brown | ... | Fourth City Fathers Committee Member (uncredited) | |
| James P. Burtis | ... | Detective (uncredited) | |
| Frank Darien | ... | Hotel Clerk (uncredited) | |
| William B. Davidson | ... | Spokesman - City Fathers Committee (uncredited) | |
| Don Downen | ... | Reporter (uncredited) | |
| John Elliott | ... | City Fathers Committee Member (uncredited) | |
| Sol Gorss | ... | Jackie Farrow (uncredited) | |
| Kid Herman | ... | Bootblack (uncredited) | |
| Maynard Holmes | ... | Kenneth - Barabbas's Young Gunman (uncredited) | |
| Joe King | ... | Detective (uncredited) | |
| Alice La Mont | ... | Mother of Sextuplets (uncredited) | |
| Alphonse Martell | ... | Headwaiter (uncredited) | |
| Edward McWade | ... | City Fathers Committee Member (uncredited) | |
| Bert Moorhouse | ... | Extra on Dance Floor (uncredited) | |
| Edmund Mortimer | ... | Extra on Dance Floor (uncredited) | |
| John J. Richardson | ... | Second Photographer (uncredited) | |
| Cliff Saum | ... | Patrol Officer (uncredited) | |
| Francis Sayles | ... | Detective (uncredited) | |
| Eddie Shubert | ... | Detective (uncredited) | |
| Ray Turner | ... | The Porter (uncredited) | |
| Huey White | ... | Taxi Driver (uncredited) | |
| Leo White | ... | Room Service Waiter (uncredited) | |
| Douglas Williams | ... | Dock Walloper (uncredited) | |
| Jack Wise | ... | Pushy Photographer (uncredited) | |
Directed by | |||
| William Dieterle | |||
Writing credits | ||
| Brown Holmes | (screen play) | |
| Dashiell Hammett | (based on a novel by) | |
Original Music by | |||
| Bernhard Kaun | (uncredited) | ||
| Heinz Roemheld | (uncredited) | ||
Cinematography by | |||
| Arthur Edeson | |||
Film Editing by | |||
| Warren Low | |||
Art Direction by | |||
| Max Parker | |||
Costume Design by | |||
| Orry-Kelly | (gowns) | ||
Costume and Wardrobe Department | |||
| Eugene Joseff | .... | costume jeweller (uncredited) | |
Music Department | |||
| Leo F. Forbstein | .... | musical director (uncredited) | |
| M.K. Jerome | .... | composer: stock music (uncredited) | |
Other crew | |||
| Gene Lewis | .... | dialogue director | |
| Henry Blanke | .... | supervisor (uncredited) | |
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| The Maltese Falcon | Making the Headlines | Bullitt | The Fugitive | The Black Doll |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Comedy section | IMDb USA section |
Boy, once Warner Brothers bought a property, they did everything but serve it for dinner. 1936's "Satan Met a Lady" is yet another version of "The Maltese Falcon," which was finally given the classic touch by John Huston in 1941. This particular version is out of control but manages to be a lot of fun at the same time.
This time Sam Spade is named Shane, and he's played by '30s star Warren William. William was a tall, handsome man with sharp features and a refined speaking voice - by this time, he was the Warners version of William Powell, though he had started his career as an unsympathetic, precode villain. A more extroverted performer, he excelled at the William Powell-type vehicles. He even took over for Powell as Philo Vance. William was the movie Perry Mason, and if you think this is a wild "Maltese Falcon," you should see what was done to Perry before the TV series. Put it this way - Della Street wore diamonds.
In this version, the falcon is the Horn of Roland, a trumpet stuffed with jewels, and it's being sought by a young, pretty Bette Davis in the Bebe Daniels-Astor role, and now the Sydney Greenstreet character has had a sex change in the form of Madame Barrabas (Alison Skipworth). Though there's no doubt Barrabas a ruthless character. and the usual people have been murdered by the usual people, this version is pretty much played for laughs. It moves faster than the Cortez version, and while Cortez played Spade as a delightful rogue, William has a ball, laughing at the whole thing as he collects money from everyone. In the Cortez version, Spade had some feeling for Ms. Wonderly (Bebe Daniels); here, William clearly enjoys playing the field and never takes the Davis character seriously. Shane's secretary in "Satan Met a Lady" is played by Marie Wilson, whose part is quite large. She's very funny. Davis is okay, but her sincerity isn't believable - at this point in her career, she's still a little stagey.
The very tongue-in-cheek William runs this show, which is done in the style of "The Thin Man." Though it was a bomb when it was released, today it's of interest for Davis, its handling of the material, and also as a chance to see William, who died in 1948, in top form. After this film, he went into character roles.
Recommended.