William Dieterle's adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's celebrated novel THE MALTESE FALCON was its second, and most heavily altered, screen incarnation. In a film that she would often describe as the worst of her career, Bette Davis stars as fortune hunter Valerie Purvis. Arriving in San Francisco in search of an 8th-century ram's horn crammed with jewels she engages private detective Ted Shayne (Warren Williams) to track down Mrs. Barabbas (Alison Skipworth), whom she believes to be in possession of the horn. Following a few murders, Shayne locates Madame Barabbas, who tells him that she originally hired Valerie to find the horn but no longer trusts her, and offers Shayne $100,000 if he can locate the horn. Shayne, now believing that Valerie has the horn, takes her dancing, thnking he can extract its whereabouts from her. SATAN MET A LADY is a virtually impenetrable mess redeemed by the tongue-in-cheek performances of the cast, who were obviously well aware of the ludicrous nature of the material.

release year: 1936

star(s): Bette Davis