I just finished re-reading Dashiell Hammett's classic,The Maltese Falcon. Because I've seen the movie dozens of times, I hear Bogart as Sam Spade and Mary Astor as Brigid O' Shaughnessy as I read the book. I hear the tremor in Mary Astor's voice, when as Brigid, she says, "I don't have to tell you how utterly at a disadvantage you'll have me... if you choose." In the book, Brigid is very young and very beautiful. She's selling damsel-in distress looking for her knight-errant. Her power comes from finding men who can fight, steal and even kill for her.
Now look at Mary Astor. She was thirty-five when she made this picture. Does she look like a damsel-in-distress? Hell no.
Imagine a different actress playing Brigid. Say Gene Tierney. At twenty-one Gene could have totally sold her helplessness. And then when Sam Spade says, "You're very good. It's chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get in your voice...," think how we'd feel. What is wrong with Spade—does he hate all women? In the end, we'd realize that our detective knows a whole lot more about human nature than we do.
Who would you choose?
Now look at Mary Astor. She was thirty-five when she made this picture. Does she look like a damsel-in-distress? Hell no.
Imagine a different actress playing Brigid. Say Gene Tierney. At twenty-one Gene could have totally sold her helplessness. And then when Sam Spade says, "You're very good. It's chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get in your voice...," think how we'd feel. What is wrong with Spade—does he hate all women? In the end, we'd realize that our detective knows a whole lot more about human nature than we do.
Who would you choose?
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