A flawed protagonist is usually a good thing in a movie. I, for one, don't care to see a perfect person as the protagonist most of the time. I prefer to see someone with imperfections and fallibility so that they are more human and have something to overcome. But there are some flaws in a main character that I can never get past. One such flaw is an adulterer, or a person sleeping with someone else's spouse. That is a deal breaker for me. The guy or gal can go on to save the world, for which I will be grateful, but I still would harbor some ill-will towards him or her.
Sam Spade (Ricardo Cortez) was such a protagonist. Within the first five minutes we find out that not only is Sam messing with someone's wife, he was messing with his partner's wife which is doubly bad. I think there is a commandment that goes "don't covet thy neighbor's wife" or something like that. Commandment or not, it's a big no no.
Things got dangerous for Sam and his partner Miles Archer (Walter Long) when they accepted a case from Ruth Wonderly (Bebe Daniels). She claimed that a dangerous guy had her sister in San Francisco somewhere and she needed their help to locate her. The next thing you know Archer was dead and so was a guy named Thursby.
Sam wasn't the least bit sympathetic about either death. He didn't even feign sadness when he was told his partner was dead which made him more despicable to me. You were banging his wife, then he was murdered and you didn't bat an eye. You should've been the one with a .45 slug in his chest.
The real picture, and Ruth's part in it, slowly came into focus as the movie went on. After the appearance of Casper Gutman (Dudley Digges) and Dr. Joel Cairo (Otto Matieson) we knew that an expensive black bird statue is what Ruth, Gutman, and Cairo were after. If Sam could find it there would be a lot of money in it for him from Gutman. He got a *wink wink* prepayment in another form from Ruth.
As a mystery this movie was pretty good. My main problem was with the main character. I know I would've had a better opinion of the movie had I liked the main character more. It was bad enough he was a womanizer and had a secretary who was there for more than her typing, but to also be a homewrecker; that was too much. I don't need my protagonist squeaky clean, but he can't be grimy either.
Sam Spade (Ricardo Cortez) was such a protagonist. Within the first five minutes we find out that not only is Sam messing with someone's wife, he was messing with his partner's wife which is doubly bad. I think there is a commandment that goes "don't covet thy neighbor's wife" or something like that. Commandment or not, it's a big no no.
Things got dangerous for Sam and his partner Miles Archer (Walter Long) when they accepted a case from Ruth Wonderly (Bebe Daniels). She claimed that a dangerous guy had her sister in San Francisco somewhere and she needed their help to locate her. The next thing you know Archer was dead and so was a guy named Thursby.
Sam wasn't the least bit sympathetic about either death. He didn't even feign sadness when he was told his partner was dead which made him more despicable to me. You were banging his wife, then he was murdered and you didn't bat an eye. You should've been the one with a .45 slug in his chest.
The real picture, and Ruth's part in it, slowly came into focus as the movie went on. After the appearance of Casper Gutman (Dudley Digges) and Dr. Joel Cairo (Otto Matieson) we knew that an expensive black bird statue is what Ruth, Gutman, and Cairo were after. If Sam could find it there would be a lot of money in it for him from Gutman. He got a *wink wink* prepayment in another form from Ruth.
As a mystery this movie was pretty good. My main problem was with the main character. I know I would've had a better opinion of the movie had I liked the main character more. It was bad enough he was a womanizer and had a secretary who was there for more than her typing, but to also be a homewrecker; that was too much. I don't need my protagonist squeaky clean, but he can't be grimy either.