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And if there were an early talkie equivalent of Elisha Cook Jr., who played neurotics to a fare-thee-well, it was Dwight Frye, who gained immortality as the unfortunate Renfield opposite Bela Lugosi in Dracula and followed it up as the feeble-minded Fritz in Frankenstein. Both of them reached theaters the same year as this Maltese Falcon.

The other major point of interest in this adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s groundbreaking detective novel is that it was made prior to the revision of the Production Code in 1934. As a pre-Code movie it is much more raw and racy than the 1941 remake was allowed to be. It’s clear that Sam Spade has had an affair with his partner’s wife—and that Archer knows it. It doesn’t take a detective to figure out that he also sleeps with Ruth Wonderly. When Sam orders Ruth to take off her clothes, to prove she isn’t hiding anything, the tone is more lascivious here than in the later film. And references to Wilmer, Casper Gutman’s so-called gunsel, are a bit more overt regarding his sexuality.

In terms of staging, camera work, and music the film is relatively primitive. Directors and technicians still hadn’t found their footing in talkies, as they would very soon. But for anyone who knows and loves The Maltese Falcon, this 1931 effort captures the Hammett story and its milieu surprisingly well, and makes a worthy companion piece to the 1941 classic.

78. THE MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS

(2002)

Directed by George Hickenlooper

Screenplay by Phillip Jayson Lasker

Actors:

ANDY GARCIA

MICK JAGGER

JULIANNA MARGULIE

SOLIVIA WILLIAMS

JAMES COBURN

ANJELICA HUSTON

MICHAEL DES BARRES

RICHARD BRADFORD

XANDER BERKELEY

ROSALIND CHAO

JOE SANTOS

TRACEY WALTER

SHERMAN HOWARD

An old friend of mine had a gift for being able to strip every film down to its core. I’d mention a title and he’d say, “Oh, that was the Orpheus legend, except they changed the ending,” or “Didn’t you recognize that as King Lear?” He’s no longer alive, or I would consult him on a regular basis, and I wish we’d had a chance to discuss The Man From Elysian Fields. Would he have thought of it as a variation on Faust or would he have had other ideas? And what would he have made of the title’s reference to Greek mythology, where the Elysian Fields were the burial ground for the blessed?

The setting for the story is modern-day Los Angeles, yet the film seems to exist in a world all its own. Andy Garcia plays a dedicated novelist who lives in Pasadena, and works in a tiny room in an office building at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. He’s got just one problem: nobody wants to read his books. He loves his son and his wife, Julianna Marguiles, but he can’t pay the bills. It looks as if he’s going to have to swallow his pride and find another way to make a living. Just then a mysterious man invites him down the hall to the office of Elysian Fields. He enters the office and meets the owner—played by Mick Jagger. Elysian Fields is a very discreet, high-end escort service.

Garcia is understandably put off by the whole thing, but agrees to give it a try—without telling his wife. His first client is beautiful Olivia Williams, who’s married to a feisty but aging Pulitzer Prize–winning author, played to perfection by James Coburn. Before long, Garcia starts working with the writer on what will almost certainly be his final novel. Except he can’t tell anyone—and his repeated, unexplained absence puts a strain on his marriage.

It’s a great setup, and I’m deliberately withholding details so as not to spoil the film’s surprises.

Andy Garcia is excellent as the writer caught in a moral bind, torn between love, responsibility, and sheer temptation—both sexual and professional. James Coburn has one of his best late-in-life roles as the big bear of a man who’s in an equally dicey situation, needing help but not eager to accept it—and risking emasculation in the process. The casting of Mick Jagger is equally inspired, as the novelty—along with the rock icon’s