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G_IN_THE_AIR

The 1941 film version of the
"Maltese Falcon" presents a
problem for the reader.

   The translation between
   novel and film is so exact
   that the film sucks all
   the meaning out of the
   book.

      It's difficult to read
      "The Maltese Falcon" in
      anything like the
      originally intended way,
      and there isn't much point
      in trying to.


          Except: the film
          skips a really
          interesting
          story-within-a-story,
          the chapter
          "G in the Air".


    In this chapter, Spade and O'Shaugnessy
    are just waiting, and there's no obvious
    advancement of the main plot.

    He starts telling her a story of one
    of his old cases, for no apparent reason.

    SPOILERS

        Once you read this summary,
        you may feel like I've sucked
        the meaning out of this chapter.

  Spade was hired to find a man who
  had disappeared mysteriously many
  years ago, walking out on his
  wife and job, leaving his bank
  account untouched.  Was he killed?

  No. Spade finds the man,              He's named
  and gets his story:                   Flitcraft,
                                        and many fans
    One day he was walking              seem to call
    down the sidewalk passing           this "The
    a construction site, and            Flitcraft      I prefer the
    an accidentally dropped             Episode".      chapter name...
    girder crashed into the                            though just now
    sidewalk next to him.                              it puzzles me.

    This near miss brings about                           Why the "G"?
    a sudden transformation in
    character, he feels like he's                         Maybe there's
    suddenly learned something                            money in the
    about life, and he can't just                         air, e.g.
    go back to his old existence.                         thousands of
                                                          dollars?
    So he walks out, and begins anew.
                                                          Money raining
    The part that Spade likes,                            down can be
    though, is that if you look                           as hazardous
    at his new life, it looks                             as girders
    an awful lot like the old                             falling?
    one with a few details
    changed.

    Spade's conclusion: when
    girders were falling, he
    adapted to a world where
    girders were falling.
    When they stopped
    falling, he adapted back.



Obvious question:

   Why is he telling her
   this story?

   Why did Hammett engage in
   this excursion?


When I was a kid, the theory
that I liked was that this
was Spade's manifesto for        RISK
"living dangerously".

  But why would he feel
  the need to explain
  himself?  For one thing,
  if anything O'Shaugnessy
  lives closer to the edge
  than Spade does, and he
  pretty much knows that.

     Maybe: he's trying to explain
     to her one of the things he likes
     about her.  They're two of a kind.

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