This movie would stand as a perfect example to what we spoke about in regards to femme fatales. The femme fatale of this movie is Phyllis a lady who leads the main character into danger by basically seducing him and making him want to live his life with her. She feigns naivete by allowing him to take the blame when they spoke about the murder of her husband even though she has killed before as described by her daughter.

In comparison to the Maltese Falcon I would have to say this movie developed the characters to a more realistic perspective. Each character had their own emotions and showed them accordingly. You could see the feelings of regret on the main protagonist when his partner starts questioning the death of the man. You could also see his fear when the femme fatales daughter tells him the story about her real mother and how her step-mother was there when she died.