I’m unfamiliar with Todd’s film career. I’ve seen her in a few supporting roles (Roy Del Ruth‘s The Maltese Falcon, the Marx Brothers‘ Monkey Business) and that’s about it.
Anyhow, since either ZaSu Pitts or Patsy Kelly can be found in most of the Thelma Todd shorts, they must be worth a look.
As for this evening, the one definite recommendation I have is The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female (1931), which I find infinitely more entertaining than John Huston‘s celebrated 1941 remake. Pretty much everyone else will disagree, I’m sure, but that’s how it goes…
Ricardo Cortez, The Maltese Falcon Dangerous Female
Best of all is Ricardo Cortez‘s spot-on Sam Spade. Unlike Humphrey Bogart‘s tough-talking gumshoe, Cortez’s Spade displays a mix of sliminess, slyness, slickness, sensuality, and, gasp, integrity. I say "gasp" because Cortez’s characters usually came across as anything but ethical.
Also, being a pre-Code production, The Maltese Falcon gets away with certain elements less evident in the 1941 remake, including the daddy-son relationship between Dudley Digges and his "gunsel" Dwight Frye.
Also in the enjoyable cast: Bebe Daniels, Otto Matieson, and Una Merkel.
People talk about Hollywood having no imagination nowadays, what with all those remakes and reboots, etc., etc., coming out. And to think that within a decade, The Maltese Falcon reached the screen three times, courtesy of Warner Bros.
In addition to Cortez and Bogart, there was also Warren William in the 1936 cheapo "reboot" Satan Met a Lady, co-starring Bette Davis.
At the age of 29, Thelma Todd died under mysterious circumstances on Dec. 16, 1935. Her death was ruled a suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, but many believed it was actually murder related to the goings-on at her nightclub/restaurant "Thelma Todd’s Sidewalk Cafe."
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