The Dain Curse

Noting in the Wikipedia article on Dashiell Hammett only 3 of his 5 full length novels became motion pictures. But the three The Thin Man, The Glass Key and The Maltese Falcon became classic films all. The Maltese Falcon as we know was done 3 times as well.

A fourth one The Dain Curse was deliberately segmented into three self contained mysteries which for purposes of adaption fitted nicely into the television mini-series format.

James Coburn played our protagonist/cynical hero Hamilton Nash and I think Coburn should have done more detective stories, he was perfectly cast for the part.

It starts out as an investigation of a jewel robbery of a family the Leggetts. It's Coburn who deduces that he thinks the robbery story has a lot of holes in it. The Leggatts are Paul Harding, wife Beatrice Straight and her stepdaughter Nancy Addison. Straight is also Addison's blood aunt, Harding's first wife was Straight's sister. They are members of the Dain family upon which it is said there is a legendary curse.

One who tries hard to convince Nash there's something to this curse business is Jason Miller, Coburn's hard drinking novelist buddy. As this is 1928 and Prohibition rules the land that was some hard drinking indeed.

The Dain Curse might be the bloodiest novel Dashiell Hammett ever wrote. Several members of the Dain family die here including those who married into the family and those who had some involvement with them. Still Coburn thinks there's a guiding intelligence at work here and of course he's right.

A lot of expense went into this production and you really do think you're in 1928, cars and costumes definitely authentic.

Look for good performances by Jean Simmons as a cult church leader, Hector Elizondo as a hick sheriff, and the future Data from Star Trek, The Next Generation Brent Spiner as one of the cult members in good standing.

The Dain Curse is definitely worth watching for more than James Coburn and Dashiell Hammett fans.

James Coburn makes a wonderfully playful detective, somewhere between Nick Charles (The Thin Man) and Sam Spade. Like the movies of those characters, this is a complex story: actually 3 smaller mysteries wrapped in a larger one, which creates an odd tempo in the film. Normally a movie ends when the mystery is solved, but this movie keeps going onto another mystery like a rollercoaster. The version I saw was the 144 minute Anchor Bay video, which must have been abridged. This might account for a few scenes which faded inexplicably into others. Aside from that, the movie was quite entertaining. Though I was relieved when the entire mystery was really solved, I wanted to keep watching that wise, older, chivalrous, not-too-world-weary to be heartbroken detective.

This did have the last actor to play Charlie Chan in a movie series. However, it was Roland Winters, not Sidney Toler. Nevertheless, mystery buffs should see this on DVD and not VHS as you will see the entire series. It is a lot less confusing that way.

James Coburn is brilliant in it. You will see a young Star Trek: Next Generation "Data" here. I think this may before he appeared in Night Court.

So get a DVD copy of this and take your time watching it. You will see an intricate mystery, actually multiple mysteries, unfold before your eyes. It may even take a couple of viewings to get it all.

While slow paced it could only be presented that way for maximum enjoyment. The story has an extra treat as you get a glimpse of life in bygone times. It is fairly authentic to those by-gone times.

Enjoy.

I'm not surprised other reviewers found this mini-series confusing if they watched this video version: it has over half the scenes cut from it. The original series ran over four nights at six hours. Minus the commercial time, it clocks in at just over 4 1/2 hours. This video release is only 2 hours, 17 minutes long (despite the fact that the box says 193 minutes!)

In it's original form, it's a near masterpiece of mood, style, and suspense with a terrific cast. Every time you think the mystery has been solved, a new mystery begins. And unlike most mystery movies today, when you finally arrive at the end and learn who the real villain is, it all makes perfect sense.

So if you ever have a chance to catch it on some cable station, or if the DVD ever comes out, don't miss it. But skip the ripoff video!

This confusing story begins like a movie you came into after it began.The charactors all knew each other before, and make reference to things we don't see that appear to have something to do with all the strange goings on.

It involves a weird cult, a girl who is a drug addict and who may have killed her husband, and the detectives efforts to get the girl off drugs.

Mostly it's forgettable and sometimes laughable.

The stupidest mistake here is that the cast includes Jean Simmons and they made very poor use of her talents. She only had four scenes and only spoke in two of them (in one scene she is tied up on an altar and is in danger of becoming a human sacrifice).The film could have been better if they had made the female lead older and used Simmons in the part instead of in the supporting role. Even that however, could not have made this less confusing...just more watchable!