The Dain Curse

I was somewhat disappointed by this movie. I love Dashiell Hammett but the video I say, just over two hours, looks like it was edited by Picasso. There were some scenes that just didn't make sense. I would really like to see the entire movie if there is one available because I found the atmosphere and acting first rate though Coburn is as far from the Continental Op as a man could be. Frank Cannon would have been more appropriate. I understand why people are confused by this movie. At its present length it makes as much sense as a Richard Simmons workout video.

ITS THE CURSE MAN - THE CURSE OF BAD EDITING

The Dain Curse is a lovely 1970s miniseries that is convincingly set in the 1920s. All of the hanging light fixtures and golden curtains are detailed to perfection. An edited three hour version of this is available on Prime right now, and I must admit there's a bit of confusion between what must have been the first and second episodes.

James Coburn plays the Marlboro Man ...I mean Hamilton Nash...a man in late middle age who has the hots for a mentally ill woman who can't be a day over 35. Nancy Addison was also a strange choice for the unstable morphine-addicted daughter of a wealthy man who is ostensibly still a virgin despite her impulsive, erratic behavior and advanced age. That's part of the problem - did Nancy Addison EVER look young? It's almost as if she were born a glamorous but overly tanned forty. I can't even find early photos of her online from the 1960s on Guiding Light.

Anyway, The Dain Curse is a murder mystery in the Mid-Century style, with a sort of pseudo-noir hard boiled detective feel. If you can focus on the chandeliers and overlook the stilted acting it's not a bad way to spend a few hours.

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.

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.

In Dashiell Hammett's world, nothing was ever what it seemed and people were mysteries to be unwrapped layer by layer. The characters in the "Maltese Falcon" and "The Thin Man" were enigmas to Sam Spade and Nick Charles and so it is in "The Dain Curse." If you are looking for a simple plot, go elsewhere. The hero of the novel was a nameless detective known as "The Continental Op." In the movie, the hero is Hamilton Nash (a nod to Hammett who once was a Pinkerton detective). The film captures the flavor of Hammett's writing and is well cast (look for Jean Simmons in a supporting role, Hector Elizondo as a local sheriff, Brent Spiner as a baddie and Sidney Tolar (the last film Charlie Chan) in a minor role. James Coburn is well suited to the part of Nash. The show captures the flavor of the roaring '20s very well and is a must see for Hammett fans.