The Dain Curse

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!

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.

An odd collection of stars.. brent spiner from star trek. Jean simmons, star of a thousand old movies. James coburn, who has made films in every genre. Jason miller, who was father karras in excorcist. This started as a miniseries, shown over several nights, but is currently on tubi streaming channel, and clocks in at three hours. When ham nash, private eye, is hired to recover stolen diamonds, we go on a grand adventure. With some dead bodies. And addiction. And cults. Bombings. A little of everything! It rambles here and there, similar to the big sleep, but even the rambling is fun to watch. It's a murder mystery, broken into three parts. And no, it really didn't need to be this long; it easily could have been two, maybe two and a half hours. Lots of jazz, in between the action. Long pauses. There seemed to be some slow motion here and there. And if you're wondering why dain is spelled that way, it's someone's name. I'm a huge hammett fan, so i found it entertaining. Some might find the story too slow, but it all gets wrapped up neatly by the end.

Although Hammett's Continental Op is written as short and squatty, Coburn manages to fit the role perfectly. The novel never gives him a name, but in a four-and-a-half hour film, he of course has to have one. This is the main change from Hammett's masterful novel, which the filmmakers have wisely chosen to stick to like glue. Beware the shortened version. If you can catch the complete version, it's worth it. Excellent cast, and terrific score. Coburn has never been better, and it's always great to see Jean Simmons. Hector Olonzdo is worth watching as the sheriff. This is a terrific tale of redemption, corruption, and unrequited love. This is one of Hammett's forgotten tales, and it's amazing that it was never filmed until 1978.

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.