The Dain Curse

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.