.jpg) Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Dashiell Hammett |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Mystery, crime |
| Published | 1929 (Alfred A. Knopf) |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Preceded by | Red Harvest |
| Followed by | The Maltese Falcon |
The Dain Curse is a novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett, published in 1929. Before its publication in book form, it was serialized in Black Mask magazine in 1928 and 1929.[1]
The Dain Curse was originally serialized in four installments[2] in the pulp magazine Black Mask:
The novel of the same title based on the Black Mask serial is composed of three parts, each concerning different mysteries — Part One, The Dains; Part Two, The Temple; and Part Three, Quesada.
The story is told in the first person, and the nameless detective known only as The Continental Op investigates a theft of diamonds from the Leggett family of San Francisco. The plot involves a supposed curse on the Dain family, said to inflict sudden and violent deaths upon those in their vicinity. Edgar Leggett's wife is a Dain, as is his daughter Gabrielle. The detective untangles a web of robberies, lies and murder. It is discovered that Gabrielle Leggett is under the influence of a mysterious religious cult and is also addicted to morphine.
Gabrielle escapes from the cult and marries her fiancé Eric Collinson, but bloodshed continues to follow her. The Continental Op, on behalf of four successive clients, investigates the reason behind all the mysterious, violent events surrounding Gabrielle Leggett, which he eventually uncovers. The concluding chapters of the novel contain a detailed description of how the Op weans her from her drug habit, and the novel ends on a hopeful note.
The novel was adapted into a CBS television miniseries in 1978, by director E.W. Swackhamer and producer Martin Poll, which starred James Coburn (as the Op, given the name "Hamilton Nash" for this film version), Hector Elizondo (as Ben Feeney), Jean Simmons (as Aaronia Haldorn), Jason Miller (as Owen Fitzstephan), Beatrice Straight (as Alice Leggett), Paul Stewart (as the Old Man), Nancy Addison (as Gabrielle Leggett), Tom Bower (as Sergeant O'Gar), David Canary (as Jack Santos), Beeson Carroll (as Marshall Cotton), Roland Winters (as Hubert Collinson) and a pre-Star Trek Brent Spiner (as Tom Fink).[3]
It received three Emmy Award nominations (one for the director, one for Straight). The script, by Robert W. Lenski, won the 1978 Edgar Award for Best Television Feature or Miniseries.
An edited version of the series was released on VHS in the 1990s; a complete, full-length, two-disc DVD edition is available.
Coburn said "We went for a mood piece and a lot of it worked. For television, it was pretty good. Still, we had to fight the network (CBS) to make it the way we intended to do it. We didn’t want too many close-ups. They didn’t understand. They said this is television and that’s not the way to shoot it Well, I said, ‘fuck ‘em, let’s shoot it like a film’, and you know what?, we did for the most part.” [4]
