The Dain Curse (1978)

Hamilton "Ham" Nash (James Coburn) is a private investigator working for an agency.  The "Old man" who runs the agency sends him to investigate a diamond heist.  Nothing seems to add up.  One diamond was on the stoop, apparently dropped by the thief.  The rest of the diamonds were tiny and hardly worth stealing.  Looking around the house, the thief would have to ignore far more valuable stuff to take the diamonds.  Nash has an odd encounter with the daughter, Gabrielle, who claims to be suffering the Dain Curse.  Nash has hardly begun the investigation when the diamonds are recovered, and the thief is found dead.  Nash realizes there is more to this heist than meets the eye.

This made for TV miniseries is a convoluted mess that takes several short stories and stiches them into a single meandering narrative.  The 3-hour version is incomplete, having sliced out large chunks from the full miniseries.  At the end of one scene, Gabrielle is holding a bloody knife and confessing to a murder while her fiancé and Nash stand nearby.  Then, practically the next scene, there is a discussion of her husband's murder and her kidnapping.  Huh?  When did he get killed?  When was the wedding?  What kidnapping?!  There are several times that Nash or someone else refers to an event or conversation that was not shown.  Who edited this cut?  Entirely too much time is dedicated to Nash's efforts to cure Gabrielle of morphine addiction.

Nash is a keen investigator and seldom misses clues.  However, I had picked out the main villain fairly early and was a bit disappointed that it took Nash so much longer.  Coburn is good in the role and may even be terrific in the full cut, but the Amazon cut is confusing and incomplete.

Skip.

The Thin Man (1934)

Clyde Wynant (Edward Ellis) is visited by his daughter Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) and her fiancé.  She wants her father to come to the wedding.  Though he is leaving town that night, he promises to be back in time for the wedding.  After his daughter leaves, he decides to set aside some bonds as a wedding present.  They are missing from the safe!  Instantly he suspects his mistress, Julia (Natalie Moorhead).  He finds her with another man, who promptly leaves when Wynant arrives.  She admits taking the bonds, claiming that she earned it.  He suspects she was not alone in taking the bonds and storms away to confront this mysterious person.

Three months later in the middle of the Christmas season, Nick Charles (William Powell) is drinking martinis at a bar when Dorothy approaches him.  Nick is a former private detective who gave up the profession when he married Nora (Myrna Loy).  However, Nick had worked for Clyde Wynant years ago and is glad to see Dorothy.  She explains how her father has vanished and asks Nick to investigate.  He declines.  Even so, his reputation soon has reporters and police demanding to know what he has uncovered.  Nora is eager for him to investigate, wanting to join in solving the mystery.

Based on Dashiell Hammett's final novel, this is a classic mystery with a winning cast.  William Powell is terrific as the brilliant detective who is more often interested in his next drink than the next clue.  Typically, such detectives are bachelors with a dark demeanor and a hard-boiled personality, but Nick is a happily married fellow with a sunny disposition.  Very different.  Myrna Loy is a smart aleck wife who urges Nick into the thick of things only to have him leave her behind.  Their wisecracking toward one another is great fun and shows a truly satisfied couple.

Though I had seen this movie before, I had no idea who the murderer was when Nick invited all the suspects to a dinner party where he reveals all.  Impressive.  The movie was such a success that it spawned 5 sequels.

Highly recommended and great popcorn fun!