Product: Dain Curse [VHS] (1978)
Rating: 5.0
Dain Curse mini series a minor classic
Full disclosure: I'm going to be a little controversial here. Over last weekend, while on a train trip, I watched all of the 1978 miniseries of The Dain Curse (you can get it on netflix or amazon). It stars James Coburn in a pretty faithful adaptation of the novel. While I struggled with the first 15 minutes of the dvd, I came to really really like it and view it as a minor classic. And while it's easy to get caught up in the great styling, fashion, period architecture, cars, etc. in the miniseries, the best thing about it is:* It makes the novel better. While Dain Curse has a lot of good episodes in it, it feels often, well, episodic. Like it was written at different times. STructurally, the whole Quesada episode seems tagged on and disconnected, at least to me.The mini series solves this by putting the Op's attraction to Gabrielle at the heart of the story, instead of as a weird addendum in the Third Act. While this may humanize and romanticize the Op to some people's dislike, i think it makes the story hold better. Coburn isn't my favorite actor, but, boy, he aces this role.I think this may even be better than Maltese Falcon as a screen adaptation of Hammett. It's not a movie (5 hours long), it looks like a Masterpiece Theater kind of show (video,cheapie sets), but still: this one really works. Give it a try.