New Stuff: Dashiell Hammett

First Lines: Dashiell Hammett - The Thin Man

I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping, when a girl got up from the table where she had been sitting with three other people and came over to me.

First Lines: Dashiell Hammett - The Dain Curse

It was a diamond all right, shining in the grass half a dozen feet from the blue brick wall.

First Lines: Dashiell Hammett - The Glass Key

Green dice rolled across the green table, struck the rim together, and bounced back.

First Lines: Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest

I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship in Butte.

The Glass Key (1942)

During the campaign for reelection, a crooked politician decides to clean up his past.

An above-average Dashiell Hammett adaptation with a breathtaking Veronica Lake, some great dialogue, a complex plot and a Noir atmosphere.

New Stuff: The Glass Key

It's an adaptation of one my favourite novels and it's got Veronica Lake in it!

First Lines: Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon

Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth.