TODAY'S NUGGET: Mister Dynamite (1935) - Writing a Con for the Screen, the Dashiell Hammett Way

[Quick Summary: When a shady P.I. takes a case of a missing vase, he intends to let the police do all the work, but falls in love with the client's daughter.]

In this anthology of short stories-turned-into-films, I was very excited to see that author Dashiell Hammett was included.  

I knew he was a revolutionary crime novelist (5 novels, including the Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man) and short story writer, but he was a screenwriter too?!

Well, not exactly.  After he got priced out of the magazine market, Hammett mainly re-wrote scripts for film and radio.  

"On the Make" is one of his rare originals and is more of a screen treatment than a script.*  Very little, if any, made it into the final film, Mister Dynamite (1935).**

However, I decided to include it because:
1) it's rare to see any work of Hammett's outside of his novels; and
2) though this might be a better short story than a script, the con was clever.

In the scene below:
- Bachman's valuable vase has been stolen.
- Richmond, the private investigator, is trying to hook him as a new client.
- Richmond comes to offer "information" and plays on Bachman's desperation.
- FYI: Hammett wrote in prose form, even in this "script."  I imagine he was more comfortable with it, and/or lazy.
- Hammett's only concession to the script format seems to be consistent use of present tense.
- Notice how Richmond baits Bachman.  He plays on his desire for more information (my bolding below).

"How long - how long will it be before I can tell the police?" the collector asks in a wheedling tone.

Richmond's shoulders move in a little shrug. "I don't know. It depends on -" He breaks off with an impatient gesture. "Here's what happened, Mr. Bachman. I have an operative in - in an eastern city trying to locate some stolen property. It too is decidedly valuable. In the course of his investigation he had traced it to -- a buyer of rarities, we'll say, but it developed that what had been offered to this buyer was not our article. My man, of course, paid little attention to the other article then -- all he learned was that it was small, old, and Chinese."

"That is it!" Bachman cries. "That is certainly it! Who is this buyer?"

Richmond raises a protesting hand and shakes his head slowly. "As I told you, Mr. Bachman, I can't jeopardize my own client's interests by allowing the police or anyone else to come charging in, stirring things up, frightening --" 

Bachman: "But you said this man hadn't bought your client's property. What difference does it make then?"

Richmond: "I said the thing we traced to him wasn't my client's. Because a false trail led to him doesn't necessarily mean that the true one won't."

Bachman, despairingly: "But Mr. Richmond, you can't make me wait and wait and risk --" He breaks off as a thought comes to him. He holds out his hands in a pleading gesture and begs: "Suppose I too become your client. Suppose I engage you to recover it. Then you can handle it in your own way without fear of spoiling you other client's --"

Richmond, staring levelly at the collector: "I didn't come here to sell you my services. I came to give you what information I had."

Bachman, wheedling: "But you will hand it for me, Mr. Richmond? I'll pay you well I'll--"

Richmond: "Besides, we've no assurance that the Chinese thing offered was your snuff-bottle; no assurance that we can find it anyhow. I don't know whether this person I mentioned actually bought it or not."

Bachman: "But you can find out. Will you, Mr. Richmond?"

Richmond, a bit reluctantly: "Well, if you wish."

Bachman grasps one of Richmond's hands and shakes it warmly: "Thank you, sir," he says. "You won't regret it."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  If you're going to create a con, lean into the person's desires.  Make sure your bait is what the fish wants to bite.

Mister Dynamite (1935)
by Dashiell Hammett
Based on his short story/screen treatment/script, "On the Make" from The Hunter and Other Stories (2013)

*"On the Make" was finally published for the public in 2013, at least 78 years after it was written!

**However, as you can see in this lobby card poster here, the publicity machine really pushed that this was "Dashiell Hammett's Mister Dynamite."

TODAY'S NUGGET: Live and Let Die (1973) - Avoid Monotony in Action: A Clever, Unusual Way to Use a Location

[Quick Summary: Bond tries to stop a heroin ring with the help of psychic tarot card reader.]

As I read through these Bond scripts, I tend to get bored at the monotony of action. 

So when I see something clever or unusual, I pay attention.

One of these is the pre-title sequence below.  It's fresh and unexpected because:
- It takes advantage of its location (New Orleans) and its unusual customs.
- There is a double twist:  The black gentleman and parade seem unconnected, but are actually in cahoots. It seems to be a funeral, but it's a cover.
- I love the use of the coffin as a facade and camouflage.
- It sets up the spy world for the audience: expect the unexpected.
- FYI: Hamilton is a British agent whose disappearance will cause Bond to go to New Orleans.

ANGLE ON FILLET OF SOUL - HAMILTON'S POV

The Fillet of Soul Restaurant. A garishly-coloured building with neon sign in front: CONTINUOUS ENTERTAINMENT. As CAMERA HOLDS, a slow, dearth, jazz blues is heard in b.g.

BACK TO HAMILTON

He looks off towards the increasingly louder sound of the music. CAMERA PANS. From around the corner: A funeral procession, in true New Orleans style. MUSICIANS lead the parade, marching to a slow cadence. Behind them, PALL BEARERS carry a coffin. FRIENDS and RELATIVES string out behind. The group is all black. CAMERA PANS with PARADE as it approaches HAMILTON.

CLOSER ON HAMILTON

He stands, watching. A wizened, little old BLACK GENTLEMAN with white hair suddenly appears next to him, watches the procession solemnly. Tears form in his eyes - he wipes one away, shakes his head sadly. HAMILTON removes his hat.

HAMILTON (nicely): Whose funeral is it?

BLACK GENTLEMAN: Yours....

A switchblade flashes out from the BLACK GENTLEMAN'S hand, plunges into HAMILTON'S side. The parade marches past as HAMILTON falls to the street. PALL BEARERS stop, lower the coffin over HAMILTON'S body, pick it up again. The body has disappeared. The process breaks out into a happy, ragtime tune, struts up the street.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Find a location with unusual customs and/or culture (ex. funeral parade), then put a twist (or two) on even what is typical there (ex. funeral parade as a cover).

Live and Let Die (1973)(10/2/72)
by Tom Mankiewicz

TODAY'S NUGGET: Thunderball (1965) - Transition In & Out of a Bond Torture Scene (Tone)

[Quick Summary: Bond travels to the Bahamas to stop Largo who is extorting the world with nuclear weapons.]

Have we seen this story before?  Why, yes!

It's based on the novel, Thunderball, which was made into two different films by two different sets of producers.*  To me, this is clearly the better script of the two.

I find that Bond torture scenes are not too graphic (probably unlike the books) and end with panache and a quip.  

How do the writers make that turn in tone believable? I think it's the acknowledgment that he's hurt and is deliberately trying to lighten the moment.

In the scene below:
- Bond is at a health clinic.
- He is lying on a Motorised Traction Table to stretch the spine. 
- His hands are above his head in hand grips and his legs strapped down.  The motor below the table tightens and loosens the grips.
- He has encountered suspicious man with Piaget watch in the hall.
- Pay particular attention to #59b where I've bolded the turn in tone.

55. WALL CLOCK

Now reading 28 minutes after ten. CAMERA ANGLE WIDENS TO INCLUDE BOND ON COUCH, his eyes closed, the straps operating rhythmically. He hears a sound outside curtains, turns his head toward them, opens his eyes. Slowly a tanned, muscular arm reaches through curtains toward lever near dial.

56. INSERT: HAND DEPRESSING DIAL

On the wrist is the distinctive Piaget watch covering the tattoo. The needle on the dial starts moving up. The hand draws back out of shot.

57. INT. ALCOVE. BOND

Whine of motor builds, the straps tightening and loosening more rapidly and with increasing violence. BOND struggles desperately as his back is racked by powerful wrenches. He tries to shout, but can only manage choked, intermittent gasps.

58. INSERT: DIAL

Needle rises to 200, stays there.

59. INT. ALCOVE. BOND

His features contort agonizedly as the couch seems to go beserk.

59a.  EFFECTS SHOT. PATRICIA

The face is coming and going in great jerks and then suddenly the sound ceases.

59b. INT. ALCOVE. BOND. PATRICIA

Her hand comes away from the switch, goes up nervously to her mouth.

PATRICIA: My God....my God....you could've been killed.....

She helps him up. He straightens himself painfully. Then with an effort. [my emphasis]

BOND: I feel like I've grown about six inches.

PATRICIA (very upset): Can't think how it could've happened....and I can tell you it's a miracle I came back when I did...I'd left my watch behind.

She is wiping the sweat off his body with a towel, for he is soaking wet.

BOND: I'll buy you another one tomorrow....solid diamond.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  It's transitions like this (capturing the tone switch) elevate this script above the other one. Same story, but the level of craft is higher.

Thunderball (1965)(1/19/65 revised)
by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins
Based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming

*After the initial success of the Bond franchise with EON Productions, Ian Fleming worked with another producer, Kevin McClory, and writer Jack Whittingham on script.  It didn't get made, so Fleming turned it into a novel, Thunderball, under his own name. 

McClory sued Fleming for copyright and settled. 

Then EON was afraid of competition, so it made a deal with McClory that would allow EON to produce Thunderball, with McClory as producer.

In the 1970s, McClory wanted to bring his version of Thunderball to the screen. This became Never Say Never Again (1983). 

In 2013, EON Productions finally settled all the rights to Thunderball with the McClory estate.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Mad Miss Manton (1938) - How to Use the Wipe Pan

[Quick Summary: After socialite Melsa Manton stumbles over a dead body that disappears, she has to prove to everyone that she's not pulling another prank.]

I've always seen brothers and writers Julius and Philip Epstein (Casablanca, Arsenic and Old Lace) listed together, or Julius as a sole credit (Reuben, Ruben).  

I'd never seen a script written by Philip, who passed away at a young age, as a sole credit.  So my interest was piqued when I found this script in book form.

This was a studio film for Barbara Stanwyck, (before Double Indemnity (1944)) and Henry Fonda.  He was the newspaper man whose editorials criticize her "prank."

I didn't think there was anything new in this comedy mystery.  

However, I was interested in the clear (and sparse) use of the wipe pan.  

In the scene below:
- It identifies the various interested parties (suspects?!) one by one, in their natural environments.
- It heightens the tension.  Which of these is the real guilty party?
- It increases stakes.  These folks know that Melsa is about to finger one of them.
- It sets up our expectations that something is going to happen next.
- In the last line, the note says that everyone should look "enigmatic," which helps prolong the suspense. What will happen next?

DISSOLVE OUT

DISSOLVE IN

INTERIOR ONE-ART LUNCH COUNTER - NIGHT

Medium shot -- Norris, seated on one of the stools, is reading the newspaper headline:

    MELSA MANTON TO REVEAL NEW EVIDENCE
    TO DISTRICT ATTORNEY
    ARREST EXPECTED IN 24 HOURS

WIPE

INTERIOR BEAUTY PARLOR - NIGHT
Sheila Lane, her hair under the dryer, her face covered with creams, is reading the same newspaper headline.

WIPE

EXTERIOR CORNER NEWSSTAND - NIGHT
Thomas, a newspaper in his hand, is just tossing a few coins to the newspaper vendor. He starts to read the same newspaper headline.

WIPE

INTERIOR SUBWAY CAR - NIGHT
Frances Glesk, holding onto a strap, is reading the same headline over a man's shoulder.

WIPE

INTERIOR POOLROOM - NIGHT
Bat Regan, a cue stick in one hand, has a newspaper in the other hand.
(NOTE: All the people in these scenes have enigmatic looks on their faces.)

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I've never considered using the wipe pan, thinking it was too old fashioned. I might now, seeing how it's quite effective in the right situation.

The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
by Philip G. Epstein