[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."
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