Dashiell Hammett and the Movies

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Film, History & Criticism, Performing Arts
Cover of the book Dashiell Hammett and the Movies by William H. Mooney, Rutgers University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: William H. Mooney ISBN: 9780813573045
Publisher: Rutgers University Press Publication: November 3, 2014
Imprint: Rutgers University Press Language: English
Author: William H. Mooney
ISBN: 9780813573045
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication: November 3, 2014
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Language: English

As the father of the hardboiled detective genre, Dashiell Hammett had a huge influence on Hollywood. Yet, it is easy to forget how adaptable Hammett’s work was, fitting into a variety of genres and inspiring generations of filmmakers.

Dashiell Hammett and the Movies offers the first comprehensive look at Hammett’s broad oeuvre and how it was adapted into films from the 1930s all the way into the 1990s. Film scholar William H. Mooney reveals the wide range of films crafted from the same Hammett novels, as when The Maltese Falcon was filmed first as a pre-Code sexploitation movie, then as a Bette Davis screwball comedy, and finally as the Humphrey Bogart classic. He also considers how Hammett rose to Hollywood fame not through the genre most associated with him, but through a much fizzier concoction, the witty murder mystery The Thin Man. To demonstrate the hold Hammett still has over contemporary filmmakers, the book culminates in an examination of the Coen brothers’ pastiche Miller’s Crossing

Mooney not only provides us with an in-depth analysis of Hammett adaptations, he also chronicles how Hollywood enabled the author’s own rise to stardom, complete with a celebrity romance and a carefully crafted public persona. Giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the complex power relationships, cultural contexts, and production concerns involved in bringing Hammett’s work from the page to the screen, Dashiell Hammett and the Movies offers a fresh take on a literary titan. 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

As the father of the hardboiled detective genre, Dashiell Hammett had a huge influence on Hollywood. Yet, it is easy to forget how adaptable Hammett’s work was, fitting into a variety of genres and inspiring generations of filmmakers.

Dashiell Hammett and the Movies offers the first comprehensive look at Hammett’s broad oeuvre and how it was adapted into films from the 1930s all the way into the 1990s. Film scholar William H. Mooney reveals the wide range of films crafted from the same Hammett novels, as when The Maltese Falcon was filmed first as a pre-Code sexploitation movie, then as a Bette Davis screwball comedy, and finally as the Humphrey Bogart classic. He also considers how Hammett rose to Hollywood fame not through the genre most associated with him, but through a much fizzier concoction, the witty murder mystery The Thin Man. To demonstrate the hold Hammett still has over contemporary filmmakers, the book culminates in an examination of the Coen brothers’ pastiche Miller’s Crossing

Mooney not only provides us with an in-depth analysis of Hammett adaptations, he also chronicles how Hollywood enabled the author’s own rise to stardom, complete with a celebrity romance and a carefully crafted public persona. Giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the complex power relationships, cultural contexts, and production concerns involved in bringing Hammett’s work from the page to the screen, Dashiell Hammett and the Movies offers a fresh take on a literary titan. 

More books from Rutgers University Press

Cover of the book Shades of White Flight by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Race and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Guys Like Me by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Into the Inferno: The Memoir of a Jewish Paratrooper behind Nazi Lines by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Therapeutic Revolutions by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Domestic Negotiations by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Zombie Cinema by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book The New Negro in the Old South by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Framing Fat by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Black Movements by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Child's Play by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book The Psychic Hold of Slavery by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book Hormones, Heredity, and Race by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book From Workshop to Waste Magnet by William H. Mooney
Cover of the book The Cool and the Crazy by William H. Mooney
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy