Snarl of the Beast by John Carroll Daly
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
One of Hammett's masterpieces, this is the most
vivid and realistic picture of gang war ever written--and one of the most
exciting of all suspense novels.
From
the Back Cover
"Dashiell Hammett is an original. He is a master of the detective
novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer." -- Boston Globe
When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental
Op stayed on to punish the guilty -- even if that meant taking on an entire
town. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic
exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.
"Hammett's prose [is] clean and entirely unique. His characters [are]
as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction."-- The New York Times
Red Harvest (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Red
Harvest (Audio CD)
Red Harvest
(Audio Cassette)
Dufris's boldly interpretive performance in this Hammett classic is
breathtaking. He all but disappears into Hammett's rich cavalcade of characters.
Man, woman, cynic, lunatic, naif, scoundrel, each personality is utterly
realized, full-blooded and idiosyncratic. With expert pacing and emphasis,
Dufris also manages to convey their shifts of emotion. His reading becomes every
bit as engrossing as the written words themselves. The novel follows the
investigations of an audacious, but never named, detective as he sifts through
the violence and corruption of a flinty mining town. The novel is peopled with
fascinating figures brought vividly to life by a most imaginative reader. M.O.
Winner of AUDIOFILE's Earphones Award. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This
text refers to the Audio
Cassette edition.
The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett
Everything about the Leggett diamond
heist indicated to the Continental Op that it was an inside job. From the stray
diamond found in the yard to the eyewitness accounts of a "strange
man" casing the house, everything was just too pat. Gabrielle Dain-Leggett
has enough secrets to fill a closet, and when she disappears shortly after the
robbery, she becomes the Op's prime suspect. But her father, Edgar Leggett,
keeps some strange company himself and has a dark side the moon would envy.
Before he can solve the riddle of the diamond theft, the Continental Op must
first solve the mystery of this strange family.
Book
Description
One of the Continental Op's most bizarre cases, as he is faced with Miss
Gabrielle Dain Leggett, who has an unfortunate effect on the people around her -
they have a habit of dying violently.
Ingram
This story of wild and crazy Gabrielle Leggett moves from robbery to
murder, dope, and a sinister cult in San Francisco. First published in 1928, it
is told with all the authenticity of a newspaper report.
Dain Curse
Buy the hardcover edition from Amazon.com
The Dain Curse (Vintage Crime)
Buy the paperback edition from Amazon.com
Dufris's boldly interpretive performance of this Hammett classic
is breathtaking. He all but disappears into Hammett's rich cavalcade of
characters. Man, woman, cynic, lunatic, naif, scoundrel, each personality is
utterly realized, full-blooded and idiosyncratic. With expert pacing and
emphasis, Dufris also manages to convey their shifts of emotion. His reading
becomes every bit as engrossing as the written words themselves. The novel
follows the investigations of an audacious, but never named, detective as he
seeks to discover why everyone around a peculiar young woman keeps dying. The
novel is peopled with fascinating figures brought vividly to life by a most
imaginative reader. M.O. Winner of the AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. (c)AudioFile,
Portland, Maine --This text refers to the
The Dain Curse (Isis Series)
Buy the abridged Audio Cassette version from Amazon.com
Little
Caesar by W.R. Burnett
Little
Caesar (Otto Penzler Facsimile Edition)
A facsimile edition of the 1929 novel follows the rise and fall of gangster
Rico Cesare Bandello, from his brief tenure as a power in the crime world, to
his enforced flight from Chicago, to his violent end.
Little
Caesar (VHS 1930 Film)
Edward G. Robinson had a star-making vehicle in this 1930 film by Mervyn
LeRoy (Random Harvest), about a small-time gangster who becomes a top
boss in the underworld. As Rico Bandello, Robinson's portrayal is that of a
certain kind of American success, when a successful rise to the top somehow
throws open the doors on every neurotic element in one's personality and
magnifies them. The film is creaky as early sound films were wont to be, but the
actor's multidimensional role and ugly charisma keep everything interesting. --Tom
Keogh
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett's archetypally tough San
Francisco detective, is more noir than L.A.
Confidential and more vulnerable than Raymond Chandler's Marlowe. In The
Maltese Falcon, the best known of Hammett's Sam Spade novels (including The
Dain Curse and The
Glass Key), Spade is tough enough to bluff the toughest thugs and hold
off the police, risking his reputation when a beautiful woman begs for his help,
while knowing that betrayal may deal him a new hand in the next moment.
Spade's partner is murdered on a stakeout; the cops blame him for the
killing; a beautiful redhead with a heartbreaking story appears and disappears;
grotesque villains demand a payoff he can't provide; and everyone wants a
fabulously valuable gold statuette of a falcon, created as tribute for the Holy
Roman Emperor Charles IV. Who has it? And what will it take to get it back?
Spade's solution is as complicated as the motives of the seekers assembled in
his hotel room, but the truth can be a cold comfort indeed.
Spade is bigger (and blonder) in the book than in the movie,
and his Mephistophelean countenance is by turns seductive and volcanic. Sam
knows how to fight, whom to call, how to rifle drawers and secrets without
leaving a trace, and just the right way to call a woman "Angel" and
convince her that she is. He is the quintessence of intelligent cool, with a
wise guy's perfect pitch. If you only know the movie, read the book. If you're
riveted by Chinatown
or wonder where Robert B. Parker's Spenser gets his comebacks, read the master. --Barbara
Schlieper
Book
Description
Sam Spade, a slightly shop-worn private eye with his own solitary code of
ethics, stars in Hammett's detective fiction, a novel that has haunted 2
generations of readers.
The
Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Mystery novel by Dashiell Hammett, generally considered his finest work.
It originally appeared as a serial in Black Mask magazine in 1929 and was
published in book form the next year. The novel's sustained tension is created
by vivid scenes and by the pace and spareness of the author's style. The other
major attraction of The Maltese Falcon is its colorful cast of characters; they
include the antiheroic detective Sam SPADE; Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a deceptive
beauty; Joel Cairo, an effete Levantine whose gun gives him courage; the very
fat and jovial but sinister Casper Gutman; and Gutman's "gunsel"
Wilmer, eager to be feared. All of them are looking for the Maltese falcon, a
fabulously valuable 16th-century artifact. --This text refers to the Unknown
Binding edition.
Ingram
First published in 1930, The Maltese Falcon stands today as one of the
classics of both suspense literature and American writing.
From
the Back Cover
"Dashiell Hammett. . . is a master of the detective novel, yes, but
also one hell of a writer." --The Boston Globe
"The Maltese Falcon is not only probably the best detective story we
have ever read, it is an exceedingly well written novel."--The Times
Literary Supplement (London)
"Hammett's prose [is] clean and entirely unique. His characters [are] as
sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction."--The New
York Times
The Maltese Falcon (Vintage
Crime/Black Lizard)
Maltese
Falcon (Hardcover edition)
Maltese
Falcon (Audio cassette)
The Maltese
Falcon (Audio CD)
Perhaps better known as a movie than a book, The Maltese Falcon set a
standard for tough-guy detective whodunits. This presentation is more radio
dramatization than audiobook reading. The stage is set by the soulful tones of a
tenor sax lyrically painting a mournful picture of fog-bound San Francisco,
steeped in death and deceit. Reader William Dufris is a one-man band, covering
the entire cast of diverse characters with unbelievable ease. His shifts from
tough Sam Spade to the damsel in distress to any of a host of bad guys is just
short of amazing. Some may find his presentation of the leading lady close to
overacting, and he does stretch to find unique voices for the minor players,
but, overall, this is a top notch presentation. T.J.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland,
Maine --This text refers to the Audio
Cassette edition.
The Maltese
Falcon (1941 Film DVD)
The Maltese
Falcon (1941 Film VHS)
Still the tightest, sharpest, and most cynical of
Hollywood's official deathless classics, bracingly tough even by post-Tarantino
standards. Humphrey Bogart is Dashiell Hammett's definitive private eye, Sam
Spade, struggling to keep his hard-boiled cool as the double-crosses pile up
around his ankles. The plot, which dances all around the stolen Middle Eastern
statuette of the title, is too baroque to try to follow, and it doesn't make a
bit of difference. The dialogue, much of it lifted straight from Hammett, is
delivered with whip-crack speed and sneering ferocity, as Bogie faces off
against Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet, fends off the duplicitous advances
of Mary Astor, and roughs up a cringing "gunsel" played by Elisha Cook
Jr. It's an action movie of sorts, at least by implication: the characters
always seem keyed up, right on the verge of erupting into violence. This is a
turning-point picture in several respects: John Huston (The African Queen)
made his directorial debut here in 1941, and Bogart, who had mostly played bad
guys, was a last-minute substitution for George Raft, who must have been kicking
himself for years afterward. This is the role that made Bogart a star and
established his trend-setting (and still influential) antihero persona. --David
Chute --This text refers to the VHS
Tape edition.
Green
Ice by Raoul Whitfield
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Sanctuary : The Corrected Text
The
Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
Ingram
Of Hammett's sixth book, published in 1931, The New York Times wrote
"the developing relationships among the characters are as exciting as the
unfolding story."
From
the Back Cover
"Hammett's prose was clean and entirely unique. His characters were
as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction. His gift of
invention never tempted him beyond the limits of credibility."
-- The New York Times
The Glass Key (Vintage Crime)
The Glass Key
(Audio cassette)
The Glass
Key (Audio CD)
Sophisticated urbanites move through a tangled gray area between the law and
the underworld. Even when one loses track of the plot, the characters remain
engaging. William Dufris is almost startling. He doesn't sound like one reader
giving each character a distinctive vocal signature. He sounds like a lot of
different people. The casual listener might mistake this for an ensemble
recording with a cast that includes women. Dufris also handles narrative
passages with unusual liveliness. J.N. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner. (c)AudioFile,
Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio
Cassette edition.
The Glass
Key (1942 Film VHS)
Death
in a Bowl by Raoul Whitfield
Fast One by Paul Cain
The
Virgin Kills by Raoul Whitfield
Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West
Book
Description
"Somehow or other I seem to have slipped in between all the
'schools,' " observed Nathanael West the year before his untimely death in
1940. "My books meet no needs except my own, their circulation is
practically private and I'm lucky to be published." Yet today, West is
widely recognized as a prophetic writer whose dark and comic vision of
a society obsessed with mass-
produced fantasies foretold much
of what was to come in American life.
Miss Lonelyhearts (1933), which West envisioned as "a novel in the form of
a comic strip," tells of an advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist who becomes
tragically embroiled in the desperate lives of his readers. The Day of the
Locust (1939) is West's great dystopian Hollywood novel based on his experiences
at the seedy fringes of the movie industry.
"The work of Nathanael West, savagely, comically, tragically original, has
come into its own," said novelist and screenwriter Budd Schulberg. "A
new public [has] discovered in the writings of West a brilliant reflection of
its own sense of chaos and helplessness in a world running more to madness than
to reason." --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition.
Ingram
These two dark stories--the most notable works of the short career of
Nathanael West--remain stunningly powerful pieces of fiction. MISS LONELYHEARTS
(1933) is the story of an advice columnist who becomes embroiled in the
desperate lives of his correspondents. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1939) centers
around a Hollywood scene designer and the characters he encounters at the
fringes of the movie industry. --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition.
Miss Lonelyhearts & the Day of the Locust
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
Penzler Pick, April
2000: It is sometimes easy to trace a literary genre to its source, and
James M. Cain's first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, is the noir
novel that paved the way for all the noir fiction that followed. The famous
film starring Lana Turner and John Garfield is notoriously dark, but the
novel is even more full of despair and devoid of hope. It is a short
book--little more than a novella--but its searing characterization and depiction
of tawdry greed and lust is branded into every reader's memory.
Frank Chambers, a drifter, is dropped from the back of a truck at a rundown
rural diner. When he spots Cora, the owner's wife, he instantly decides to stay.
The sexy young woman, married to Nick, a violent and thuggish boor, is equally
attracted to the younger man and sees him as her way out of her hopeless, boring
life. They begin a clandestine affair and plot to kill Nick, beginning their own
journey toward destruction.
Horace McCoy, David Goodis, Jim Thompson, and the other notable noir writers
never achieved Cain's spare brilliance. Virtually all of his major works have
been filmed, though several Hollywood studios refused to make the films,
directors refused to be involved, and actors turned down roles because of their
repugnance at the lack of morality inherent in all Cain's characters. Reading
him may not be fit for a Sunday school class, but once you begin you will be
unable to resist continuing, like picking at a painful scab or watching a
tarantula inside a glass dome. --Otto Penzler
Book
Description
Cain's first novel, banned in Boston, was an instant sensation and
established him as a master of the mystery/suspense genre. --This text refers
to the Paperback
edition.
Ingram
A classic of "hard-boiled" fiction, this edition of the story
of a young drifter who has an affair with a married woman and plots with her to
murder her husband is a facsimile reprint of the first edition. --This text
refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From
the Back Cover
"A good, swift, violent story." --Dashiell Hammett
"A poet of the tabloid murder." --Edmund Wilson --This text refers
to the Paperback
edition.
The Postman Always Rings
Twice (Otto Penzler Facsimile Edition)
The Postman Always Rings Twice
(Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
The Postman Always Rings
Twice (1946 Film VHS)
The Postman Always Rings
Twice (1981 Film DVD)
The Postman Always Rings
Twice (1981 Film VHS)
Even under the heavy censorship of 1946 Hollywood, Lana Turner and John
Garfield's libidinous desires burn up the screen in Tay Garnett's adaptation of
James M. Cain's torrid crime melodrama. Platinum blond Turner is Cora, a
restless sexpot stuck in a roadside diner married to mundane middle-aged fry
cook Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) when handsome drifter Frank (Garfield) blows
her way. It's lust at first sight, a rapacious desire that neither can break
off, and before long they're plotting his demise--but in the wicked world of
Cain nothing is that easy. Garnett's visual approach is subdued compared to the
more expressionistic film noir of the period, but he's at no loss when he films
the luminous Turner in her milky-white wardrobe. She radiates repressed
sexuality and uncontrollable passion while Garfield's smart-talking loner Frank
mixes street-smart swagger and scrappy toughness with vulnerability and sincere
intensity. Costar Hume Cronyn cuts a cold, calculating figure as their conniving
lawyer, a chilly character that only increases our feelings for the murderous
couple, victims of an all consuming amour fou that drives their passions
to extremes. --Sean Axmaker
The
Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett's classic tale
of murder in Manhattan, became the popular movie
series with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and both the movies and the novel
continue to captivate new generations of fans.
Nick and Nora Charles, accompanied by their schnauzer, Asta, are lounging in
their suite at the Normandie in New York City for the Christmas holiday,
enjoying the prerogatives of wealth: meals delivered at any hour, theater
openings, taxi rides at dawn, rubbing elbows with the gangster element in
speakeasies. They should be annoyingly affected, but they charm. Mad about each
other, sardonic, observant, kind to those in need, and cool in a fight, Nick and
Nora are graceful together, and their home life provides a sanctuary from the
rough world of gangsters, hoodlums, and police investigations into which Nick is
immediately plunged.
A lawyer-friend asks Nick to help find a killer and reintroduces him to the
family of Richard Wynant, a more-than-eccentric inventor who disappeared from
society 10 years before. His former wife, the lush and manipulative Mimi, has
remarried a European fortune hunter who turns out to be a vindictive former
associate of her first husband and is bent on the ruin of Wynant's family
fortune. Wynant's children, Dorothy and Gilbert, seem to have inherited the
family aversion to straight talk. 
Dorothy, who has matured into a beautiful
young woman, has a crush on Nick, and so, in a hero-worshipping way, does mama's
boy Gilbert. Nick and Nora respond kindly to their neediness as Nick tries to
make sense of misinformation, false identities, far-fetched alibis, and, at the
center of the confusion, the mystery of The Thin Man, Richard Wynant. Is
he mad? Is he a killer? Or is he really an eccentric inventor protecting his
discovery from intellectual theft?
The dialogue is spare, the locales lively, and Nick, the narrator, shows us
the players as they are, while giving away little of his own thoughts. No one is
telling the whole truth, but Nick remains mostly patient as he doggedly tries to
backtrack the lies. Hammett's New York is a cross between Damon Runyon and Scott
Fitzgerald--more glamorous than real, but compelling when visited in the company
of these two charmers. The lives of the rich and famous don't get any better
than this! --Barbara Schlieper
Book
Description
Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett's most enchanting creations, a rich,
glamorous couple who solve crimes in between wisecracks and martinis.
Ingram
Originally published in 1933, The Thin Man is the story of respectable
people who are prepared to murder between drinks--and do.
The Thin Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
The Thin
Man (Otto Penzler Facsimile Edition)
The Thin
Man (1934 Film VHS)
The intoxicating chemistry and repartee between the
oft-teamed William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles--America's
favorite soused detectives--is fully 100-proof in the marvelously witty Thin Man
movies. You simply won't find more delightful movie company than Nick and Nora.
The title, of course, refers not to Nicky the dick, but to the mysteriously
missing scientist he and his lovely partner set out to find. Powell and Loy
deliver their sparkling dialog with giddy enthusiasm (and occasionally slurred
speech) in this rapid-fire, three-martini suspense comedy directed by famously
speedy W.S. Van Dyke and adapted from the novel by Dashiell Hammett. The success
of The Thin Man spawned a litter of sequels, including After the Thin
Man (featuring a young James Stewart), Another Thin Man (in which a
baby is added to the Charles family), Shadow of the Thin Man, The Thin
Man Goes Home, and Song of the Thin Man. --Jim Emerson --This
text refers to the VHS edition.
The Thin Man Series
Click here to buy videos from The Thin Man Series at Amazon.com
Appointment
in Samarra by John O'Hara
Appointment in
Samarra (Random House)
They Shoot Horses, Don't They by Horace McCoy
They Shoot Horses, Don't
They? (Serpents Tail)
They Shoot Horses, Don't
They? (1969 Film DVD)
They Shoot Horses, Don't
They? (1969 Film VHS)
In the dark years of the l930s, dance marathons
became popular as a way for desperate people to compete for prize money.
Sometimes the events would drag on for weeks as contestants pushed themselves 
far beyond the point of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, the dancers
shambling around the floor in a half-dead stupor. People would then pay to sit
in the bleachers, watch the event, and cheer on their favorites. They Shoot
Horses is taken from hard-boiled pulp writer Horace
McCoy's novel of the same name; Jane Fonda plays a bitter young woman paired
up with Michael Sarrazin for the ordeal. Gig Young portrays the unctuous MC of
the event, bringing equal parts compassion and sleaze to his role. Many of the
film's images are unforgettable, such as "the derby," a heel-and-toe
race around the dance floor with bouncy, lighthearted music to accompany the
miserable spectacle. It's a powerful, tragic period piece that reminds us of the
privations of the Great Depression. In the largest sense, the film has
existential overtones that go far beyond the story of enervated dancers staying
on their feet for a month or more. This film brought home a string of Academy
Award nominations for the cast and director Sydney Pollack and a win for Young. --Jerry
Renshaw --This text refers to the VHS
Tape edition.
Murder
in the Madhouse, Headed for a Hearse by Jonathan Latimer
Murder in the Madhouse (Library of
Crime Classics)
Headed for a Hearse (Library of
Crime Classics)
Butterfield
8 by John O'Hara
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
When smalltime insurance salesman Walter Huff meets
seductive Phyllis Nirdlinger, the wife of one of his wealthy clients, it takes
him only minutes to determine that she wants to get rid of her husband--and not
much longer to decide to help her do it. Walter knows that accident insurance
pays double indemnity on railroad mishaps, so he and Phyllis plot frantically to
get Nirdlinger on--and off--a train without arousing the suspicions of the
police, the insurance company, Nirdlinger's dishy daughter, her mysterious
boyfriend, or Nirdlinger himself. This brief but complex novel is a perfect
example of the ordinary-guy-gone-disastrously-wrong story that Cain always pulls
off brilliantly.
Book
Description
A riveting classic of American crime fiction.
Double Indemnity (Vintage
Crime/Black Lizard)
Double Indemnity: The Complete Screenplay
Double Indemnity (Bfi Film Classics)
The
Lady in the Morgue by Jonathan Latimer
Lady in the
Morgue (International Polygonics)
A Gun
for Sale also released as This Gun for Hire by Graham Greene
Serenade--by James M. Cain
Serenade
(1956 Film VHS)
To Have
and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
First things first: readers coming to To Have and
Have Not after seeing the Bogart/Bacall film should be forewarned that about
the only thing the two have in common is the title. The movie concerns a brave
fishing-boat captain in World War II-era Martinique who aids the French
Resistance, battles the Nazis, and gets the girl in the end. The novel concerns
a broke fishing-boat captain who agrees to carry contraband between Cuba and
Florida in order to feed his wife and daughters. Of the two, the novel is by far
the darker, more complex work.
The first time we meet Harry Morgan, he is sitting in a Havana bar watching a
gun battle raging out in the street. After seeing a Cuban get his head blown off
with a Luger, Morgan reacts with typical Hemingway understatement: "I took
a quick one out of the first bottle I saw open and I couldn't tell you yet what
it was. The whole thing made me feel pretty bad." Still feeling bad, Harry
heads out in his boat on a charter fishing expedition for which he is later
stiffed by the client. With not even enough money to fill his gas tanks, he is
forced to agree to smuggle some illegal Chinese for the mysterious Mr. Sing.
From there it's just a small step to carrying liquor--a disastrous run that ends
when Harry loses an arm and his boat. Once Harry gets mixed up in the brewing
Cuban revolution, however, even those losses seem small compared to what's at
stake now: his very life.
Hemingway tells most of this story in the third person, but, significantly,
he brackets the whole with a section at the beginning told from Harry's
perspective and a short, heart-wrenching chapter at the end narrated by his
wife, Marie. In between there is adventure, danger, betrayal, and death, but
this novel begins and ends with the tough and tender portrait of a man who plays
the cards that are dealt him with courage and dignity, long after hope is gone. --Alix
Wilber
Book
Description
Hemingway's Classic Novel About Smuggling,
Intrigue, and Love
To Have and Have Not is the dramatic story of Harry Morgan, an honest
man who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means
of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into
the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who throng the region, and
involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair.
Harshly realistic, yet with one of the most subtle and moving relationships
in the Hemingway oeuvre, To Have and Have Not is literary high adventure
at its finest.
The
Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Minor novel by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1937. Set in and near Key
West, Florida, the novel is about a cynical boat owner whose concern for his
rum-soaked sidekick and love for a reckless woman lead him to risk everything to
aid gunrunners in a noble cause. --This text refers to the Paperback
edition.
To Have and Have
Not (Scribner Paperback)
To Have and Have
Not (Scribner Hardcover)
To Have And Have
Not (Audio Cassette)
To Have and Have
Not (1945 Film VHS)
Yes, it's true: you can virtually see Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
falling for each other in this Howard Hawks variation on Casablanca but
adapted from--as legend has it--Ernest Hemingway's self-declared "worst
novel." (The story goes that Hawks told Hemingway he could make a movie of
the author's least work, and Hemingway gave him the rights to this story.) The
script by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman actually makes this one of Hawks's
and Bogart's most interesting and often exciting films. Bogart plays a boat
captain who reluctantly agrees to help the French Resistance while wooing
chanteuse Bacall. Hoagy Carmichael, wry at the piano, adds a delicious accent to
an already wonderful mood. --Tom Keogh
No
Pockets in a Shroud by Horace McCoy
No Pockets in a Shroud (Mask Noir Title)
From
Kirkus Reviews
The often underrated Horace McCoy, whose classic ``hard-boiled'' fiction
includes Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, came a
cropper with this hyperbolic and preachy 1937 novel about a tough-guy crusading
journalist. In a rapidly paced succession of intense confrontational scenes,
McCoy records the adventures of Mike Dolan, a newspaperman who quits his job
when his editor kills Dolan's story about a baseball bribery scandal. Managing
(rather unbelievably) to publish his own magazine (Cosmopolite), Dolan goes
after a murderous abortionist and a KKK-like racist group, loses the highborn
girl he loves, marries a senator's daughter on the rebound, and meets his
predictable fate in a predictably dark alley. Dolan's righteous fury is
intensely communicated, but he's an unconvincing paragon of liberal energies,
and the novel is a clich-ridden endorsement of his stagy macho morality.
Probably the talented McCoy's worst book. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus
Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Ingram
The city of Colton is corrupt to its very foundations. Surrounded by
lies, Mike Dolan wants to print the truth. He quits his job on THE TIMES-GAZETTE
and founds COSMOPOLITE with borrowed money. In his unsparing zeal to expose the
city's criminals, he risks sudden death with each issue. Author Horace McCoy
(1897-1955) was considered one of the great 20th-century American writers.
Of Mice
and Men by John Steinbeck
Book
Description
MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a
lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach
the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work.
MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independ ent thought about the literary work
by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes
cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an
overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the
work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a
biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed,
and has study questions and answers. --This text refers to the Paperback
edition.
The
Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The tragic story, given
poignancy by its objective narrative, is about the complex bond between two
migrant laborers. The book, which was adapted by Steinbeck into a three-act play
(produced 1937), earned him national renown. The plot centers on George Milton
and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small
farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is large and simpleminded,
calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength. When Lennie
accidentally kills the ranch owner's flirtatious daughter-in-law, George shoots
his friend rather than allow him to be captured by a vengeful lynch mob.
Ingram
Tragic tale of a retarded man and the friend who loves and tries to
protect him. With illustrations from the movie starring John Malkovich and Gary
Sinise.
Of Mice and
Men (Penguin)
Truly one of the unsung triumphs of 1939, this
heartfelt adaptation of John Steinbeck's morality tale of two itinerant migrant
workers seems just as fresh and powerful decades after its release. Lon Chaney
Jr. gives the performance of a lifetime as the sweet yet feeble-minded Lennie,
who is befriended by the weary Burgess Meredith. They both would be lost without
each other in a rather mixed-up world. Sensitively directed by Lewis Milestone (All
Quiet on the Western Front), the film features the first pre-credit sequence
in American film history. There's also a nice score by Aaron Copland. --Bill
Desowitz
Description
John Steinbeck's classic novel brought to the silver screen. Set in the
bucolic Salinas Valley of California in the 1930's, "Of Mice and Men"
paints a bold, vivid picture of life in the depression era and tells the tragic
tale of George (Burgess Meredith) and Lenny (Lon Chaney, Jr.), two itinerant
farm hands searching for a safe haven from the cruelties of the world. Nominated
for the Best Picture Academy Award in 1939, "Of Mice and Men" features
a moving Oscar-nominated score from legendary composer Aaron Copland.
Of Mice and
Men (1939 Film DVD)
Of Mice and
Men (1939 Film VHS)
Of Mice and
Men (1992 Film VHS)
Should Have Stayed Home by Horace McCoy
I Should Have Stayed
Home (Serpents Tail)
Career
in C Major by James M. Cain
The
Dead Don't Care by Jonathan Latimer
You
Play the Black and the Red Comes Up by Richard Hallas
No
Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase
Brighton
Rock by Graham Greene
Brighton Rock (Twentieth
Century Classics)
Brighton Rock (Everyman's Library Series)
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
"His thin, claw-like hands were folded loosely
on the rug, purple-nailed. A few locks of dry white hair clung to his scalp,
like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock." Published in 1939,
when Raymond Chandler was 50, this is the first of the Philip Marlowe novels.
Its bursts of sex, violence, and explosively direct prose changed detective
fiction forever. "She was trouble. She was tall and rangy and
strong-looking. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle. She had a
good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower
lip was full."
From
AudioFile
Elliot Gould's voice is perfect for hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe--clear
and resonant with pauses to heighten the suspense. Called in to deal with a
blackmailer, Marlowe follows a trail littered with murder and deception. The
story evokes the essence of Southern California in the 30's, and the reading
adds to the deadly but romantic image of the strange Sternwood family. This
presentation will revive Chandler's popularity as listeners demand more. S.C.A.
(c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio
Cassette edition.
Book
Description
Chandler's first novel introduces us to Philip Marlowe, a 38 year old
private detective moving through the steamy side of Los Angeles in the 1930s.
Ingram
Chandler's first novel, published in 1939, introduces Philip Marlowe, a
38-year-old P.I. moving through the seamy side of Los Angeles in the 1930s. This
classic case involves a paralyzed California millionaire, his two psychotic
daughters, blackmail, and murder.
The Big
Sleep (Vintage Books)
The Big Sleep & Farewell My
Lovely (Modern Library)
The Big
Sleep (Otto Penzler Facsimile Edition)
The Big Sleep (Bfi Film Classics)
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made screen
history together more than once, but they were never more popular than in this
1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel, directed by Howard Hawks (To
Have and Have Not). Bogart plays private eye Philip Marlowe, who is hired by
a wealthy socialite (Bacall) to look into troubles stirred up by her wild, young
sister (Martha Vickers). Legendarily complicated (so much so that even Chandler
had trouble following the plot), the film is nonetheless hugely entertaining and
atmospheric, an electrifying plunge into the exotica of detective fiction.
William Faulkner wrote the screenplay. --Tom Keogh --This text refers
to the VHS
Tape edition.
The Big
Sleep (1946 Film DVD)
Description
Robert Mitchum is back as the legendary private investigator, Philip
Marlowe. This adaptation of Raymond Chandler's classic hard-boiled detective
mystery features an all-star cast, including: Richard Boone, Joan Collins, Sir
John Mills, James Stewart, and Oliver Reed. Marlowe is hired by a retired
general (James Stewart) to find out who has been blackmailing the old man's wild
daughters (Sarah Miles and Candy Clark). At the same time he has to try to
locate the missing husband of one of the daughters. Marlowe's search leads
through a dangerous thicket of murder and suicide in the seedy criminal
underworld straight to the head quarters of the notorious nightclub owner and
gangland boss, Eddie Mars (Oliver Reed). Expert story teller Raymond Chandler
spins a masterful web of deceit, creating an intricate, spellbinding mystery
full of bare-knuckle action and heart-pounding suspense.
From
the Back Cover
Robert Mitchum is back as the legendary private investigator, Phillip
Marlowe. This adaptation of Raymond Chandler's classic hard-boiled detective
mystery features an all-star cast, including: Richard Boone, Joan Collins, Sir
John Mills, James Stewart and Oliver Reed.
Marlowe is hired by a retired general (JAMES STEWART) to find out who has
been blackmailing the old man's wild daughters (SARAH MILES and CANDY CLARK). At
the same time he has to try to locate the missing husband of one of the
daughters. Marlowe's search leads through a dangerous thicket of murder and
suicide in the seedy criminal underworld straight to the headquarters of the
notorious nightclub owner and gangland boss, Eddie Mars (OLIVER REED). Expert
storyteller Raymond Chandler spins a masterful web of deceit, creating an
intricate, spellbinding mystery full of bare-knuckle action and heart-pounding
suspense.
The Big
Sleep (1978 Film DVD)
The Big Sleep
(1946 Film VHS)
The Big
Sleep (1978 Film VHS)
The Day
of the Locust by Nathanael West
Book
Description
"Somehow or other I seem to have slipped in between all the
'schools,' " observed Nathanael West the year before his untimely death in
1940. "My books meet no needs except my own, their circulation is
practically private and I'm lucky to be published." Yet today, West is
widely recognized as a prophetic writer whose dark and comic vision of
a society obsessed with mass-
produced fantasies foretold much
of what was to come in American life.
Miss Lonelyhearts (1933), which West envisioned as "a novel in the form of
a comic strip," tells of an advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist who becomes
tragically embroiled in the desperate lives of his readers. The Day of the
Locust (1939) is West's great dystopian Hollywood novel based on his experiences
at the seedy fringes of the movie industry.
"The work of Nathanael West, savagely, comically, tragically original, has
come into its own," said novelist and screenwriter Budd Schulberg. "A
new public [has] discovered in the writings of West a brilliant reflection of
its own sense of chaos and helplessness in a world running more to madness than
to reason." --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition.
Ingram
These two dark stories--the most notable works of the short career of
Nathanael West--remain stunningly powerful pieces of fiction. MISS LONELYHEARTS
(1933) is the story of an advice columnist who becomes embroiled in the
desperate lives of his correspondents. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1939) centers
around a Hollywood scene designer and the characters he encounters at the
fringes of the movie industry. --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition.
Miss Lonelyhearts & the Day of the
Locust (Norton)
The Day of the Locust (Signet Classic)
The
Day of the
Locust (Amereon Ltd.)
The
Day of the Locust (Audio Cassette)
The Day of the
Locust (Buccaneer)
Nathanael West : Novels and
Other.Writings (American Library)
The Day of the
Locust (1975 Film VHS)
Red
Gardenias by Jonathan Latimer
Red Gardenias (The Library of
Crime Classics)
Retreat
From Oblivion by David Goodis
Confidential
Agent by Graham Greene
The Confidential Agent
(Viking)
Rogue
Male by Geoffrey Household
` Rogue
Male (1976 Film VHS)
The Grapes of
Wrath by John Steinbeck
When The Grapes of Wrath was published in
1939, America, still recovering from the Great Depression, came face to face
with itself in a startling, lyrical way. John Steinbeck gathered the country's
recent shames and devastations--the Hoovervilles, the desperate, dirty children,
the dissolution of kin, the oppressive labor conditions--in the Joad family.
Then he set them down on a westward-running road, local dialect and all, for the
world to acknowledge. For this marvel of observation and perception, he won the
Pulitzer in 1940.
The prize must have come, at least in part, because alongside the poverty and
dispossession, Steinbeck chronicled the Joads' refusal, even inability, to let
go of their faltering but unmistakable hold on human dignity. Witnessing their
degeneration from Oklahoma farmers to a diminished band of migrant workers is
nothing short of crushing. The Joads lose family members to death and cowardice
as they go, and are challenged by everything from weather to the authorities to
the California locals themselves. As Tom Joad puts it: "They're a-workin'
away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped
bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when
the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're
workin' on our decency."
The point, though, is that decency remains intact, if somewhat
battle-scarred, and this, as much as the depression and the plight of the "Okies,"
is a part of American history. When the California of their dreams proves to be
less than edenic, Ma tells Tom: "You got to have patience. Why, Tom--us
people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the
people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people--we go
on." It's almost as if she's talking about the very novel she inhabits, for
Steinbeck's characters, more than most literary creations, do go on. They
continue, now as much as ever, to illuminate and humanize an era for generations
of readers who, thankfully, have no experiential point of reference for
understanding the depression. The book's final, haunting image of Rose of
Sharon--Rosasharn, as they call her--the eldest Joad daughter, forcing the milk
intended for her stillborn baby onto a starving stranger, is a lesson on the
grandest scale. "'You got to,'" she says, simply. And so do we all. --Melanie
Rehak --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of
this title.
The
New York Times Book Review,
Steinbeck has written a novel from the depths of his heart with a
sincerity seldom equaled. --This text refers to the Paperback
edition.
From
AudioFile
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in l940, this famous protest novel is a
natural for audio. The story is told almost entirely in the country vernacular
of the destitute workers of the 1930's--some 300,000 strong--who had been driven
from their farms and were pouring into California to face hunger, squalor and
humiliation. (An inept narrator, reading their dialogue, could easily have made
them sound like the Beverly Hillbillies.) Instead, Dylan Baker's sensitive
interpretation has given them the dignity--even the nobility--that Steinbeck
intended. He has also avoided another serious pitfall: overdramatizing some of
Steinbeck's speeches in the last half of the book, avoiding what the Joads
called "a preacher voice." The listener is hardly aware of occasional
lapses into sentimental prose as Steinbeck delivers his many impassioned sermons
against the selfishness and greed of the rich. Altogether, this is an
outstanding performance; John Steinbeck would have relished it. J.C. An
AUDIOFILE Earphones Award Winner. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text
refers to the Audio
Cassette edition.
Book
Description
MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a
lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach
the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work.
MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independ ent thought about the literary work
by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes
cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an
overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the
work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a
biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed,
and has study questions and answers. --This text refers to the Paperback
edition.
The
Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Novel by John Steinbeck, published in 1939. Set during the Great
Depression, it traces the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to
California and their subsequent hardships as migrant farm workers. It won a
Pulitzer Prize in 1940. The work did much to publicize the injustices of migrant
labor. The narrative, interrupted by prose-poem interludes, chronicles the
struggles of the Joad family's life on a failing Oklahoma farm, their difficult
journey to California, and their disillusionment once they arrive there and fall
prey to a parasitic economic system. The insularity of the Joads--Ma's obsession
with family togetherness, son Tom's self-centeredness, and daughter Rose of
Sharon's materialism--ultimately gives way to a sense of universal community. --This
text refers to the Paperback
edition.
Ingram
Forced from their home, the Joad family is lured to California to find
work; instead they find disillusionment, exploitation, and hunger.
The Grapes of Wrath (20th
Century Classics)
The Grapes of Wrath (Everyman's
Library)
The Grapes of
Wrath (Audio Cassette)
Ranking No. 21 on the American Film Institute's list
of the 100 greatest American films, this 1940 classic is a bit dated in its
noble sentimentality, but it remains a luminous example of Hollywood classicism
from the peerless director of mythic Americana, John Ford. Adapted by Nunnally
Johnson from John Steinbeck's classic novel, the film tells a simple story about
Oklahoma farmers leaving the depression-era dustbowl for the promised land of
California, but it's the story's emotional resonance and theme of human
perseverance that makes the movie so richly and timelessly rewarding. It's all
about the humble Joad family's cross-country trek to escape the economic
devastation of their ruined farmland, beginning when Tom Joad (Henry Fonda)
returns from a four-year prison term to discover that his family home is empty.
He's reunited with his family just as they're setting out for the westbound
journey, and thus begins an odyssey of saddening losses and strengthening hopes.
As Ma Joad, Oscar-winner Jane Darwell is the embodiment of one of America's
greatest social tragedies and the "Okie" spirit of pressing forward
against all odds (as she says, "because we're the people"). A
documentary-styled production for which Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland
demanded painstaking authenticity, The Grapes of Wrath is much more than
a classy, old-fashioned history lesson. With dialogue and scenes that rank among
the most moving and memorable ever filmed, it's a classic among classics--simply
put, one of the finest films ever made. --Jeff Shannon --This text
refers to the VHS
Tape edition.
The Grapes of
Wrath (1940 Film DVD)
The Grapes of
Wrath (1940 Film VHS)
