Dashiell Hammett Filmography

Born:: May 27, 1894 in St. Mary's County, MD
Occupation:: Screenwriter, Book Author
Birth name:: Samuel Dashiell Hammett
Biography:: Dashiell Hammett did not pen many novels, but the few he did pen have had a profound effect upon the crime-drama/mystery genre. His character Sam Spade, was the original "hard-boiled" detective and became the basis for such other characters as Philip Marlowe, and Mike Hammer. Hammett was born and...Read More

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No Good Deed

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Milla Jovovich, Stellan Skarsgård, Doug Hutchison, Joss Ackland, Grace Zabriskie

Synopsis: Based on a story of the same name by Dashiell Hammett, the crime thriller The House on Turk Street was directed by veteran filmmaker Bob Rafelson. Cello-playing cop Jack Friar (Samuel L. Jackson) searches for a teenage runaway on Turk Street and ends up in the home of an elderly couple (Joss Read More

9/12/03
The Dain Curse

Crew: Book Author

Synopsis: Dashiell Hammett's money-grubbing detective Hamilton Nash is on the case in this mystery set in 1928. This time he is looking into the suspicious suicide of a prominent millionaire and trying to recover purloined diamonds that are reportedly cursed. This version of the tale was released as Read More

1978
The Thin Man: Season 02

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Peter Lawford, Phyllis Kirk

1958
The Thin Man: Season 01

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Peter Lawford, Phyllis Kirk

1957
Studio One: The Glass Key

Crew: Book Author

1949
Studio One: Two Sharp Knives

Crew: Short Story Author

Synopsis: Based on the writings of popular crime author Dashiell Hammett, this installment of the Emmy Award-winning Westinghouse Studio One series tells the tale of a slain murderer, and the subsequent hunt to capture the killer who slew him. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide Read More

1949
Watch on the Rhine

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Woods, George Coulouris, Lucile Watson, Beulah Bondi

Synopsis: An expansion of, and improvement upon, Lillian Hellman's stage play of the same name, Watch on the Rhine stars Paul Lukas, recreating his Broadway role of tireless anti-fascist crusader Kurt Muller. As the clouds of war gather in Europe in the late 1930s, Muller arrives in Washington DC Read More

1943
The Glass Key

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, Bonita Granville, William Bendix, Richard Denning

Synopsis: Dashiel Hammett's The Glass Key, a tale of big-city political corruption, was first filmed in 1935, with Edward Arnold as a duplicitous political boss and George Raft as his loyal lieutenant. This 1942 remake improves on the original, especially in replacing the stolid Raft with the charismatic Alan Ladd Read More

1942
The Maltese Falcon

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane, Gladys George

Synopsis: After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in 1941--or, rather, John Huston, a long-established screenwriter making his directorial debut, got it right, simply by adhering as closely as possible to the original. Read More

1941
Secret Agent X-9 [Serial] [1937]

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Scott Kolk, Jean Rogers, David Oliver, Monte Blue, Henry Brandon

Synopsis: Supporting actor Scott Kolk was elevated to playing the title role in this Graustarkian spy thriller, serialized in 12 chapters by Universal. Reportedly based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett, the serial featured an American secret agent assigned to recover the crown jewels of Belgravia. Read More

1937
Satan Met a Lady

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth, Arthur Treacher, Winifred Shaw

Synopsis: While John Huston's screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon is widely regarded as a screen classic, it wasn't the first time Hammett's novel had been brought to the screen, and this comedy drama offers a decidedly different spin on the same story. Detective Ted Shayne (Warren William Read More

1936
The Glass Key

Crew: Book Author

Actors: George Raft, Edward Arnold, Claire Dodd, Ray Milland, Rosalind Keith

Synopsis: Adapted from one of Dashiell Hammett's best novels, The Glass Key is a lively and straightforward melodrama of political corruption and urban intrigue. George Raft plays Ed Beaumont, the right-hand man to genial ward heeler Paul Madvig (Edward Arnold), who wants to clean up his political act. On Read More

1935
Mr. Dynamite

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Jean Dixon, Esther Ralston, Victor Varconi, Verna Hillie

Synopsis: Mr. Dynamite was based on the Dashiel Hammett novel On the Make. Edmund Lowe plays jaunty private eye T. N. Thompson, or T.N.T. ("Mistery Dynamite", get it?) Nothing pleases Thompson more than running rings around the San Francisco police force, headed by the dyspeptic detective King (Robert Gleckler Read More

1935
The Thin Man

Crew: Book Author

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell

Synopsis: Filmed on what MGM considered a B-picture budget and schedule (14 days, which at Universal or Columbia would have been considered extravagant), The Thin Man proved to be "sleeper," spawning a popular film, radio, and television series. Contrary to popular belief, the title does not refer to star William Powell Read More

1934
Woman in the Dark

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy, Melvyn Douglas, Roscoe Ates, Reed Brown, Jr.

Synopsis: This drama was adapted from a minor story by Dashiell Hammett and chronicles the attempts of an ex-con to stay on the straight and narrow. It's difficult for he is volatile and tends to get into fistfights when riled. It is his explosive temper that got him put away for three years after he Read More

1934
The Maltese Falcon

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel, Robert Elliott

Synopsis: This first of three film adaptations of Dashiel Hammett's The Maltese Falcon plays at times like the road-company version of the more famous 1941 John Huston/Humphrey Bogart adaptation. Ricardo Cortez stars as a slick, rogueish edition of Sam Spade, using his office as a trysting place for his Read More

1931