On this day in movie history - This Gun for Hire (1942 movie & novel):

This Gun for Hire

directed by Frank Tuttle,

written by Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett,

based on the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene,

was released in the United States on April 24, 1942.
Music by David Buttolph.

Cast:

Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, Alan Ladd, Tully Marshall, Marc Lawrence, Olin Howland, Roger Imhof, Pamela Blake, Frank Ferguson, Victor Kilian, Patricia Farr, Harry Shannon, Charles C. Wilson, Mikhail Rasumny, Bernadene Hayes, Mary Davenport, Chester Clute, Charles Arnt, Earle S. Dewey, Clem Bevans, Lynda Grey, Virita Campbell.

Recommended reading:

A Gun for Sale

By Graham Greene.

Introduction by Samuel Hynes.

Filmed as This Gun for Hire (1942), directed by Frank Tuttle.

Published by Penguin Publishing Group.

First published 1936.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 014303930X

ISBN-13: 978-0143039303

Description:

Raven is an ugly man dedicated to ugly deeds. His cold-blooded killing of a European Minister of War is an act of violence with chilling repercussions, not just for Raven himself but for the nation as a whole. The money he receives in payment for the murder is made up of stolen notes and when the first of these is traced, Raven becomes a man on the run. As he tracks down the agent who has been double-crossing him and attempts to elude the police, he becomes both hunter and hunted: an unwitting weapon of a strange kind of social justice. In doing so, he sets the stage for Greene’s next novel, Brighton Rock. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Samuel Hynes.

On this day in movie history - Dances with Wolves (movie & novel):

Dances with Wolves

directed by Kevin Costner,

written by Michael Blake,

based on the novel by Michael Blake,

was released in the United States on November 21, 1990.
Music by John Barry.

Cast:

Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman, Tantoo Cardinal, Robert Pastorelli, Charles Rocket, Maury Chaykin, Jimmy Herman, Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, Michael Spears, Jason R. Lone Hill, Tony Pierce, Doris Leader Charge, Tom Everett, Larry Joshua, Kirk Baltz, Wayne Grace, Donald Hotton, Annie Costner, Conor Duffy, Elisa Daniel, Percy White Plume, John Tail, Steve Reevis, Sheldon Peters Wolfchild, Wes Studi, Buffalo Child, Clayton Big Eagle, Richard Leader Charge, Redwing Ted Nez, Marvin Holy, Raymond Newholy, David J. Fuller, Ryan White Bull, Otakuye Conroy, Maretta Big Crow, Steven Chambers, William H. Burton Jr., Bill W. Curry, Nick Thompson, Carter Hanner, Kent Hays, Robert Goldman, Frank P. Costanza, James A. Mitchell, R.L. Curtin, Justin (horse), Teddy (wolf), Buck (wolf), Michael Horton, J. Wesley Adams, Linda Allen, Bill Costner, David Rambow, William Rossman, Jim Wilson.

Recommended reading:

Dances with Wolves

By Michael Blake.

Paperback.

First published 1988.

Published by Ballantine Books.

ISBN 13: 9780449000755

ISBN 10: 0449000753

ASIN: 0449000753

Description:

Ordered to hold an abandoned army post, John Dunbar found himself alone, beyond the edge of civilization. Thievery and survival soon forced him into the Indian camp, where he began a dangerous adventure that changed his life forever.

Relive the adventure and beauty of the incredible movie, DANCES WITH WOLVES. Set in 1863, the novel follows Lieutenant John Dunbar on a magical journey from the ravages of the Civil War to the far reaches of the imperiled American frontier, a frontier he naively wants to see "before it is gone". His posting to a desolate and deserted outpost is the springboard for contact with the lords of the southern plains... the Comanche. Though he does not speak their language, has no know-ledge of their customs, and is considered a trespasser, Lieutenant Dunbar finds himself intrigued by the exotic and alien culture of the buffalo-hunting people of the plains. A simple desire to know more about his wild neighbors ignites a great adventure of transformation that culminates with the emergence of a different kind of man... a man called Dances With Wolves.