The Thin Man (film) he almost takes the life of someone who knows too much. Cast notes: The film was based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett, released in January 1934. Hammett's novel drew on his experiences as a union-busting Pinkerton detective in Butte, Montana. Hammett based Nick and Nora's banter upon his rocky on-again, off-again relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman. MGM paid Hammett $21,000 for the screen rights to the novel. The screenplay was written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, who had been married for three years. Director W.S. Van Dyke encouraged them to use Hammett's writing as
The Man Who Changed China upfront "Publisher's Note," that "Certain viewpoints and opinions of the author, as a Westerner, bear a definite distance from those of our own. Hopefully the reader will understand." When asked his own opinion of Kuhn's biography, Jiang Zemin told his close friend, Shen Yongyan (a primary source in the book), who then told the Chinese media that Jiang said: “He [Kuhn] wrote objectively; he didn’t try to beautify me. But he got my wedding date wrong.” The Man Who Changed China The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin a biography of former Chinese leader Jiang