After watching the first half of the movie, I noticed several differences from the novel. For instance, in the movie Ned’s name is Ed, and Shad’s name is Nick. Opal is Paul’s sister instead of his daughter. Also. right off the bat, the order of events were not the same. At the beginning of the movie, Shad (Nick) meets with Paul after his building have been closed. Also, Paul goes to Ned’s (Ed) room early on in the movie, and this doesn’t happen until the end of the book. Paul has brown hair in the film, which I thought was strange since Hammett makes it a point to keep repeating that he has blonde hair.
It is funny to see how Janet comes on so strongly to Ned. She bats her eyes, and flirts with him every chance she gets. It is very obvious that she is completely taken by him. I don’t feel that the book really shows this until the hospital visit . In the movie, Ned seems equally attracted to her right from the start.