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The Thin Man [1934]


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A Christmas Mystery
Review date: 2008-06-11 Rating: 8 out of 10

Clyde Wynant (Edward Ellis) is planning to go into seclusion for a few months. He'll be back in New York in time for his daughter's Christmas wedding. But before he disappears, he discovers that someone has been stealing from him. Figuring out who it is, he sets out to confront the thief before he leaves town.

Fast forward a few months, and daughter Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) is getting worried. With the wedding only days away, Clyde is still gone. She runs into former private eye Nick Charles (William Powell) who is in New York for a vacation with his wife Nora (Myrna Loy). While he refuses to get involved in the case, the police and reporters think he is investigating. The stakes are raised when a murder takes place and a villain breaks into Nick and Nora's hotel room. Will Nick solve the case? Where is Clyde?

While I'm normally not a fan of older films, this one is such a classic I had to give it a chance. And I'm glad I did. The reason I shy away from old films is because I often feel like some key element hasn't been fully explained, which makes it hard to get into the movie. That happened a time or two here, but for the most part everything was fairly straight forward, at least as far as the backgrounds went.

I had pieces of the mystery figured out before the characters did, but I still enjoyed the story. The traditional, bring all the suspects together for a confrontation scene made the ending a little weak, however.

What makes this movie work is the Nick/Nora relationship. Their constant banter is hilarious. Those scenes were the highlight of the movie. And William Powell and Myrna Loy have the perfect chemistry to pull it off. Frankly, I wish Nora had been in even more of the movie. Even the constant drinking didn't turn me off to these characters.

As old films go, this is a good one. The mystery is light, but the laughs are real.

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Reviews


Powell and Loy in a classic, stylish and amusing murder mystery
Review date: 2007-07-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

If anyone wanted to get a feel for what Thirties' escapism was all about -- the style, the insouciance -- they couldn't do better than watching The Thin Man or the Astaire-Rogers movies. In The Thin Man, a scientist with money disappears, many people could benefit, and Nick and Nora Charles are drawn into the mystery. William Powell and Myrna Loy are captivating. Nick and Nora may be drunks, or at least have cast iron livers, but they are a smart, sophisticated, funny and affectionate couple. I'm not sure any two leading actors ever showed such great chemistry together as Powell and Loy did.

Roger Ebert has said that The Thin Man is essentially a drawing room comedy with dead bodies. While the mystery is interesting, it's the style of the movie, the funny, urbane dialogue, the elegant look of the thing (and the elegant looks of Loy and Powell), that keep you watching with a smile. "I'm a hero," Nick says. "I was shot two times in the Tribune." "I read where you were shot five times in the tabloids," says Nora. "It's not true," Nick says. "He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids." The close of the movie, a dinner party at Nick and Nora's apartment where the guests are all suspects and the waiters are all cops, and where Nick unmasks the killer with Nora's wry encouragment, is a clever and amusing set piece. "Waiter,' Nora says, "will you serve the nuts? I mean, will you serve the guests the nuts?"

Five sequels were made. While the name "The Thin Man" lived on, the thin man himself didn't survive this first movie. He was what the mystery was all about.

It is amazing to think that this film is 70 years old. It looks great on DVD.

"He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids."
Review date: 2007-07-14 Rating: 10 out of 10

When I see a film based on a novel, I like to read the novel to compare plots and execution. Most of the time the novel or story is fuller than the movie due to the short media time and the target audience. In this case the novel does have a better-developed plot and is more cohesive. The characters are more true to form and there is a real Rosewood/Rosebrien. However the book characters are more sinister and Dorothy is sleazy.

The film on the other hand, was modified to give a lighter approach. William Powell & Myrna Loy have a magic that brings the story to life even when they repeat the same words as in the book. However one of my favorite lines was the drunk that says "Which knee can I touch it?" This is the film that I will think of as the real "Thin Man" and Maureen O'Sullivan as this Dorothy is concerned about her father. Speaking about that, what is the Sullivan act?



One of the classics and a delightful diversion
Review date: 2007-05-13 Rating: 10 out of 10

This, the first Thin Man, is one of the most beloved of the old time movies, and watching it for the first time since I was a child--I'm sure I saw it in the fifties at one of those three features, a cartoon and Movietone for a dime theaters, but remember nothing--it's not hard to see why. The chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy (Nick and Nora Charles) is effervescent, bubbly and delicious. It is obvious they are in love and take such joy in each other's company while teasing each other in a most delightful way. You will just love the way Asta, their dog (who is quite a star in this movie himself) covers his eyes in the final scene--such a delicate dog with such delicate feelings! (Actually I understand that all dogs in movies in those days at least were females for reasons that might be imagined.)

The movie starts a little slow by modern standards, like a stage play, but becomes increasingly enthralling, until suddenly it is over, and YES, let's do a sequel! And they did, six of them, but, well, sequels may or may not be as good as the original. In this case, I understand they weren't and I'm not surprised. It would be hard to achieve something like The Thin Man again. Everything just fell into place, the plot was agreeable and clever, the lesser characters quirky and intriguing, the direction by W.S. "One Take Woody" Van Dyke smooth and focused, and the twenties going on the thirties (but not really) atmosphere was authentic with the rich holding lavish dinner parties and drinking way too much, especially Nick Charles (Powell) who complained that sleuthing caused him to get behind in his drinking.

The witty dialogue comes first from Dashiell Hammett's novel and then from Albert Hackett who adapted the script. Hackett was just getting warmed up. He wrote his first script in 1931 (something called Up Pops the Devil) and his last for The Father of the Bride Part II in 1995 at the age of 95!--well, he got partial credit for that script which was morphed out of his 1951 script for Father's Little Dividend and the original Father of the Bride (1951).

By the way, I always imagined that "the thin man" was the detective Nick Charles, but actually the thin man is Clyde Wynant, the eccentric inventor played by Edward Ellis who goes missing after the first reel. However, everybody thought the same thing, so in the sequels, the thin man is the detective!

One of the reasons the repartee between Nick and Nora is so great is that it was taken (somewhat) from real life exchanges between Hammett and his longtime live-together girl friend the celebrated playwright, Lillian Hellman.

Anybody with any pretension of knowing Hollywood films has seen this. See it yourself if you haven't. It's a delight and will take you back to a time full of styles so very different from those of today.

The Thin Man
Review date: 2006-12-25 Rating: 10 out of 10

I got the box set as soon as it came out; from remembering the first one on TV (vaguely) as brilliant.

It's more than just that there're good: The dialogue is witty and leaves you to see lots more between the lines, sometimes very hard to spot (what do you make of the over friendly neighbour in the fur coat in the lift!), and the classic denouments are laid out in such a way that you feel you ought to have been able to guess them (but no one ever does).

There's a hint of ham, but suits the comic mood well, and done with panache not farce. American humour at its best.

An absolute riot; I agree with everythig from the previous reviewer.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Maureen O'Sullivan
Myrna Loy
Nat Pendleton
William Powell

Creators:
William Powell (Primary Contributor)
Myrna Loy (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900650953
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL, Subtitled,
Release date: 2005-09-01
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 91 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1934
Language: English (Original Language)

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