Review of The Thin Man

Despite what so-called critics have to say about "The Thin Man", they have not said very much in my judgment. William Powell has a medium-strength cultured speaking voice, high intelligence and a way of delivering lines that often gets the very most out of a line. He is very good at comedy, capable of drama, and has superior timing and adequate charisma. This suits him ideally to play the sort of screen detectives, and comedy parts to which he was invariably assigned. In one of their series, after the "Philo Vance" series had been launched, MGM decided to make use of his comedic talents by casting him opposite thin-voiced by exceptionally bright Myrna Loy. His delivery was a bit more dynamic, her suggestion of hidden depths, humor and sexuality was extremely strong. Result: a potent pairing that lasted for years and seven films. The "Thin Man" was the first of these. It introduced Prohibition holdovers Nick Charles, former ace police detective, and the new Mrs. Charles, Nora, who together with their wire-haired terrier Asta made up one of Hollywood's seminal nuclear families--until the disruptive arrival of young Nicky several films later. She has wealth; so he is retired, and they are drinking continually. There is a party going on in their suite, with or without permission, during the entire film. Also, here Nora wants Nick to get involved in a detective case so she can see him at work and help him; he has other ideas. So they get involved in a case. There is a request from a daughter to help her father, who does not want any help. Nick is shot at, reported wounded or worse and mostly unharmed. After the protracted prologue which takes place three months before the aftermath, most of the movie is given a holiday setting, which includes cocktail events on and the obligatory 1930s expository unmasking of the killer at a dinner party sometime around New Years' Eve. The movie is based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett. It was as an inexpensive B-picture, which broke new ground for detective films by combining the hard-drinking lawyer-detective lead with screwball-comedy husband-and-wife dialogue and situations. Powell and Loy had had a success earlier the same year in the Clark Gable--William Powell "A" picture "Manhattan Melodrama" . The astonishingly brief two-week-plus shooting schedule was enabled because there are few sets and negligible exterior shots required; "The Thin Man" as also a dialogue film, and a very fine one; and also, the feature's director, veteran W. S. Van Dyke, was known for sticking to a schedule--around the studios he was known as "One-Take Woody". . Make no mistake about this attractive little mostly-drawing-room mystery with bodies; this is noir. Nick cannot ask the police for help because they want him off the case; he has to take risks, as does Nora in this one. Briefly, the story-line involves the disappearance of a cantankerous inventor--who is an old colleague of Nick Charles', and later a murder suspect-- and the concern of his daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan) for her father; then there is the avarice of the inventor's ex-wife (Minna Gombell, the desire of her husband (Cesar Romero) for swag ; the motives of the inventor's mistress (Natalie Moorhead); and further action involving various thugs, reporters, policemen, low-life's, and party-goers who turn up to disturb the Charles's vacation. The other characters include the inventor's psychology-spouting son, the mistress's various lovers, the scientist's lawyer and other types drawn from the 1930s. The production is a serviceable one, with script by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich,from the Hammett novel "The Thin Man" (the title referring to the inventor, not Nick Charles). The set decorations were supplied by art directors Edwin Willis and David Townsend, the production was designed by Cedric Gibbons. The cinematographer was James Wong Howe. The talents who contributed to the film account for its smoothness and some of its immense popularity. Critics love to expound on why the series was so popular; my answer is simple--if you do not look at it too closely, this is a romantic turn on the boozy detectives of the 1930s, with swift pace, good acting and a story-line that can usually be followed. But the fun in this adventure-comedy lies in seeing Nick do what he does so well, playing in a merry war off Nora; his theme is, "Have fun doing whatever you're doing"--and so is hers...The viewer is invited to share their hi-jinks, dangers, setbacks and encounters, a fine way to make an entertainment film work, by my lights.