“In polite society, we don’t say “yoohoo.” We say “yoowhom”

Well, this is it, 1947’s Song of the Thin Man is the last one of the series. After the disappointment of the last film, its probably a good thing that this is the last one.

Plot
All right, so a sleazy jazz band leader who owes the mob a lot of money and doesn’t have any friends at a charity benefit on a luxury boat/casino and gets murdered in the night while trying to steal from the till. Nick & Nora, who were guests at the party where this guy was murdered, eventually get wrapped up in figuring out what’s going on and get swept up in a late night world of jazz music and murder.

Characters
Nick Charles: William Powell looks pretty old in this one (time will do that), but he’s still as charming as ever. Not forced to be a teetotaler this time, there’s a running gag of him always getting thwarted from taking a drink. Not bad, but not quite the same. Still badass though.

Nora Charles: Myrna Loy is still awesome and lovely, and she gets quite a bit to do, even facing peril on her own in one of the movie’s darker scenes. Still badass.

Nick Charles Jr.: Dean Stock well (who should be familiar to you, considering he played Al on Quantum Leap when he grew up, among a lot of other things). He’s not a major figure in the film, and even comments to his parents that they don’t do anything with him anymore.

Tommy Drake: Phillip Reed is the jerk of a bandleader who gets offed at the beginning of the movie. He’s just an all around sleaze who’s got plenty of enemies with suitable motives for wanting him dead. Even his bandmates don’t like him.

Buddy Hollis: Don Taylor is the star clarinet player in Drake’s band and the ex-boyfriend of the lead singer (who left him for Drake). Buddy’s also got himself a problem with a vaguely explained substance that has him disappearing for days at a time. After the murder, he disappears from the scene.

Fran Ledue Page: Gloria Grahame is the girl that got between Buddy & Tommy. She definitely regrets leaving Buddy, but does she regret it enough to KILL??

Clarence “Klinker” Krause: Keenan Wynn (son of vaudeville legend & comedian Ed Wynn) is another clarinetist in the band who ends up helping Nick & Nora look for Buddy. Pretty resourceful as far as sidekicks go.

Phil Brant: Bruce Cowling is the guy who pretty much organized the event on the boat, and Drake owed him money too. When Drake is killed, he’s the prime suspect.

Janet Thayar Brant: Jayne Meadows (the wife & widow of comedian and original host of “The Tonight Show” Steve Allen) is a headstrong young woman who elopes with Phil against her father’s wishes. Naturally, her motives are in question.

David Thayer: Ralph Morgan is Janet’s father and a collector of antique pistols, one of which was used to shoot Drake. Hmmmm.

Mitchell Talbin: Leon Ames is a promoter that Drake was going to sign on with and do a tour for. Drake needed money from him badly.

Al Amboy: William Bishop plays a shady racketeer that Drake owes money to. He tries to strongarm Nick & Nora for information.

Visuals/Effects
Edward Buzzell (who directed one of the Marx Brothers' later films, At The Circus) and director of photography Charles Rosher give the film a moody, rather noir-ish look. There’s even some touches of German Expressionism in the architecture in some scenes. Its an interesting shift, and understandable since noir proper was in full swing by 1947.

Writing
So, we’ve got story by Stanley Roberts, screenplay by Steve Fisher & Nat Perrin and “additional dialogue” by James O’Hanlon & Harry Crane (it’s a safe bet that they handled the jazz lingo) and things get interesting. Nick & Nora still sparkle and Klinker’s actually not a bad addition as the sidekick. What’s interesting is that things actually take a pretty dark turn.

Sound
The score by David Snell continues to be solid but not that remarkable. There’s also, understandably, a lot of jazz music blowing around the film.

Conclusion
Song of the Thin Man is definitely different, taking things in a slightly darker direction, but after the anemic The Thin Man Goes Home, its actually not a bad way for the series to go out. Still, it doesn’t really match the comedic genius of the first four Thin Man films. Still, if you’re watching the last couple films, that means you’ve got the boxed set, and since you’ve come this far, you might as well watch. I mean, the series is just damn great overall, really taking Dashiell Hammett’s characters and making them shine, and that’s a major credit to the chemistry between Powell & Loy. Nick & Nora are quite possibly my favorite screen couple of all time.

“Right there was the little old schoolhouse. Once on Halloween I burned it down - slightly.”

1945 brought a fifth Thin Man movie, and things were different. W.S. “One-Take Woody” Van Dyke was dead and there was that whole “World War II” event. Still, its more of Nick & Nora doing what they do best and that can’t be a bad thing. Here’s The Thin Man Goes Home.

Plot
So Nick, Nora & Asta are on their way to Nick’s hometown of Sycamore Springs to visit his family. Nick Jr. is written out as being with a nanny or whatever. The plan is to have a quiet vacation at home, but the locals, all aware of Nick’s reputation, assume he’s on a case. Then somebody gets shot on the family’s doorstep and the game’s afoot. If it sounds like a comparatively weak plot in comparison to the first four, you’d be absolutely right.

Characters
Nick Charles: William Powell Nick is still as lovable as ever, and its fun seeing him on edge because his father, a teetotaler, is difficult to please. And this leads to one of the least welcome changes of the movie: Nick is stone cold sober the entire time. They try to play it up by having all sorts of slapstick moments where Nick does something clumsy and people automatically assume he’s had too much to drink, but, honestly, the shift doesn’t work. Nick’s still badass though.

Nora Charles: Myrna Loy actually does a lot regarding the main plot of the film in this one. She’s trying to impress Nick’s dad with stories of his incredible detective work and when that doesn’t really work, she’s the one who shoves Nick into investigating who’s killed who and goes off on her own investigations. Nora’s still badass.

Dr. Bertram Charles: Harry Davenport is Nick’s dad, a respected small town doctor who’s trying to get a new hospital building built for the town. An upstanding citizen who’s not all that thrilled with Nick’s colorful past.

Mrs. Charles: Lucile Watson is Nick’s mother, and a kind, likable woman.

Peter Berton: Ralph Brooks is a local painter who ends up dead on the doorstep from a gunshot wound. Who killed him and why is the driving action of the plot.

Crazy Mary: Anne Revere (curiously enough a descendent of Paul Revere) is appropriately named as the town eccentric. She lives in a shack on the outskirts of town, mutters crazy things and has more to do with the central plot than first impressions would indicate.

Sam Ronson: Minor Watson plays a local factory owner who’s the big man in town. He’s also kind of a jerk who isn’t thrilled about Nick’s investigation and tries to lean on Dr. Charles, threatening to “delay” the hospital project if things continue.

Laura Ronson: Gloria DeHaven is Ronson’s daughter, a bit of a rebel who’s been involved with Peter Berton on and off before his death.

Edgar & Helena Draque: Leon Ames & Helen Vinson are a couple of art dealers/buyers from out of town that are very interested in buying one particular painting of Berton’s.

Dr. Bruce Clayworth: Lloyd Corrigan is an old friend of Nick’s and the town coroner. The two go way back and Bruce accompanies Nick on several of his investigations.

Brogan: Edward Brophy (who had a really small role in The Thin Man as a different character) is one of the many reformed crooks that Nick sent up the river. He happens to be on the same train as the Charles’s and essentially decides to tag along from a distance. There’s actually quite a few good jokes involving him, from him essentially camping in the bushes of Dr. Charles’ lawn to him being a very obvious red herring that Nora follows around town one night.

Visuals/Effects
Directed by Richard Thorpe, the film is competently shot, but taking the series out of the big city takes a lot out of the movie. Its hard to say exactly how, but things seem to bog down a lot in various places.

Writing
The screenplay by Robert Riskin & Harry Kurnitz has quite the complicated plot by the end of the movie, and it does hit the standard plot notes (setup, murder, Nick slowly gets more involved, more murders, serious detective time and then he gathers all the suspects into one room for the finale), but in a lot of ways, the film just lacks the energy of the previous outings. Its not as hilarious, and its not as, well, edgy, really.

Sound
The score by David Snell (and uncredited Lennie Hayton & Bronislau Kaper) gets the job done nicely but its nothing to write home about.

Conclusion
The Thin Man Goes Home is a definite downturn in the series. Its not a failure or anything, and some stuff works really well, but compared to the first four, its an inferior result.

“That's Mr. Charles, isn't it? This is a cocktail, isn't it? They'll get together.”

And next thing you know, its time for 1941’s Shadow Of The Thin Man, the last of the Van Dyke directed films. After this one, the franchise would change quite a bit for the last two films. And no, Myrna Loy does not look like that horrible, horrible monster in the poster.

Plot
So, Nick & Nora are back in San Francisco (again) and happen to arrive at a race track just as a whole bunch of cops swarm the place investigating the murder of a jockey who squawked about fixed races. Nick tries to stay out of it, despite the urgings of an eager reporter and friend and the deputy director of the racing committee. Well, Nick gets caught up in it anyway when the reporter gets arrested for the murder of another reporter, and by now you should be familiar with the drill.

Characters
Nick Charles: William Powell again, who’s ability to know when its time for a cocktail borders on the supernatural at this point. Still awesome and still likable.

Nora Charles: Myrna Loy is more proactive in this one, needling Nick into taking her to a wrestling match (where the next murder happens). She and Powell are still awesome together. How awesome? They made fourteen movies together, counting the six Thin Man films.

Nick Charles, Jr.: Richard Hall is a minor presence in the movie and doesn’t get in the way of the plot. The one scene where the Charles family sits down for a meal and Nicky orders his father to drink milk instead of a cocktail is priceless.

Paul Clarke: Barry Nelson is the reporter friend who gets framed for murder. Your standard ‘30s-‘40s supporting character male.

Molly: Donna Reed (yes, THAT one) is Paul’s fiancee and the secretary for Link Stephens, the crook who runs the gambling rackets in town.

Major Jason I. Sculley: Henry O’Neill is trying to put a dent in the local crime scene and unhappy that Nick refuses to help out at first.

“Whitey” Barrow: Alan Baxter is a crooked reporter in Stephens’ pocket, whitewashing stories involving the racketeer. Whitey’s also blackmailing Link’s girl and owes some people money, so its no major surprise that he ends up dead.

“Link” Stephens: Loring Smith is a crime lord who runs most of the shady gambling businesses in town.

Fred Macy: Joseph Anthony is Link’s lieutenant, a smug little bastard who’s alibi isn’t as air tight as it seems.

Claire Porter: Stella Adler is Link’s girl who’s been fooling around with Whitey on the side. Turns out she’s hiding more than she lets on too.

“Rainbow” Benny: Lou Lubin is a small time bookie working for Link and Whitey owes him a lot of money. He’s pretty much the guy everybody’s looking for.

Lieutenant Abrams: Same Levene is back as the cop on the scene. His comic mugging for the camera makes a welcome return.

Visuals/Effects
Maj. W.S. Van Dyke II for the last time on a Thin Man movie. Solid as always, though sadly “One-Take Woody” would commit suicide in 1943 while suffering from terminal cancer. Poor guy.

Writing
This time it was Harry Kurnitz & Irving Brecher on screenplay duties and things progress along as usual. By this point, the formula of the films was really entrenched and you’d have to try hard to screw it up. I also liked the gag about how Nick’s ability to sense alcohol nearby was essentially supernatural by this point.

Sound
David Snell’s score does the job and that’s about all I can remember.

Conclusion
Shadow of the Thin Man marks the end of the W.S. Van Dyke era of Thin Man films. Myrna Loy would take a break from acting to support the Red Cross during World War II and it would be a few years before the next film. Things get shaken up a little bit.

“I knew there was only one woman in the world who could attract men like that. A woman with a lot of money.”

Moving right along, here’s 1939’s Another Thin Man. By this point, everybody’s forgotten that the actual “Thin Man” was Wynant in the first movie and the name just kind of stuck to the Nick Charles character.

Plot
So Nick & Nora are back in New York, this time with a baby boy, Nicky Jr. in tow. They get called up to visit a Colonel MacFay, who was the financial manager of Nora’s assets, up at his country estate. They get there to find the Colonel’s extremely paranoid about his safety after a crook claiming prophetic dreams saw him dead three times. Well wouldn’t you know, the Colonel ends up dead and the search is on to find out whodunnit. Hilarity ensues.

Characters
Nick Charles: William Powell as usual, only this time, his presence at the scene of the crime ends up making him one of the suspects too. Fatherhood hasn’t slaked his thirst any.

Nora Charles: Myrna Loy, beautiful as usual. The Charles couple continues to be quite badass despite having a baby boy at this point.

Colonel Burr MacFay: C. Aubrey Smith is the Colonel, and an old acquaintance of Nora’s late father. He was taking care of the books, but it seems he’s got a shady past of his own. One where some people might want to see him killed.

Lois MacFay: Virginia Grey is the colonel’s daughter. She doesn’t react well to his death, getting sick a few times.

Dudley Horn: Patric Knowles is Lois’ fiancee and somewhat of a douche, though he would do anything to protect her.

Freddie Coleman: Tom Neal is the Colonel’s secretary and a generally soft-spoken guy who’s got a thing for Lois.

Mrs. Isabella Bellam: Phyllis Gordon is the MacFays’ housekeeper and someone who’s also hiding something.

Phil Church: Sheldon Leonard is the villain. He’s got a past with MacFay and is trying to shake the colonel down for money. A smart guy, he seems to have an alibi for everything.

“Diamond Back” Vogel: Don Costello is a shady character who’s keeping an eye on Church, though to what end remains in question.

H. Culverton “Smitty” Smith: Muriel Hutchison is Church’s girl, though she’s not quite divorced from her husband. She carries a little gun around in a leg holster.

Dum-Dum: Abner Biberman is Church’s right hand guy, and pretty handy with a knife.

“Creeps” Binder: Harry Bellaver is one of the many, many smalltime crooks that Nick sent up the river who don’t hold it against him. Creeps is the one who decides it would be a great idea to throw a birthday party for Nicky Jr. and invites a bunch of his pals to bring their kids (or somebody else’s kids) to the party. Shemp Howard being one of those individuals.

Lieutenant John Guild: Nat Pendleton returns as the lantern-jawed New York cop who’s on Nick’s side.

Assistant District Attorney Van Slack: Otto Kruger (from Dracula’s Daughter and Murder, My Sweet) is in charge of the investigation of the Colonel’s murder, and he’s very inclined to put the squeeze on Nick since its very convenient that the detective was around at just the right time.

Visuals/Effects
W.S. Van Dyke (now with II at the end of his name) returns and the film’s got all the standard “One-Take Woody” touches from the first film; a light and breezy style that shifts into “noir-mode” when detecting is done.

Writing
The husband & wife team of Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich are back, and the banter flows as good as always. The plot itself goes into some interesting territory, what with the “prophetic dreams,” a law officer who kind of thinks Nick committed the murder, and the denouement, but to their credit none of it feels out of place or forced, which is nice.

Sound
The score by Edward Ward is appropriate and fine, just not that memorable.

Conclusion
Three movies in and the series is still going strong at the halfway point. Another Thin Man adds a lot of interesting touches, brings back some familiar faces, AND its got Shemp! If you’ve seen the first two, definitely see this one.

“Come on, let's get something to eat. I'm thirsty.”

You know, there’s six Thin Man movies in total, and you and I are going on a magical adventure of crime solving and booze with the Charles’s till the bitter end. Next up is 1936’s After The Thin Man.

Plot
Picking up where we left off in the first movie, we find Nick & Nora arriving in San Francisco hoping to spend a quiet New Year’s at home. Of course it doesn’t happen and the two end up spending time with family, much to Nick’s dismay. They also get dragged into family business when Nora’s cousin, Selma, is having a nervous fit because her louse of a husband’s been missing for a few days. They find him in a Chinese nightclub and send him home, and then he ends up murdered with Selma as a likely suspect. Now Nick & Nora try to figure out whodunnit. Hilarity ensues.

Characters
Nick Charles: William Powell shines again, especially when he’s sarcastically interacting with his in-laws. Naturally, he is still the hard-drinking private eye that he was established as.

Nora Charles: Myrna Loy gets to do a bit more since Nora’s dealing with family issues. She even tries to do some sleuthing on her own which doesn’t end according to plan. Nick & Nora remain the collective badasses of the movie.

Asta: There’s a comic subplot with Asta coming home to find Mrs. Asta hasn’t been faithful to him while he was gone.

Selma Landis: Elissa Landi is Nora’s fragile-minded cousin. Sympathetic, but also kind of loopy (in the bad way), she plays the part convincingly.

Aunt Katherine Forrest: Jessie Ralph plays the complete bitch who runs the Forrest mansion. She keeps Selma under her thumb and Nick can’t stand her.

Robert Landis: Alan Marshall is Selma’s asshole husband. He’s a drunk and a cheat, carrying on an affair with a nightclub singer. Fortunately, this waste of air shuffles off his mortal coil before too long to trigger the mystery.

David Graham: James Stewart (yes, THAT Jimmy Stewart) is an old friend of Selma’s who’s carried a torch for her ever since she spurned him and married Robert. Seems like he’d do anything to try and protect her.

Polly: Penny Singleton (as Dorothy McNulty), who’s probably best known to this reading audience as the voice of Jane Jetson, is a singer in a shady nightclub and Robert’s other woman. Turns out she’s also part of a scheme to get a lot of money out of Robert.

Dr. Kammer: George Zucco is the shady doctor who Aunt Katherine has watching Selma. It’s a small role, and I only mention him because he popped up in a few of the Universal Horror films looked at during last year’s Octoverride.

“Dancer”: Joseph Calleia is the owner of said seedy Chinese nightclub. He knows the Charles’s, though its far from the friendliest interaction.

Lieutenant Abrams: Sam Levene is the local cop who investigates the murder and gladly accepts Nick’s help. Abrams is a fun character and a good, solid sidekick to Nick & Nora, at turns competent and flabbergasted.
Visuals/Effects
W.S. Van Dyke returns as the director and that same kind of fast-paced, playful visual style returns in this movie. Things move fast, there are some interesting shots and the whole film breezes by like a refreshing, uh, breeze.

Writing
Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett return to adapt a Dashiell Hammett story, and there’s not a whole lot to say that I didn’t for the first one. Dialogue is awesome, pacing is fast and the whole product is immensely entertaining. The plot does mirror the first movie a bit too much with the whole “murder, investigate, gather all the suspects for a finale,” but since its an excuse to have more Nick & Nora, I can’t really consider it a bad thing.

Sound
The original music by Herbert Stothart & Edward Ward gets the job done nicely, though it doesn’t really stand out.

Conclusion
After the Thin Man is a good, solid sequel that delivers “more of the same, only MORE!” quite successfully. The characters and dialogue are still solid. Recommended viewing.

“It's not true. He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids.”

So, if you took a detective novel written by Dashiell Hammett and adapted it to the screen in 1941, you’d get film noir classic The Maltese Falcon. If you took a detective novel written by Dashiell Hammett and adapted it to the screen in 1934, then you’d have The Thin Man, which is not at all film noir, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Plot
So there’s a scientist who’s kind of a jerk to everyone except his daughter, and he vanishes right after she announces her engagement. Some time later, shady characters he was connected to start dying and the daughter drags in a family friend who happens to be a former detective to figure out what’s going on. Oh yeah, and it’s a Christmas movie. Trust me when I say hilarity ensues.

Characters
Nick Charles: William Powell is our hero. Recently married and living the high life on his wife’s fortune, he is smart, laid back and easily the world’s most functional alcoholic. The guy is sauced from start to finish the entire movie and he rolls with martinis and cocktails, because he’s rich and beer isn’t alcoholic enough. Its not a hyperbole either. Drinking a cocktail whenever Nick does would be inadvisable for a drinking game, unless you like to see the floor from a closer vantage.

Nora Charles: Myrna Loy is the other half of the screen pair, and the chemistry they have is astoundingly good. She comes from money, but she’s no shrinking violet. She’s a spot on foil for Nick verbally and can almost keep up with his drinking. The dialog flies fast and the two are collectively the badass of the film.

Asta: The Charles’s dog/franchise mascot and often Nick’s partner in crime(solving).

Clyde Wynant: Edward Ellis is the titular Thin Man. When he goes missing, so does some money, and then his mistress ends up dead, making him the most wanted man in New York.

Dorothy Wynant: Maureen O’Sullivan is Wynant’s daughter, and aside from being the catalyst that gets the Charleses in on the case, is your standard issue 1930s secondary character.

Lieutenant John Guild: Nat Pendelton plays the New York cop who’s in charge of the investigation. He’s no match for Nick’s observations and makes a good comic sidekick for him. What he lacks in brain power, he makes up for in blunt force.

Julia Wolfe: Natalie Moorhead is Wynant’s secretary and mistress who was the last person to see him. She’s also the first corpse.

Mimi Jorgenson nee Wynant: Minna Gombell plays Wynant’s harpy of an ex-wife. She’s eager to find out where he is for money reasons.

Chris Jorgenson: Cesar Romero (Yes, THAT one) is Mimi’s younger husband, who happens to be a gigolo (the movie skirts around it, but the book’s pretty clear about it). A small role.

Gilbert: William Henry is Mimi’s headcase of a son who is morbidly fascinated with crime and dead bodies.

Herbert MacCaulay: Porter Hall is Wynant’s lawyer who’s also trying to figure out what’s going on.

Visuals/Effects
W.S. Van Dyke, a director nicknamed “One-take Woody” because of his fast shooting schedule (at least I hope that’s the reason) & James Wong Howe the director of photography made an incredibly smartly shot film for the low budget. Its not noir, that was still a good couple of years away, but the film does go into a “noir-ish” mode when Nick goes off to do some legitimate detective work.

Writing
Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett and adapted by Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich, the story is damn near perfect in terms of juggling characters and plot. The dialogue, however, is beyond top notch. Nick & Nora spar with words the way Errol Flynn & Basil Rathbone did with swords in Robin Hood. Sure, you could criticize Nick Charles for being a Mary Sue character, but Powell just plays it all up with a wink in his eyes and you totally accept that this former guy from the streets has a banter-based marriage with a beautiful woman, money out the wazoo, the adoration of law enforcement AND petty criminals everywhere, and he solves baffling murders in his spare time while plastered. Nick Charles is living the dream. The movie is a lot more lighthearted than the book, which doesn't shy away from some of the seedy themes, but it also happens to be a lot funnier while lifting most of the good bits from the novel.

Sound
William Axt provided the score, and it works really well with the movie, balancing comedy and intrigue when necessary.

Conclusion
I love this movie. I really do. Its light and airy and ballsy with a little edge all at once. Sure, there’s fun to be had in the criminal investigation and the supporting characters, but the real draw of it is in watching Powell & Loy drink and waltz through the film effortlessly together, especially since they became the archetype for pretty much every crime-solving couple to follow.


There's just something likable about old school movie trailers that completely play around with the fourth wall