Der Schatten des dünnen Mannes

"Shadow of the Thin Man" is another addition to the "Thin Man" series starring that wonderful couple, Nick and Nora Charles, played to perfection by William Powell and Myrna Loy. In this film, they have a son, Nicky, who's adorable and keeps Daddy on his toes. In one scene, Nick has to drink milk (instead of his cocktail) so that Nicky will drink his; in another, so as not embarrass his son, Nick rides the carousel and gets quite dizzy. So does Asta - we see him hugging a fire hydrant for dear life once the ride ends.

The movie starts out innocently enough with Nick reading the racing forms to his son as if it's a story. When Nick and Nora get to the track, a murder has been committed and the two become immediately involved. Donna Reed has a small role as a secretary for a thug, and she's giving information to her boyfriend, a reporter, played by Barry Nelson. This was the stage actor's first film, and he's right out of college.

There are some very funny scenes in this film - the best being the one in the restaurant. But Nora and Nick attending a wrestling match is another goodie. That brilliant actor, Asta, really has a good supporting role. It's one of his better performances.

The murder mystery is interesting, but like all the "Thin Man" movies, the style, the repartee, and the humor are what make Nick and Nora fun and even today, keep them popular. And their little dog too.

The fourth Thin Man outing, Shadow of the Thin Man finds Nick and Nora Charles back in San Francisco where they happen to be at a race track when a jockey is killed in the tack room.

The jockey's death uncovers an investigation by the state crime commission involving them trying to indict a syndicate of illegal bookmakers. Two rival newspaper reporters are trying for a scoop on the story and one of them has some other interesting activities going for him.

Powell uncovers a good group of suspects brought together for the inevitable finale. The murderer and he notches two to his credit before he's finally caught is one the audience won't suspect.

Powell does show off a bit here though, the murderer with a slip of the tongue is given away to the audience. I think the writers just wanted Powell to show off before the other suspects, he could have nailed the murderer a reel before he did.

The usual witticisms involving the Charles's parenthood are present. Funniest scene is when Loy tries to get Powell to go off his usual liquid diet so their son will learn to drink milk.

Caught this again in a TCM triple feature of Thin Man movies. Even I'm not old enough to have seen these in the theater, but I saw them before as a youth when all of these movies were dumped by Hollywood onto the small screen in the Fifties and Sixties. They have aged very well. Myrna Loy is beautiful and wonderful as perhaps the prototypical smart Aleck and generally competent wife and partner. Her money obviously allows her husband William Powell to be the wise cracking, hard drinking playboy detective in the series start. She's a good influence and he turns into a more acceptable father type by the series end. The movies are all well written, directed and filled with plenty of great 'character actors'. Plot and character driven with nothing a modern audience would perceive as a 'special effect', they're also good detective stories. There's always the gathering of the suspects and the review of the clues at the end where in the less litigious '30s and '40s the killer always confesses. Highly recommended as light comedy and drama.

SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN offers nothing really new but it does offer exactly what fans of the franchise expect. Nick and Nora get dragged into another murder mystery. They continue to bicker in their loving way. Nick and all his old street contacts help Nick do what the police cannot. Lt. Abrams (Sam Levene) last seen in AFTER THE THIN MAN returns. He is to Nick what Inspector Lestrad is to Sherlock Holmes. It's a treat to see a young Donna Reed in a film 5 years prior to her breakthrough performance in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and 2 decades prior to her self named sitcom.

As usual, Nick with Nora's help rounds up all the suspects and walks the viewer through his deductive reasoning and then announces who the killer is. As this was the third sequel it is plain to see the basic formula that is present in all the THIN MAN films. It, by this film, had become about as complex as a color by numbers coloring book. Little imagination but still fun to do. I would rank this my fourth favorite of the six THIN MAN FILMS.

Another good series entry [4/6], more sedate than its predecessors but still a quality funny whodunnit, again set in Red Herring City.

Nick finds himself embroiled in a murder case after a racetrack killing leads to another implicating an "obviously" decent guy, trying to unravel the murderer from a long list of "guilty" suspects. Nick's deductions again spring a surprise, culminating with a detail only discovered near the end of the picture. The funniest scene is the outbreak of fisticuffs in the restaurant - I'm glad I never got a dog, cute as Asta was! Again Nick Jr. was sidelined for the second half, probably so as not to complicate the plot further. Donna Reed's second film.

With a beautiful print and the chorus of "Why, It's Nick Charles!" ringing in my ears I found this one to be almost up to par with the first three and one I certainly hope to watch again.