El regreso de aquel hombre

Here we've got a complete change of atmosphere for our city-dwellers Nick and Nora: they travel to Nick's small hometown to see his parents after a long time. And since Nick knows how much his father disapproves of his excessive drinking, he's gone on a 'diet' of... apple cider! But Father also disapproves of something else: that Nick didn't become a doctor like himself, but just a 'cop'... And yet that's exactly what's made him famous in his town: the many difficult murder cases he's solved in the city. And so everybody thinks, as soon as he turns up in the sleepy hole, that he must be here 'on business'... But while he's trying to persuade everyone that he's just on holiday - he DOES get his 'business': a young man is shot right in front of the door of his parents' house!

So, whether he wants to or not, he helps investigating (since the country cops are even dumber than those in the city...); and he uncovers not only a whole number of well-kept family secrets, but - with a painting that Nora buys him for his birthday and that seems strangely coveted by some people as evidence - finally a big case of industrial espionage! And as for the identity of the actual murderer: here he makes his father proud at last with his knowledge of forensic medicine...

Now, it depends on the point of view: you could call the environment in this movie either unusual or unsuitable for Nick and Nora. Anyway, let's see it from the positive side: William Powell and Myrna Loy are once again in great shape and in the mood for cheeky jokes (Nickie Jr. was left at home this time, so there aren't any parents' issues), Anne Revere gives a great performance as 'Crazy Mary' and Donald Meek as the nutty art dealer and Edward Brophy (who had played 'Morelli' in the original first "Thin Man" movie) as the chatty salesman provide good fun entertainment, and the plot is really quite clever and full of surprises.

Still, you can feel the atmosphere changing and drifting further away from the first 'Thin Man' movies; so, for fans of Nick and Nora (as we knew them from the 30s) this one might be a slight disappointment - but as a crime comedy on the whole it's certainly solid, well-made entertainment!

This entry in the "Thin Man" series is enjoyable in itself, and it also works well as a change-of-pace from the rest of the series, in placing the familiar Nick and Nora characters in a new setting, when Nick returns to his old home town. It makes for a much different atmosphere, since Nick is received quite differently at home than he is in the big city where his crime-solving skills are so renowned.

Some things, of course, are still the same. William Powell is as witty and elegant as always, Myrna Loy is as engaging and as charming as ever, and the mystery that crops up is interesting and enjoyable. The screenplay does a nice job of keeping the best elements of the series while placing Nick in some new situations. The Powell/Loy characterizations of Nick and Nora are so good that when you see them in a somewhat new setting like this, you take an interest in them as you would old friends.

Harry Davenport heads up a very good supporting cast, and he gives one of his many fine character performances as Nick's father. The relationship is quite believable, and it's easy to empathize with Nick in his inability to please his father.

For all that this is a lesser-known movie in the "Thin Man" collection, it is quite good. The mystery itself is set up cleverly and efficiently, and it has the same combination of the offbeat and the logical that you hope for in these features. It's well worth seeking out for anyone who enjoys the "Thin Man" films.

It's 1945, the trains are packed with people, Asta doesn't remain hidden under Nora's fur coat so Nick, Nora and Asta end up in the baggage car as they travel to Nick's home town. And Nick is drinking only cider - his father never approved of drink. Thus begins, "The Thin Man Goes Home," made as the war was ending and a lot of people whose lives had changed were thinking about going home.

Nick, it turns out, has an uneasy relationship with his doctor dad because he himself never became a doctor. When the inevitable mystery arises around a murder, Nora wants Nick to solve it to impress his dad.

The fact is, the scripts of "The Thin Man" series never mattered. It was always the acting and interaction of William Powell and Myrna Loy, and here, as usual, they're great - loving, flippant, and funny. Since Nick is always falling on the floor or getting hit on the head, it's hard for anyone to believe he's sober. At a charity dance, in order to do some investigating, he gives his dance tickets to a sailor and Nora becomes his partner. The dance scene is hilarious as the sailor tosses Nora all over the place and swings her around with the kind of maneuvers you see in pair figure skating.

The war is still on so the story involves espionage. A very young Gloria de Haven does nicely as a self-consciously over-dramatic young woman; Harry Davenport and Lucile Watson are great as Nick's parents; and the later blacklisted Anne Revere does a fine job as Crazy Mary.

William Powell could read the phone book with class and humor; Loy looks beautiful and their teamwork has never been better. Highly recommended.

All the Thin Man films are great to watch, but this is one with which I find a bit easier to identify. Riskin, the writer of this film and long time scriptwriter for Frank Capra, was also the guy who wrote "It Happened One Night" and "Meet John Doe". This New York City born writer's attraction to average Joe small town values over Cosmopolitan glitz and decadence obvious in those two films is plain to see here. This is probably the image a lot of successful urbanites had about moving to the suburbs after WW2.

This is sort of an odd bird among Thin Man films in a couple of ways. First of all, Nick is astonishingly sober for a change. Don't look for any of those scenes of Nick and Nora trying to drink each other the table at some New York nightclub in this one. In fact, the nightclubs and high rises are totally gone as Nick takes Nora the glamorous New York socialite back for a visit to Nick's hometown, which bears a fairly strong likeness to Andy Hardy's. Nick's father is a retired M.D. not unlike the ones in the Norman Rockwell paintings. He wanted Nick to follow in his footsteps as a small town doctor instead of becoming a big city policeman and this is the first time the two of them have gotten together in years. This father-son reconciliation is the explanation for Nick's sudden uncharacteristic attraction to a sober, healthy lifestyle.

Nick's father is actually fairly proud of Nick and keeps a scrapbook about all his adventures. The whole town knows about Nick Charles the famous Detective. I sort of see invisible images of G.I.s returning home from WW2 in a lot of this movie. Nick's celebrity as a tough, smart local boy who went off to bring gun toting gangsters to justice in the big city of aristocratic sophisticates and Broadway nights is not very far removed from how most Americans probably saw the guys who went off to liberate Paris and Europe in WW2. Nora fits into that picture as a sort of "Mrs. Miniver" figure of what American's admired about European sophication brought back home to meet the folks.

The homecoming hero vision of Nick peacefully turning into a happy coach potato in a post war suburbia however is not what we want to see. What everybody loves about the Thin Man films is their contrary to Hollywood stereotype revelation that life after marriage can actually be exciting. Nora decides to get Nick off the coach with an "I Love Lucy" sort of plot twist that spreads a rumor around town that Nick is secretly working on a detective case. The result of course is that all the various local characters with small town secrets to hide think he's after them and all the mystery murders and skeletons start coming out of the closet like we've all been waiting to see. Nick and Nora are such a fun couple, aren't they?

Generally the Fourth Sequel to nearly anything would be considered Garbage and You'd think that the Producers had milked the cash cow once too often...BUT 'The Thin Man goes home' the Fourth Sequel and penultimate Film in the Enjoyable MGM Series which ran from 1934-1947 is FAR better than you could really hope for.

Nick (William Powell) & Nora (Myrna Loy) catch a Train to see Nick's Parents merely for a Vacation, but everybody in the Small town are led to believe that Nick is on a Case... He Isn't...Well, Not until a Young man drops dead on his Parents doorstep from a Gunshot Wound -

'The Thin Man goes home' despite being 65 Years old now, doesn't feel anywhere near as dated as many other Films from the Era, There is plenty of Witty lines that are still Funny today and the Sparkling Chemistry between Powell & Loy is a joy to watch.

***1/2 out of *****