L'introuvable

Never mind trying to follow plot, instead follow the banter between Nick and Nora Charles, as portrayed by William Powell and Myrna Loy in this delightful comic mystery. Between the banter and the sexual innuendoes, the constant guzzling and shennanigans, this sophisticated couple actually do manage to solve a murder or three.

This seventy year old film still holds up well today and the reason is that the screenwriters knew how to write dialogue and character and were not dependent on action sequences to fill in the blanks like so many of today's screenwriters and directors, who are too busy chasing the big dollar to make a movie that is going to stand up over time. How many of today's action movies will we be watching seventy years from now?

Admittedly, there is some clumsy acting by some of the minor characters, at least viewed from today's point of view, but don't let that, like the plot, get in your way or you will miss out on what this charming film has to offer. And say, who was that Thin Man, anyway?

Where to begin? I guess I'll start off by saying that this is one of my favorite films of all time. I first saw it on TV years ago (I was probably eleven or twelve) and I still totally love it. Every time I see it, I feel like I get more out of it. I feel like I see AND hear more than I did before.

The story goes that creepy Clyde Wynant (wonderful character actor Edward Ellis) wants to give some bonds to his daughter Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) as a wedding present. But his mistress Julia (Natalie Moorhead) has gotten rid of them. When Julia turns up murdered, Wynant is the obvious suspect, but nobody can find him.

Enter Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy), a detective and heiress, just recently married, and clearly very much in love. Nick finds himself pulled into the case, with everyone around him urging him into it. He's reluctant: it's his honeymoon after all. But sure enough he's persuaded to take the case, solves it and exposes the murderer at a climactic dinner party.

Bill Powell and Myrna Loy have astounding chemistry. As husband and wife, they are equals, equally hard-drinking, equally witty, equally fun-loving. They have the same sense of adventure, the same stubbornness, the same competitiveness. In so many scenes, Powell will saw something in his playful, semi-childish, half-drunk sort of way, and Loy will respond with some fabulously delivered retort, in a manner that is almost like a world-wary mother saying to her child 'Now, now, Junior...' It's hard to describe exactly. If anything, I suppose you could say it's deceptively simple. It's one of those things you have to see for yourself.

The rest of the cast is good. I particularly love Minna Gombell, Mynant's ex-wife Mimi, with her latin boyfriend (Cesar Romero) and her tight, shiny black dresses with white fur-lined princess sleeves. Slight, ernest and bespeckeled, William Henry turns in a riotous performance as Gilbert, Mimi and Clyde Wynant's son and Dorothy's brother. A Kinsey-lke figure, the role of Gilbert is one of those bookish, overly-analytical Hollywood stock characters who try to explain other character's subconscious reasons for their actions, and who give strangers peculiar looks at parties. Henry makes the character believable, and he stands out as one of the characters in the movie. Gerturde Short, in an uncredited role, gives a good performance as well. Her delivery of the "I don't like crooks, and if I did like'em..." line is unforgettable. (If you blink, you'll miss Tui Lorraine Bow, friend and step-mother of It Girl Clara Bow! Bert Roach of The Crowd has a small role as well.)

For a modestly-budgeted, rapidly shot, b-level production, The Thin Man is a classy and stylish film. The clothes, assembled by the genial Dolly Tree, are great, and make this a must-see anyone even remotely interested in period fashions. The art deco sets are quite fine, if modest and at times a bit sparse. The editing is good, as is the fairly simplistic photography. Woody Van Dyke, the director, always worked fast, and Myrna Loy recalled that all the movies they worked together on were made at frantic pace. Part of the reason that The Thin Man moves so quickly is the fact that production was so hurried.

The Thin Man gets a ten out of ten from me for being one of the best films ever produced, and one of my absolute favorites of all time.

Nick Charles (William Powell) is a former detective who returns to NYC with his new wife Nora (Myrna Loy) and their dog Asta after 4 years in California. He's happily retired after Nora's father left them a fortune. His friend inventor Clyde Wynant has mysteriously disappeared after he confronts his secretary Julia Wolf about $50k in missing bonds. Clyde's ex-wife Mimi (Minna Gombell) is looking for more money but finds a dead Julia Wolf instead. Clyde becomes the prime suspect. Clyde's daughter Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) refuses to believe it. Nora convinces Nick to take the case after gangster Joe Morelli barges in on them.

William Powell and Myrna Loy are terrific together. Their dialog is quick and snappy. It's loads of fun. If anything, this movie needs more of them. That's my only complaint. The movie takes too long to get to them as it concentrates on Wynant and the murder. The murder mystery works well but not necessarily anything original. This is simply a fun couple and the movie is best with both of them on the screen.

A great comic murder mystery that relies on the acting and snappy dialog and less on the plot, which otherwise is a standard whodunit from a novel by Dash Hammett. Powell, Loy and O'Sullivan give it their all as society people caught up in a trashy murder involving Mrs. Tarzan's zany scientist dad. Were it not for these three, the film would likely be unwatchable today. They are nicely supported by an army of bit players doing their best Runyon-esquire impressions as felons and thugs who all seem to have a passion for Powell's Nick Charles, ex-cop and now the gin-swilling husband of millionairess Loy. The story takes place at Christmastime in Manhattan, which gives it a nice sense of time and place even though it was clearly shot on Hollywood sound stages. No one apparently planned on a followup, but the movie proved so popular, the entire production team was back in place two years later for the only slightly less captivating AFTER THE THIN MAN, this time set in California on New Year's Eve.

The Thin Man is directed by W. S. Van Dyke and co-written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. It is based on the Dashiell Hammett novel of the same name. Starring are William Powell and Myrna Loy, with support coming from Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Porter Hall and Skippy as Astra the dog. William Axt scores the music and James Wong Howe is the cinematographer.

Plot finds Powell and Loy as married couple, Nick and Nora Charles, he is a retired detective, she a good time heiress. Planning to finally settle down, their life is upturned when Nick is called back into detective work due to a friend's disappearance and the possibility he was also involved in a murder. Murder, malarkey and mirth are about to become the order of the day.

It was the big surprise hit of 1934. Afforded only a tiny budget because studio head honcho Louis B. Mayer thought it was dud material, and he ordered for it to be completed in under three weeks time! Film made stars out of Powell and Loy and coined an impressive $2 million at the box office. Also birthing a franchise (5 film sequels and a radio and television series would follow), it's a film that has irresistible charm leaping out from every frame. It's easy to see even now why a mid 1930's audience could take so warmly to such an appealing motion picture.

From the off the film was in good hands, Dyke (One-Take Woody as he was sometimes known) was an unfussy director with a keen eye for pacing and casting, both of which are things that shine through in this production. There's also considerable talent in the writing, both in the source material and with the script writers. Hammett based his witty bantering couple on himself and his relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman, this was ideal material for Hackett and Goodrich, themselves a happily married couple fondly thought of in the cut and thrust world of Hollywood. As a couple they would go on to write It's a Wonderful Life for Frank Capra and win the Pulitzer Prize for their play The Diary of Anne Frank.

It stands out as a film of note because it successfully marries a murder mystery story with a screwball comedy spin, this was something new and exciting. While the believable relationship between Powell and Loy was also a breath of fresh air - a married couple deeply in love, devoted, funny, boozey and bouncing off of each other with witty repartee. It can never be overstated just how good Powell and Loy are here, true enough they are given an absolutely zinging script to work from, but the level of comedy, both in visual ticks and delivery of lines, is extraordinarily high.

Small budget and a small shoot, but everything else about The Thin Man is big. Big laughs, big mystery and big love, all bundled up into a joyous bit of classic cinema. 9/10