A Sombra dos Acusados

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.

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.

In this fourth movie in the Thin Man series, the familiar formula still works pretty well, making "Shadow of the Thin Man" an enjoyable feature with plenty of wit, an interesting mystery, and most of all Nick and Nora. It's hard to think of any other screen couple that worked together better than William Powell and Myrna Loy. All it takes is a few seconds of seeing them interact before you feel as if you are in the company of old friends.

The story and setting make use of Nick's fondness for the horse races, and this also allows for an entertaining assortment of characters. The mystery has several twists and turns, and the story developments alternate with lighter stretches of Nick and Nora being themselves. Besides the race track, there are some other imaginative settings that help in creating an atmosphere that is both believable and interesting.

Most of the other characters are pretty straightforward, but Sam Levene gets quite a few good moments as the police lieutenant. Barry Nelson also has a decent role as a reporter. A very young Donna Reed gets a fair amount of screen time, but her character is not as interesting as the others. It's also interesting to see Stella Adler in one of her rare screen roles.

This one is a cut below the earlier movies in the series, but it's still good fun. As well as the familiar combination works, there weren't a lot of reasons to make significant changes.

Anything with William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles starts out at a six out of ten absent anything else positive in the film. I didn't think that this was one of the best of the series, with nothing outpacing the original Thin Man. There was too much baby in the last one and too much little kid in this one. Look, I wouldn't appreciate Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason, OR Nick Charles showing up in a family drama like "I Remember Mama" and I didn't appreciate the intrusion of all of the little kid schtick in this, what is supposed to be a detective film/comedy. Maybe it is just the conformist view of the pre-war production code era, or maybe it is just that Irving Thalberg had been dead since 1936 and five years later Louis B. Mayer's sickly sweet sentimentalism was starting to really take hold at MGM.

At least Woody Van Dyke is still in the director's chair, and Sam Levene makes a great side kick for Nick as police lieutenant Abrams who couldn't detect his way out of a paper bag without the help of Mr. Charles. Nick takes pity on the fellow and tries to give him credit where he can.

This mystery is about two murders - one at a race track and another in the office of the head of a gambling syndicate, seemingly unrelated. Another problem I have in this film - the guy in the "young couple" who Nick and Nora are trying to help is played by Barry Nelson, who easily has the most punchable face in the history of film. Even when he is out cold he looks like he is obnoxiously smirking.

Some of the weirder sights in this one? Nick walking his son on a leash, and his son - all of four - in a soldier's uniform! Also a San Francisco seafood restaurant which is not upscale but not greasy spoon level either has a dirt floor!

I'd recommend it for fans of the Thin Man films. There is enough Nick and Nora to overcome its several flaws.