Thin Man Collection: The Thin Man / After The Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow Of The Thin Man / Song Of The Thin Man / ... (DVD)

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"I was shot twice in the Tribune."
"Well, I read where you were shot five times in the tabloids."
"He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids."

People generally regard author Dashiell Hammett as the father of the modern, hard-boiled detective story ("The Maltese Falcon," "Red Harvest," "The Dain Curse"), but not everyone remembers that he also invented one of fiction's most debonair, sophisticated sleuths in his novel "The Thin Man." The husband-and-wife team of Manhattan socialites Nick and Nora Charles, and their dog Asta, would create almost as much stir in the literary world of private investigation as Hammett's more tough-minded hero, Sam Spade.

The first, 1934, screen incarnation of the famous duo, "The Thin Man," from MGM (a film now owned and distributed by Turner Entertainment/Warner Home Video), was an instant comedy-mystery hit and has remained so ever since. The movie's success is all the more impressive when you consider it was a relatively low-budget affair filmed in only a couple of weeks.

In fact, "The Thin Man" was so successful that MGM went on to produce five more pictures in a series that lasted from 1934 to 1947, all of them starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Then, with the characters still in the pubic consciousness, the famous detectives went on to a TV show from 1957-59, starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk.

Now, the good folks at Warner Bros. have collected all six of the "Thin Man" movies into one big box set, and fans of the series can see the whole lot of them. Perhaps this DVD set will bring Nick and Nora back into popularity all over again. Their brand of clever repartee and sophisticated humor may never go out of style.

"The Thin Man":
As I've said, William Powell and Myrna Loy play Nick and Nora Charles in all six "Thin Man" movies, both actors exuding the kind of ultra polish and style that Depression-era audiences and beyond must have longed for. In the first film they reside in a plush apartment atop a New York City high-rise, living off the considerable money Nora inherited when her wealthy father died. This allows Nick, a former private detective, the luxury of working when and if he chooses, and it allows Nora the luxury of tagging along on any case she wishes. What's more, it allows Nick to pay for what must amount to an enormous alcohol bill every month, since we never see him without a drink in his hand. Today, we'd probably call him a lush; in 1934 his drinking must have seemed the height of refinement and elegant good taste.

Most of the time it's hard to tell if Nick is tipsy or just naturally giddy. One way or the other, he's always got his wits about him, as does Nora, and their friendly rivalry and clever give-and-take were surely a refreshing change of pace for moviegoers used to the dominating males or at best bickering marriage mates of early talking pictures. The only character in the movie able to upstage Powell and Loy is their terrier, Asta, who must have popularized the breed all over the world.

The plot is of little concern next to the main couple and the colorful supporting cast. For what it's worth, though, the story involves the disappearance of an inventor, the father of an old friend of the Charleses, and the subsequent murders of several people whom the police suspect the inventor did in. For friendship's sake, Nick and Nora help determine who killed whom and why. There are some admitted surprises along the way, but it's hardly the plot the holds the concoction together.

Among the rest of the cast are Edward Ellis as the missing inventor, Clyde Wynant; Maureen O'Sullivan as Dorothy, the inventor's beautiful daughter; Henry Wadsworth as Tommy, Dorothy's fiancée; Minna Gombell as Mimi, the inventor's fishy ex-wife; Cesar Romero as Chris, Mimi's gigolo husband; William Henry as Gilbert, the inventor's bizarre son; Natalie Moorhead as Julia Wolf, the inventor's blonde bombshell mistress; Edward Brophy as Morelli and Harold Huber as Nunheim, all-around shady, sinister characters; Porter Hall as MacCaulay, the inventor's lawyer; Cyril Thornton as Tanner, the inventor's bookkeeper; and Nat Pendleton as Lt. Guild, the exasperated policeman assigned to investigate the case. Everyone but the cop has a possible motive either to have killed the people who turn up dead or to have killed the inventor himself. In classic mystery-story fashion, it's quite a suspect list.

W.S. Van Dyke directed the film; he was a man who made a ton of potboilers from 1917 to his death in 1943, films like "Tarzan the Ape Man," "Trader Horn," "Manhattan Melodrama," "Rose-Marie," "San Francisco," and "Dr. Kildare's Victory." In addition, he directed all but the final two "Thin Man" movies, and in almost every instance we see more of style from him than substance; but that's OK, especially where "The Thin Man" is concerned because that's all "The Thin Man" is about. There is little innovation in lighting, cinematography, cinematic storytelling, or set design going on (indeed, most of the movie centers in and around the living room of the Charles's apartment), yet the film glitters despite its being so straightforward. Van Dyke simply leaves it up to his stars to create the sparkle in an agreeable mixture of humor and tension.

As things go along, the bodies pile up, Asta helps solve the case, and in the film's climax, Nick invites all the suspects to a candlelit dinner at his place. It's a great scene, one that is traditional in drawing-room mysteries, and it's been parodied time and again in films like "Murder By Death." The denouement is rather a letdown, but as I say, the plot isn't as important as the people in it. Nick eventually exposes the wrongdoer and solves the puzzle, even if he is not quite so sure how he is going to do it until the time rolls around. One must accept a degree of luck, happenstance, and coincidence in such cases.

These days we take for granted a certain amount of comedy in our mystery and adventure movies, the Indiana Jones series being a good example. In 1934, "The Thin Man" marked the beginning of this trend, and the movie has hardly been equalled since for its fast-paced fun, wisecracks, and suspense. 7/10

"After the Thin Man":
In the view of many fans, "After the Thin Man" (1936) is the best episode in the series; and I can't say I disagree. The setting this time out is San Francisco, where Nick says they're heading at the end of the first story and where author Hammett himself lived. Apparently, Nick and Nora maintain residences on both coasts.

Everybody in the City knows Nick Charles, from the pickpockets to the news boys and from the truck drivers to the prize fighters. Nora's rich, stuffy family disapprove of Nick, his disreputable friends, his outspoken sense of humor, and his sleuthing, but when Nora's cousin's husband goes missing, the family are quick to ask Nick to investigate.

By the midway point in the movie, we've got murders piling up all over the place and suspects galore. There's Selma Landis (Ellissa Landi), Nora's cousin with the missing husband. There's Robert Landis (Alan Marshall), the errant husband. There's David Graham (an early role for a young James Stewart), a friend of the family and Selma's former suitor. There's Katherine Forrest (Jessie Ralph), Nora's aunt, whom Nick describes as an "old battle-axe." And there is the usual collection of really suspicious types: "Dancer" (Joseph Calleia), the shady owner of the Lichee night club; Lum Kee (William Law), "Dancer's" partner and co-owner of the Lichee; Polly Byrnes (Dorothy McNulty, later Penny Singleton of the "Blondie" series), a dancer at the club who is about to run away with Selma's husband; Phil Byrnes (Paul Fix), Polly's tough-guy "brother"; and Dr. Adolph Kammer (George Zucco, who generally specialized in mad scientists), Selma's peculiar psychologist. Sam Levene plays Lt. Abrams, the harried homicide detective trying to sort out the business. And, needless to say, there's Asta, the Charles's dog, playing a bigger role in this film than in the first.

W.S. "One-Take Woody" Van Dyke again directs in a light, breezy style; and there's a lot more music and dancing than usual, possibly because much of the story occurs during New Year's Eve and possibly because the filmmakers wanted to liven up the spirit as much as possible. As always, we seldom see Nick and Nora without a drink in their hand, and Nick does have one good line on the subject: "Let's get something to eat. I'm thirsty." Overall, "After the Thin Man" is as delightful an entry in the series as the first movie was, and the resolution of the mystery comes as a pleasant surprise. 8/10

"Another Thin Man":
I was looking at a photograph of Dashiell Hammett on the back cover of my edition of "The Thin Man," and I couldn't help noting the similarity between him and William Powell. In the picture Hammett is handsome, slender, nattily dressed, and wearing a mustache. He was perhaps not so Hollywood handsome as Powell, but it's close. Just a thought.

"Another Thin Man" (1939) doesn't have quite the same luster as the first two entries in the series but nevertheless stands up well. It's fascinating to observe the changes in attitude from the thirties to today in the way people behaved and the way they accepted certain conditions of male-female relationships. While it's nice to see Nick and Nora sharing their casual sleuthing responsibilities, it's usually Nick who actually solves the cases. And, too, it's Nick who gives up his professional detective work to manage his wife's financial affairs. As Hammett has Nick say in the book, "a year after I got married, my wife's father died and left her a lumber mill and a narrow-gauge railroad and some other things and I quit the Agency to look after them." Apparently, women couldn't be trusted to handle their own monetary concerns back then; either that or Nick just likes the idea of being a gentleman of leisure.

When I said "Another Thin Man" doesn't have the same luster, the same frothy tone, as the first two, it's because this one is more of a mystery story and less fun and games than the first two. In the plot Nora's father's former partner, old Col. Burr MacFay (C. Aubrey Smith), calls Nick and Nora to his mansion, thinking someone's trying to kill him. Sure enough, shortly after the Charleses arrive, somebody murders the Colonel. Before long, even more people are bumped off. Only Nick and Nora can figure it out.

As always, it's the colorful roster of suspects that keeps the proceedings alive, given that there are fewer jokes, fewer songs and dances, and less joshing around in this installment. Questionable characters surround the Colonel: Lois MacFay (Virginia Grey), his adopted daughter; Phil Church (Sheldon Leonard), a former employee and ex-con; Dum-Dum (Abner Biberman), Church's flunky; Diamond Back Vogel (Don Costello), a racketeer; Dudley Horn (Patric Knowles), Lois MacFay's fiancée; Freddie (Tom Neal), a young fellow with a crush on Lois; Mrs. Bellam (Phyllis Gordon), the Colonel's housekeeper; and Dorothy Waters (Ruth Hussey), the Charles's new nanny. Add in Van Slack (Otto Kruger) as a district attorney and Lt. Guild (Nat Pendleton) back again as the blustery police detective, plus an assortment of other recognizable character actors like Shemp Howard (a former and future Stooge) and Marjorie Main (Ma Kettle) and you get the picture.

The biggest gimmick in the movie is the introduction of Nick and Nora's new son, Nicky, Jr. (William A. Poulsen). The kid is about a year old in this film, and he would appear in several further "Thin Man" films as well, growing appropriately older with different actors in the role as the series continued.

I appreciated the way practically everybody likes Nick. Even people the famous detective has sent up the river seem to have a grudging admiration for him. The film moves along slowly through the first half, fortunately picking up steam in the second half. As mayhem ensues around them, Nick and Nora remain their imperturbable selves. The solution, when it finally arrives, seems more convoluted than necessary, and as usual the murderer breaks down and confesses in the end. Still and all, it's good to see Powell and Loy in action. 7/10

"Shadow of the Thin Man":
After Hammett wrote "The Thin Man," the principled novelist chose not to do any major sequels, only a few short stories; therefore, MGM's screenwriters were on their own in continuing the series after the first three movies. What they did have, though, was the basic framework for the "Thin Man" tales, in part based on Hammett himself. The author worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency before the First World War, so it's easy to see where he got his fictional detectives (and Hammett's middle name was Samuel, no doubt the inspiration for Sam Spade). The author patterned Nora Charles after his lifelong romantic interest, playwright Lillian Hellman.

Interestingly, the title of Hammett's novel, "The Thin Man," was never meant to refer to the character of Nick Charles at all but to a secondary character in the story. After the success of the book and particularly after the success of the initial movie in the "Thin Man" series, everyone assumed Nick was the thin fellow of the title. I suppose it was as good an incentive as any for William Powell to maintain a healthy diet. In reality, the original "thin man" was a character named Clyde Wynant, a guy the book refers to as being "so thin he had to stand in the same place twice to throw a shadow." Maybe that's where the scriptwriters came up with the idea for the title of the fourth entry in the series, "Shadow of the Thin Man" (1941).

In this one the Charleses live in swankier digs than ever, a San Francisco hotel suite overlooking a park. But little of the story takes place there; most of the happenings occur in and around a racetrack, a wrestling arena, and various suspects' offices and apartments. The plot involves the killing of a jockey and then the murder of a news reporter, while Nick and Nora are coincidentally near both times. A friend of Nick's, Major Scully (Henry O'Neill), a legislative official looking into illegal gambling activities in the state, asks Nick to help out with the detective work. Homicide Lt. Abrams (Sam Levene), the sarcastic, fast-talking S.F. police detective, returns to head up the investigation.