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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This entry has a thinner story line, fewer colorful characters, and even fewer witty lines than the first three films in the series, and unlike the previous episodes, Nick and Nora are absent for longer spells. The list of suspects includes the usual lineup: Paul Clark (Barry Nelson, who would go on to become Ian Fleming's very first James Bond in an early TV show), a news reporter trying to get the goods on an illegal gambling syndicate; Molly (Donna Reed, who would go on to become everybody's favorite television mom), Paul's fiancée; Link Stephens and Fred Macy (Loring Smith and Joseph Anthony), a pair of racketeers; Claire Porter (Stella Adler, the celebrated "method" acting teacher in a rare screen appearance), a high-class gangster's moll; and "Rainbow" Benny (Lou Lubin), a gambler living in fear of his life.

Young Nicky, Jr. (Dickie Hall), a few years older now, also has a small part in the proceedings, but not enough to count. As is the custom with these things, the movie winds up with all the suspects gathered together, while Nick baits the murderer into blurting out a confession. It's a formulaic film in the series but fun for maybe a single viewing. 6/10

"The Thin Man Goes Home":
By the time "The Thin Man Goes Home" (1944) rolled around, the series was beginning to feel pretty thin itself. If the fourth film was formulaic, the fifth one is positively fluff.

For reasons unknown, Nicky, Jr. is nowhere to be found. The Charleses go off on a vacation to visit Nick's parents in the small town of Sycamore Springs, and they leave the kid behind to attend school. It seems odd because he returns in the final feature. Oh, well, he had not added much of substance to the previous installments, anyhow.

So, it's a little over three years since the last episode, and to break the monotony of every mystery being set in a big city, the screenwriters decided to locate this chapter in a tiny community where everybody knows everybody else. The idea, I suppose, is to show how evil can exist even in the most unlikely and seemingly benign environments.

Nick's mother (Lucile Watson) and father (Harry Davenport) don't approve of Nick's drinking, so another change from previous films is having Nick on the wagon; he's only drinking cider this time out. Moreover, Nick's dad doesn't approve of his son's gumshoe business; the dad's always wanted him to become a doctor like himself. Nora wishes Nick had the chance to show his father what a great detective he is, and, wouldn't you know, he gets the opportunity. Trouble seems to follow the Charleses wherever they go.

I wasn't sure anything was going to develop in the film, though, when by the end of the first half hour practically nothing had happened. Then, at long last, a young man is shot to death on the parents' front porch, and Nick (and Nora) spring into action. It's an unlikely occurrence, but at least it gets things moving.

The detectives meet the same assortment of colorful and suspicious characters in Sycamore Springs that they had always encountered in the city: Sam Ronson (Minor Watson), a local skinflint tycoon; Laurabelle Ronson (Gloria De Haven), the overly dramatic daughter of the tycoon and the fiancée of the murder victim; Crazy Mary (Ann Revere), the town looney; Edgar Draque (Leon Ames), a crook trafficking in stolen documents; Helena Draque (Helen Vinson), the crook's wife; and Dr. Bruce Clayworth (Lloyd Corrigan), another town doctor and an old schoolmate of Nick's. It goes without saying that they all have something to hide.

Regardless, the real highlight of the show is Brogan, a con-man friend of Nick's played by Edward Brophy. Brophy was a character actor who appeared in about 800 films, always playing exactly the same type, the tough but lovable little guy who was forever comically on the edge of respectability. Mel Brooks liked the man so much he paid tribute to him in the movie "High Anxiety" by creating a similar character he named "Brophy," played by Ron Carey. In "The Thin Man Goes Home" the real Brophy plays a small but memorable role and practically steals the picture. As you may remember, Brophy also appeared in the first "Thin Man" movie but in a smaller, less engaging part.

Even though the film appeared at the end of World War II, there are very few references to the War. The train Nick and Nora take to Sycamore Springs is crowded with passengers, a wartime condition; one character in the film is described as having just been discharged from the army; a gun is emphasized that was a product of the war; and the denouement revolves around some military plans. But it isn't much considering the importance of world events at the time, perhaps an indication that the filmmakers were trying to get their audience's mind off the weighty problems of the day.

The humor in "The Thin Man Goes Home" is more slapstick than witty, at least at first, and the story is less coherent than ever. W.S. Van Dyke, the director of the first four movies, died in 1943 and had to be replaced. His successor was Richard Thorpe, who may have been more at home with adventure films ("Ivanhoe," "Tarzan's Secret Treasure," "The Prisoner of Zenda") and dramas ("Above Suspicion," "The Great Caruso") than he was with light, urbane comedies. At any rate, the movie barely rises above the ordinary for a comedy of any kind. 5/10

"Song of the Thin Man":
The final entry in the series, "Song of the Thin Man" (1947), is a pleasing step above the previous film, taking us into the world of smoky jazz clubs, dark shadows, and dirty deals. It makes a fitting close to the series by going out strong.

The movie opens on a luxury gambling boat, the S.S. Fortune, anchored off New York harbor, where the principal players in the melodrama are introduced. A bandleader, Tommy Drake (Philip Reed), hated by everyone, is murdered late in the evening, leaving everybody with a motive for killing him.

The gambling ship's owner, Phil Brant (Bruce Cowling), is a major suspect because he was seen having a tiff with Drake just before the murder. What's more, Brant was engaged to a rich socialite, Janet Thayer (Jayne Meadows, later of "The Honeymooners"), whose father (Ralph Morgan) disapproved and who may have wanted to discourage Drake from marrying his daughter. Seems Brant and Drake looked very much alike and in the dark could have been mistaken for one another.

Plus, there's a raft of other folks with motives for killing Drake, like Mitch Talbin (Leon Ames), a talent agent Drake hits up for money; Fran Page (Gloria Grahame), a singer who used to be Drake's girlfriend; Al Amboy (William Bishop), a gangster to whom Drake owed money; and Buddy Hollis (Don Taylor), an alcoholic musician that Drake just fired.

When the newlyweds Phil and Janet come seeking Nick's help to clear Phil's name, Nick immediately turns the fellow over to the police! Then Nick enlists the aid of another jazz musician, "Clinker" Krause (Keenan Wynn), to help with an investigation to clear Phil.

"Song of the Thin Man" naturally contains a good deal of music, and it turns out to be some of the best music in the series, filled with any number of skillful jazz arrangements. Moreover, there is a stronger noir atmosphere in this film than in any of the others, with an abundance of nighttime shots and shadows. There is plenty of swinging jive talk, too, pretty hep for the era; and Asta does as much detecting as Nick.

Edward Buzzell was the director this last time out, and he was obviously more into comedy than his predecessor, having done things like "Easy To Wed," "Ship Ahoy," and several Marx Brothers films. Nick's witticisms appear to come more easily under his direction. "Darling," says Nick, "give me my pipe, my slippers, and a beautiful woman, and you can have my pipe and slippers."

Trivia notes: A young Dean Stockwell plays Nicky, Jr., about ten years old at the time. Leon Ames is the only actor to play in back-to-back "Thin Man" movies as different characters. Actor Tom Dugan is also back from an earlier "Thin Man" but in a new part and in a role so small you'd hardly notice him anyway. The same year that Powell did "Song of the Thin Man," he did "Life With Father," playing about as dissimilar a character from Nick Charles as one could imagine. Lastly, in another chance circumstance, the aforementioned Leon Ames later played the same character as Powell in the television version of "Life With Father."

Although the ending of "Song of the Thin Man" leaves a lot to be desired, including the compulsory confession, everything leading up to it works pretty well. Thus do Nick and Nora go off into the sunset, Nick remarking, "Now Nick Charles is going to retire." "You're through with crime?" asks Nora incredulously. "No, I'm going to bed." 7/10

Video:
Although the films vary somewhat in their video quality, the standard Academy ratio, 1.37:1 prints Warner Brothers obtained for these MGM productions must have been in remarkably good shape, given their years. Nowhere on the packaging does it indicate they underwent complete digital restorations, but a bit of touching up probably occurred. There are only a few lines here and there and the intermittent touch of grain to give away their age. Most of the transfers are quite clear, except in brief and infrequent bursts of deterioration, probably at the ends of reels where film stock will sometimes show wear. There is, as I say, a little grain in some of them, the second film in particular, but very few instances of motion effects or edge enhancement. (OK, Nick's checkered coat does present some problems with shimmering pixels now and again.) None of this is to suggest, however, that these are the best possible black-and-white transfers I've ever seen, only that they are reasonably well reproduced on DVD. In truth, the picture quality, while clean and clear, is slightly soft, and the B&W contrasts are occasionally subdued.

Audio:
The soundtracks display the common audio limitations of the period. The films were made, after all, just a few years into the movie sound era and a decade or so beyond. The 1.0 monaural sonics are remastered in the Dolby Digital process, rendering them about as good as they can be, and background noise has been reduced about as much as possible without adversely affecting midrange playback. The soundtracks can be a tad hard, with a limited frequency and dynamic range, mainly showing their merits in the clear execution of mid-frequency dialogue.

Extras:
Not unexpectedly, the extras vary from disc to disc, so here are the individual items on each DVD: "The Thin Man": Six theatrical trailers, one for each of the "Thin Man" movies that Powell and Loy starred in, and some cast and crew information. "After the Thin Man": A Robert Benchley comedy short, "How To Be a Detective"; a vintage cartoon, "The Early Bird and the Worm"; a radio show with Powell and Loy; a radio promo; and a theatrical trailer. "Another Thin Man": A musical short, "Love on Tap"; a vintage cartoon, "The Bookworm"; and a trailer. "Shadow of the Thin Man": A vintage short, "The Tell-Tale Heart"; a vintage cartoon, "The Goose Goes South"; and a trailer. "The Thin Man Goes Home": A Robert Benchley comedy short, "Why Daddy?"; a vintage cartoon, "Screwball Squirrel"; and a trailer. "Song of the Thin Man": A "Passing Parade" short, "A Really Important Person"; a vintage cartoon, "Slap Happy Lion"; and a trailer.

All of the films contain a generous number of scene selections but no chapter inserts. The spoken languages offered are English and French for the first three films and English only for the last three, with subtitles in English, French, and Spanish for all six movies, and Portuguese thrown in for "The Thin Man."

The major bonus item in the box is the documentary disc, "Alias Nick and Nora." On it we find four features of interest to any "Thin Man" enthusiast. First up is "William Powell: A True Gentleman," a thirty-minute, newly made biography of the actor, narrated by Michael York. It contains comments by film historians, archivists, and critics, with plenty of movie clips to illustrate their points. The closing credits thank Christian Anderson, Rudy Behlmer, Emily Carman, Leonard Maltin, and Marvin of the Movies. Second up is "Hollywood Remembers: Myrna Loy," a forty-six-minute, 1990 biography of the actress, hosted by Kathleen Turner. It is conveniently divided into eleven chapters. While both biographies are largely tribute pieces, they are useful glimpses into the lives and work of two Hollywood legends.

The final items are complete stories. The first is "Darling, I Loathe You," a thirty-minute episode of "The Thin Man" television series from 1958 starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. The second is a 1936 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of "The Thin Man" reuniting most of the movie's original cast. It's sixty minutes long, in audio only, and divided into twenty-two chapters.

Parting Thoughts:
Well, there ya go: The world of Nick and Nora Charles, filled with penthouse apartments, fancy night spots, jazz clubs, racetracks, hoodlums, gangsters, gamblers, and murderers, mixed together with an endless stream of clever quips, lighthearted banter, cigarettes, and booze. It was a world far removed from that of the average moviegoer of the era, but for an audience living through the Great Depression and the Second World War, it must have come as a welcome respite, indeed.

Today, the "Thin Man" series may be an acquired taste, but over the years quite a few people have obviously acquired it. The smooth and sophisticated blend of comedy and mystery these films display has never gone out of style, and I hope it never will. While it's true that for some viewers a little of Nick and Nora can go a long way, for their legion of dedicated fans, there can never be enough. The seven-disc package gives us just about everything there is.

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