The Thin Man (1934)

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke

Writers:

Albert Hackett (screenplay) and
Frances Goodrich (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

June 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Tagline:

A laugh tops every thrilling moment!

Plot:

Comedy-mystery featuring Nick and Nora Charles: a former detective and his rich, playful wife. They solve a murder case mostly for the fun of it.

Plot Keywords:

Private Detective | Wiseguy Dialogue | Police Detective | Lieutenant | Urban

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

William Powell	...	Nick
Myrna Loy	...	Nora
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Dorothy
Nat Pendleton	...	Guild
Minna Gombell	...	Mimi
Porter Hall	...	MacCaulay
Henry Wadsworth	...	Tommy
William Henry	...	Gilbert
Harold Huber	...	Nunheim
Cesar Romero	...	Chris
Natalie Moorhead	...	Julia Wolf
Edward Brophy	...	Morelli
Edward Ellis	...	Wynant
Cyril Thornton	...	Tanner

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

South Korea:12 (2003) | Netherlands:AL (DVD rating) | UK:A (original rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Finland:(Banned) (1934-1938) | Finland:K-16 (1938) | USA:Approved | Germany:6 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:U

Company:

Cosmopolitan Productions

Trivia:

Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, originally was against the idea of Myrna Loy being cast in this picture but director W.S. Van Dyke wanted to use the stars of the movie Manhattan Melodrama (1934), William Powell and Myrna Loy. Mayer said that Powell was OK for the part since he had already played detectives in other films. Loy eventually got the part and made new image for herself.

Goofs:

Continuity: Nick walks into a bedroom with an ice bucket full of ice. Minutes later, he walks out of the bedroom but the ice has melted.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Tanner: Your daughter's here, Mr. Wynant. Mr. Wynant! Mr. Wynant!
Clyde Wynant, the thin man: Haven't you got any more sense than to shout at me like that?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Olive or Twist 2004 (2004)

Soundtrack:

Our Big Love Scene

Sleuthing Among The Rich and Famous

Though five sequel films were made from this very popular original there are still to this day people who will answer the question who is the Thin Man with William Powell.

The answer of course is Edward Ellis, an inventor whose disappearance gets a recently retired detective named Nick Charles to solving a case where three murders are committed almost in spite of himself. Ellis is a tall and very skinny man, hence the title.

One thing I always liked about The Thin Man. The formula never varied, MGM didn't believe in tampering with success. It was always that Nick and Nora Charles get dragged almost kicking and screaming into some homicide. Nick is always four jumps ahead of the police be it Nat Pendleton or Sam Levene. Two or three other murders are committed before the solution is arrived at. And always the gathering of the suspects at the end when Nick lays it all out for them, the cops and we the audience. And of course Nora whose help except for moral support is somewhat dubious.

One thing that was cut down on was Nick's alcoholic consumption. The Thin Man just beat it under the wire with The Code and as the Charles had a baby in later stories, it wouldn't do to have one of the father role models in America be a complete drunk all the time.

I always liked the fact that in all The Thin Man stories the murderer is never obvious. A twist in the plot could have made any one of the suspects the guilty party.

The Thin Man was nominated for Best Picture and Oscar nominations were given out to William Powell, director Woody Van Dyke, and screenwriters Goodrich and Hackett for adapting Dashiell Hammett's original story. Unfortunately The Thin Man ran up against It Happened One Night and got skunked out of all the top prizes.

But amazingly enough Myrna Loy was not nominated for Best Actress. In fact the woman NEVER got an Oscar nomination. If there was every a case where the chemistry between the leads made a film, The Thin Man was it. How you could nominate Powell and not Loy is beyond me.

But that's Hollywood for you. The Thin Man is a fresh today as it was over 70 years ago.