The Thin Man (1934)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke

Writers:

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

Release Date:

25 May 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance

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:

Detective | Murder | Inventor | Dinner | Dinner Party

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win

US Showtimes:

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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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Asta	...	Asta (uncredited)
Will Aubrey	...	(uncredited)
William Augustin	...	Wynant's Butler (uncredited)
Polly Bailey	...	Janitress (uncredited)
Arthur Belasco	...	Detective (uncredited)
Brooks Benedict	...	Dance Extra (uncredited)
Tui Bow	...	Stenographer (uncredited)
Raymond Brown	...	Dr. Walton (uncredited)
Ruth Channing	...	Mrs. Jorgenson (uncredited)
Clay Clement	...	Quinn (uncredited)
Nick Copeland	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Fighter at Party (uncredited)
Douglas Fowley	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Kenneth Gibson	...	Apartment Clerk (uncredited)
Creighton Hale	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Edward Hearn	...	Detective (uncredited)
Robert Homans	...	Billy the Detective (uncredited)
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Restaurant Table Extra (uncredited)
John Larkin	...	Porter (uncredited)
Dixie Laughton	...	Janitress (uncredited)
Walter Long	...	Stutsy Burke (uncredited)
Fred Malatesta	...	Joe - Headwaiter (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Henry Otho	...	Detective Waiter (uncredited)
Garry Owen	...	Detective (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Detective (uncredited)
Bert Roach	...	Foster (uncredited)
Rolfe Sedan	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Gertrude Short	...	Marion (uncredited)
Ben Taggart	...	Police Captain (uncredited)
Phil Tead	...	Reporter (uncredited)
George Templeton	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Guest at Nick's Party (uncredited)
Huey White	...	'Face' Tefler (uncredited)
Leo White	...	Leo - Waiter (uncredited)
Charles Williams	...	Fighter Manager (uncredited)

Directed by
W.S. Van Dyke

Writing credits
Albert Hackett		(screenplay) and
Frances Goodrich		(screenplay)
Dashiell Hammett		(novel)

Produced by
Hunt Stromberg	....	producer

Original Music by
William Axt		(as Dr. William Axt)

Cinematography by
James Wong Howe		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Robert Kern		(as Robert J. Kern)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lesley Selander	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
David Townsend	....	associate art director
Edwin B. Willis	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Camera and Electrical Department
Ted Allen	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Dolly Tree	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Wayne Allen	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
David Snell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Jack Virgil	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Howard Dietz	....	press agent (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (presents) (A Cosmopolitan Production)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1962) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | Netherlands:AL (DVD rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:12 (2003) | Argentina:13 | Finland:(Banned) (1934-1938) | Finland:K-16 (1938) | USA:Approved (PCA #1304-R: 26 August 1935) | Germany:6 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:U

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

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:

Featured in Hollywood Remembers: Myrna Loy - So Nice to Come Home to (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Our Big Love Scene

One of the funniest films ever made...

I am not really a fan of comedies, but I can definitely appreciate a good one when it comes along. Often times comedies only really work when they are combined with another genre (in the case of this film, the 'hard-boiled detective' film)... and sometimes they achieve brilliance.

In what might have otherwise been a sort of mediocre movie, Bill Powell and Myrna Loy breath a phenomenal life into the roles of Nick and Nora Charles, a rich woman and her dandyish (but dangerous) lush of a detective husband. This film entertains on so many levels and establishes (not exploits) so many cliches that it should be mandatory viewing in any introductory film class.

The plot of The Thin Man is pretty much peripheral to the performances by Low and Powell, but it is involving in its own way. Murder, loose women, police brutality (fun police brutality), adultery, polygamy, science, swindles, two dinner parties and drinking... lots and lots of drinking... all combine into one hell of fun movie. There is even a fair amount of tension in the film and all kinds of great one-liners and set-ups.

This is quite simply a phenomenal film, lots of fun (even for Gen Xers like myself), and well worth watching.