The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Robert Riskin (story) and
Harry Kurnitz (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

December 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Drama | Family | Romance

Plot:

Nick and Nora go on holiday, and end up involved in a murder.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Painting | Doctor | Nick And Nora Charles | Mother Son Relationship

Cast

William Powell	...	Nick Charles
Myrna Loy	...	Nora Charles
Lucile Watson	...	Mrs. Charles
Gloria DeHaven	...	Laura Ronson (as Gloria De Haven)
Anne Revere	...	Crazy Mary
Helen Vinson	...	Helena Draque
Harry Davenport	...	Dr. Bertram Charles
Leon Ames	...	Edgar Draque
Donald Meek	...	Willie Crump
Edward Brophy	...	Brogan
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Dr. Bruce Clayworth
Anita Sharp-Bolster	...	Hilda (as Anita Bolster)
Ralph Brooks	...	Peter Berton
Donald MacBride	...	Police Chief MacGregor
Morris Ankrum	...	Willoughby
Nora Cecil	...	Miss Peavy
Minor Watson	...	Sam Ronson
Irving Bacon	...	Tom
Virginia Sale	...	Tom's Wife
Asta	...	Asta
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chester Clute	...	The Drunk (scenes deleted)
Arthur Hohl	...	Charlie (scenes deleted)
Lee Phelps	...	Policeman (scenes deleted)
Anthony Warde	...	Captain (scenes deleted)
Jean Acker	...	Tart (uncredited)
Oliver Blake	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Dick Botiller	...	Big Man's Companion (uncredited)
Lucile Browne	...	Skating Woman (uncredited)
Wally Cassell	...	Bill Burns (uncredited)
Clancy Cooper	...	Butcher in Montage (uncredited)
Joseph Crehan	...	Clancy, Policeman at Railroad Station (uncredited)
Tom Dillon	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Tom Dugan	...	Slugs Lannigan (uncredited)
Helen Eby-Rock	...	Tart (uncredited)
Sarah Edwards	...	Passenger on Train asking 'Why Should I?' (uncredited)
Rex Evans	...	Fat Man in Train Passageway (uncredited)
Tom Fadden	...	Train Passenger in Passageway (uncredited)
Sam Flint	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Dorothy Ford	...	Tall Girl with Dog (uncredited)
Edward Gargan	...	Mickey Finnigan (uncredited)
Connie Gilchrist	...	Woman on Train with Baby (uncredited)
Sol Gorss	...	Bartender in Pool Room (uncredited)
Joseph J. Greene	...	Train Passenger (uncredited)
Jane Green	...	Mrs. Hobby, Clayworth's Housekeeper (uncredited)
Charles Halton	...	R.T. Tatum (uncredited)
Mickey Harris	...	Contortionist (uncredited)
Harry Hayden	...	Train Conductor (uncredited)
Robert Homans	...	Railroad Clerk (uncredited)
Bill Hunter	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Frank Jaquet	...	Train Passenger with Glasses Askew (uncredited)
Paul Langton	...	Tom Clayworth (uncredited)
Mitchell Lewis	...	Third Man Outside Barber Shop (uncredited)
Bert May	...	Sailor (uncredited)
Mike Mazurki	...	First Man Outside Barber Shop (uncredited)
Etta McDaniel	...	Ronson's Maid (uncredited)
Catherine McLeod	...	Daughter in Montage (uncredited)
Douglas Morrow	...	(uncredited)
Clarence Muse	...	Porter on Train (uncredited)
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Baggage Attendant on Train (uncredited)
Garry Owen	...	Pool Player (uncredited)
Mickey Roth	...	(uncredited)
Bill Smith	...	Skating Man (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Second Man Outside Barber Shop (uncredited)
John Wengraf	...	Big Man (uncredited)
Marjorie Wood	...	Mother in Montage (uncredited)
Joe Yule	...	Barber (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Thorpe

Writing credits
Robert Riskin		(story) and
Harry Kurnitz		(story)
Robert Riskin		(screenplay) and
Dwight Taylor		(screenplay)
Dashiell Hammett		(characters)

Produced by
Everett Riskin	....	producer

Original Music by
David Snell

Cinematography by
Karl Freund		(director of photography)
Joseph Ruttenberg		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Ralph E. Winters

Art Direction by
Edward C. Carfagno		(as Edward Carfagno)
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Production Management
Edward Woehler	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Jennings	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Mildred Griffiths	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director
James Burbridge	....	unit sound mixer (uncredited)
Standish J. Lambert	....	sound effects mixer (uncredited)
Standish J. Lambert	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)
Frank McKenzie	....	sound effects mixer (uncredited)
Frank McKenzie	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)
Robert Shirley	....	sound effects mixer (uncredited)
Robert Shirley	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)
Newell Sparks	....	sound effects mixer (uncredited)
Newell Sparks	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)
William Steinkamp	....	sound effects mixer (uncredited)
William Steinkamp	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)
Michael Steinore	....	sound effects mixer (uncredited)
Michael Steinore	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)
John A. Williams	....	sound effects mixer (uncredited)
John A. Williams	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Harkness Smith	....	second camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Irene	....	costume supervisor
Marion Herwood Keyes	....	associate costume supervisor (as Marion Herwood)

Music Department
Edward Baravalle	....	music mixer (uncredited)
Henry Eicheim	....	music technical advisor (uncredited)
M.J. McLaughlin	....	music mixer (uncredited)
William Saracino	....	music mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Jeanette Bates	....	dance director (uncredited)
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	transparency projection shots (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)
• Loew's

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1944) (USA) (theatrical) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)
• Loew's
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)  presents

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #10301) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | UK:A (original rating)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The fifth of six "Thin Man" movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The "Japanese Sniper Rifle" that is used to commit the murder is actually a British Light Machinegun, the Bren. A Czechoslovakian design with .303 Caliber Rifle bullets that, needless to say, still could have done the job.

Quotes:

Nicholas 'Nick' Charles: Right there was the little old schoolhouse.
[Laughs]
Nicholas 'Nick' Charles: Once on Halloween I burned it down - slightly.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Deep In The Heart Of Texas

The Great American Dream

All the Thin Man films are great to watch, but this is one with which I find a bit easier to identify. Riskin, the writer of this film and long time scriptwriter for Frank Capra, was also the guy who wrote "It Happened One Night" and "Meet John Doe". This New York City born writer's attraction to average Joe small town values over Cosmopolitan glitz and decadence obvious in those two films is plain to see here. This is probably the image a lot of successful urbanites had about moving to the suburbs after WW2.

This is sort of an odd bird among Thin Man films in a couple of ways. First of all, Nick is astonishingly sober for a change. Don't look for any of those scenes of Nick and Nora trying to drink each other the table at some New York nightclub in this one. In fact, the nightclubs and high rises are totally gone as Nick takes Nora the glamorous New York socialite back for a visit to Nick's hometown, which bears a fairly strong likeness to Andy Hardy's. Nick's father is a retired M.D. not unlike the ones in the Norman Rockwell paintings. He wanted Nick to follow in his footsteps as a small town doctor instead of becoming a big city policeman and this is the first time the two of them have gotten together in years. This father-son reconciliation is the explanation for Nick's sudden uncharacteristic attraction to a sober, healthy lifestyle.

Nick's father is actually fairly proud of Nick and keeps a scrapbook about all his adventures. The whole town knows about Nick Charles the famous Detective. I sort of see invisible images of G.I.s returning home from WW2 in a lot of this movie. Nick's celebrity as a tough, smart local boy who went off to bring gun toting gangsters to justice in the big city of aristocratic sophisticates and Broadway nights is not very far removed from how most Americans probably saw the guys who went off to liberate Paris and Europe in WW2. Nora fits into that picture as a sort of "Mrs. Miniver" figure of what American's admired about European sophication brought back home to meet the folks.

The homecoming hero vision of Nick peacefully turning into a happy coach potato in a post war suburbia however is not what we want to see. What everybody loves about the Thin Man films is their contrary to Hollywood stereotype revelation that life after marriage can actually be exciting. Nora decides to get Nick off the coach with an "I Love Lucy" sort of plot twist that spreads a rumor around town that Nick is secretly working on a detective case. The result of course is that all the various local characters with small town secrets to hide think he's after them and all the mystery murders and skeletons start coming out of the closet like we've all been waiting to see. Nick and Nora are such a fun couple, aren't they?