The Thin Man (1934)

Load of rubbish!!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Everyone seems to fit in the cast for this movie and it is a pretty large cast. William Powell and Myrna Loy as Mr and Mrs Nick Charles come to New York for a vacation and literally get dragged into a murder case.All the characters that drag them in seem to have problems of their own. What is amazing is how many plots and sub plots are in the script for a relatively short film and yet how things are sorted out by the end.Being the time it is, the plot is about an odd inventor who vanishes and then over 3 months is blamed for killing several people even though no one has seen them. This thin man (Nick Charles) is literally dragged into this and his curious wife Nora keeps getting her nose into it by accident.The ending is the classic dinner party where all the suspects are gathered by Charles and served fish. Things get tense and pretty formal until the solution presents itself. The film is complicated, stylish, and well made for this era. The cast is top notch and the pacing are perfect. For anyone who wants to go back to 1934, this is a great example of how well made a mystery film could be made from Dashiell Hammett's book.

William Powell and Myrna Loy star in this classic screwball comedy cum detective thriller which very much created its own genre. Its based on a book by Dashiell Hammett.They play Nick and Nora Charles. He is a retired detective, she is a wealthy socialite who now reside in LA. During a Christmas trip to New York, the rich and glamorous couple get caught up in the mystery of the disappearance of a wealthy workaholic engineer and factory owner. Added to this, dead bodies turn up and this missing Thin man is the prime suspect.There is a s lot of banter and red herrings with a greedy ex-wife, a greedy mistress, various relatives and hangers on related to the mystery of the missing Thin man.Keeping it all together is Powell and Roy plus their dog and plenty of rapid fire repartee casually mixed with high voltage alcohol. In fact I reckon the couple needed to attend AA meetings.I guess The Thin Man films were the inspiration for the 1980s TV series Hart to Hart.Its enjoyable stuff, some of the humour requires knowledge of the time period or else it will fly past your head such as the joke about the Mann Act.

I'm not sure Dashiell Hammet's depiction of Nick and Nora is as boozy as the movie, but it doesn't matter. William Powell and Myrna Loy have some of the greatest chemistry of any duo in film history. Having grown up with an alcoholic, it takes some resilience for me to overlook the way that ninety percent of the movie involves guzzling liquor. That said, we never see a debilitating effect. They are perpetually joyful. He is suave and she is gorgeous. In addition to the way the two interact, this has a great plot and some of the most memorable character actors of the time. Nick has decided that since Nora has more money that one can really deal with in a lifetime, he decides to retire from being a detective. She, on the other hand, longs form adventure. We know, of course, that he is not going to stay away from the case of the wealthy missing man for long. One of the really hilarious scenes is a dinner party where Nick is going to announce who the murderer is, but in an almost Marx Brothers way, it goes on forever, each guest staining at the bit.

Why is "The Thin Man" such a highly regarded and loved film? It was successful enough that it launched a number of other Thin Man films, and made Nick and Nora Charles (played by William Powell and Myra Loy) an iconic film couple.I think the answer is that Powell and Loy seem to be such a fun-loving couple. Viewers have fun watching them. Simple as that.You might ask if "The Thin Man" is more style than substance? I think that is somewhat true. The story is, at heart, a who dunnit that offers nothing unique. It is the style of Nick Charles in solving the crime that is interesting. And it is the relationship of Nick and Nora that brings the audience along for the ride. The same might be said for "The Maltese Falcon". Does anyone really think the plot is that captivating (or understandable)? It is Bogart's style that made the film iconic.The ending of "The Thin Man" is particularly fun--a take-off on many murder mystery finales, where the detective brings all the suspects together to reveal the murderer...and he has fun doing it!