The Thin Man – 1934
The Thin Man was a fun movie. It was a murder mystery with a cleverly written plot and some memorable characters. Most notable was the reluctant investigator, Nick Charles, played by William Powel. He is really an interesting character. He is a man who married into money, retired from his job as a police inspector. He has a very biting and yet careless sense of humor which is actually part of his charm. He is a handsome mane with a ready smile and no ill will towards anyone.
Powel did a fantastic job and was fun to watch. But here’s the thing: The film is the first in the Thin Man franchise. The only problem is the title. The eponymous thin man is very specific to the murder mystery in this film. It has no bearing on any further movies in the franchise. You see, the film was so named because the first man to be murdered was thin and not fat, a critical point in solving the case. One could even call it “The Case of the Thin Man.” However, both audiences and critics alike kept referring to Powel as the Thin Man, so I guess it just stuck.
And yet there were 5 more movies in the franchise, each being called a variation of The Thin Man: After the Thin Man, Another Thin Man, Shadow of the Thin Man, The Thin Man Goes Home and Song of the Thin Man. Just bear in mind that the character of Nick Charles was not the Thin Man. The Thin Man was actually the character of Clyde Wynant, played by Edward Ellis and he was one of the murder victims. But it was his disappearance that started all the events of the plot. But never-mind that.
Opposite Powel was Myrna Loy, playing the part of Nora Charles, Nick’s socialite wife. She is witty and smart and a perfect match for Nick’s quirky sarcastic, devil-may-care attitude. The two of them often exchanged quick quips and witty jabs that sometimes gave the impression that they couldn’t stand each other. In fact, he often makes jokes that he only married her for her money. But it is completely clear they are hopelessly in love with each other. All that, and Nick’s constant and unrepentant drinking, is part of the movie’s charm.
The mystery of the plot was very cleverly written. Clyde Wynant disappears and his mistress, Julia Wolf turns up murdered. There are plenty of suspects and they each have a particular motive to want the demise of the victim. There is Mimi Wynant Jorgenson, played by Minna Gombell, Clyde’s jilted ex-wife. Cesar Romero played Chris Jorgenson, Mimi’s new husband who wants to extort money from Clyde. There was Clyde’s lawyer who had access to $50,000 in bonds that Wolf had stolen from him. And there were several others, all of whom could have done it.
The reluctant detective is finally moved to solve the case because of the pleas of Wynant’s daughter. You see, most of the film, the murder case is really that of Julia Wolf, and the missing Wynant, himself, is the prime suspect. But Wynant’s daughter Dorothy, played by Maureen O’Sullivan, cannot believe that her father is guilty. She begs Nick to take the case.
The climactic scene in which the murderer and his victims are revealed was very fun to watch. Nick had gathered all the information that he could and invited all the suspects to a dinner party. Then he went through each one of them, spouting their various motives. But during the ensuing denial-filled conversation, the true murderer gave himself away. It was pretty funny that even Nick wasn’t even sure who the killer was until that point.
It was a fun movie and I enjoyed watching it. Apparently, audiences in 1934 did as well. But that being said, the movie didn’t strike me as Best Picture material. It was fluff. All the comically witty dialogue and the light-hearted feel took away from the poignancy of the murder investigation. It was a charming movie, but there was no seriousness, no danger. It was clever but not amazingly clever. It was funny, but not incredibly funny. It was engaging, but not terribly intense.
But it was enough for William Powel and Myrna Loy to appear in 5 more Thin Man films, which I suppose says something pretty good about the franchise. However, I found it interesting to note that the movie was filmed in only 12 days, only 5 months after the release of the book. But director W.S. Van Dyke pulled it off and made the film for a budget of only $231,000. Not bad, since it brought in around $1.4 million.