The Thin Man (1934)

Rae English

Nick and Nora Charles (played by William Powell and Myrna Loy) are the perfect companions: urbane, stylish, and witty. Their banter and romance charms the audience through the simple plot, and Asta, their wirehaired terrier, rounds out their coupledom. Recently made wealthy by her father’s death, Nick and Nora have returned to New York for a little vacation. Shaking martinis or carrying a highball, Nick drinks and quips his way through solving the mystery of three murders of which his old friend, inventor Clyde Wynant (Edward Ellis), is accused. Nick’s detective prowess is so well known and he’s so well liked, the thickheaded cops constantly lean on him to assist their inept investigation and the ex-convicts and criminals he “sent up the river” think he’s a “nice guy” and “all right”. Clyde’s daughter, Dorothy Wynant (played by the ever lovely Maureen O’Sullivan), runs into Nick charming the bartenders at a New York bar and asks for his assistance in finding her missing father. Nick initially resists getting involved, but Dorothy is so genuine, Nora would so love to see him “work”, and the case finally gives him such an“itch” that he succumbs. Nick’s savvy at reading people and evidence and the investigation culminates in an elegant dinner he hosts for all the suspects. With suave storytelling, he lures the real killer into revealing himself. Stereotypes abound: gangsters; cops; tough gals; a gold digger; a quirky, bookish son; and newshawks eager for the dirty laundry. Nick’s not only debonair and quick-witted; he’s got a quick eye and a strong punch, too, faster, evidently, than even bullets. The film is full of sexual innuendos, which seem to challenge the Production Code. After finding a hidden gun in Nora’s dresser (“What’s that man doing in my drawers?”), Lt. Guild (Nat Pendleton) asks Nick, “Are you aware of the Sullivan Act?” to which Nora responds, “Oh that’s all right; we’re married.” Real obscenity is when women know what they’re talking about.

The Thin Man is based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel “but because the story contained ‘sadism, masochism and kindred unfilmable stuff’ screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett had to clean it up, while retaining ‘some of the flavor of the book that brought the advance plugs’“ (Balio 270). Powell and Loy genuinely emanate companionable chemistry in the film, and Balio suggests their work on Manhattan Melodrama (1934, MGM) is why they might have been paired in The Thin Man (270). The Nick and Nora characters “became a national craze and elevated Powell and Loy to stardom” (271). MGM attempted to mix genres and styles in order to make the most of Powell and Loy together in other films, but those films flopped. Audiences loved Nick and Nora Charles. The sequel, After the Thin Man, exceeded the original but the following didn’t do as well. It seems audiences preferred Nick and Nora (and Asta) unencumbered by children (277). After all, it is hard to hold a highball and a bottle.