After the Thin Man (1936)

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke

Writers:

Frances Goodrich (screen play) and
Albert Hackett (screen play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

25 December 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Tagline:

Continuing the fun in their NEW hit!

Plot:

Nick investigates the case of a missing man and later a murder that is connected to Nora's family.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Missing Husband | New Year's Eve | Accused Of Murder | Chinese Restaurant

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

William Powell	...	Nick Charles
Myrna Loy	...	Nora
James Stewart	...	David
Elissa Landi	...	Selma
Joseph Calleia	...	'Dancer'
Jessie Ralph	...	Aunt Katherine
Alan Marshal	...	Robert (as Alan Marshall)
Teddy Hart	...	Casper
Sam Levene	...	Abrams
Penny Singleton	...	Polly (as Dorothy McNulty)
William Law	...	Lum Kee
George Zucco	...	Dr. Kammer
Paul Fix	...	Phil
Asta	...	Asta
Mrs. Asta	...	Mrs. Asta
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Adair	...	Escort of Sexy Blonde (uncredited)
Eadie Adams	...	Singer at Welcome Home Party (uncredited)
Ernie Alexander	...	Filing Clerk in Morgue (uncredited)
Eddie Allen	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Murray Alper	...	The Kid (uncredited)
Charles Arnt	...	Drunk Greeting Nick and Nora at Party (uncredited)
Will Aubrey	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Vince Barnett	...	Wrestling Manager at Party (uncredited)
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Blond Young Man Who Approaches Car (uncredited)
James Blaine	...	San Francisco Policeman (uncredited)
Jimmy Blair	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Jimmy Brewster	...	Thug with Joe at Nick's Table (uncredited)
Donald Briggs	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Harlan Briggs	...	Burton Forrest (uncredited)
Ralph Brooks	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
William Burress	...	Cousin Lucius (uncredited)
Joe Caits	...	Joe (uncredited)
James Carlisle	...	Man Reading Newspaper (uncredited)
Noble 'Kid' Chissel	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Phyllis Coghlan	...	The Charles' Maid Who First Recognizes Them (uncredited)
Irene Coleman	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	Trainman Seeing Nick Kiss Nora (uncredited)
Baldwin Cooke	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Edith Craig	...	Girl with Fireman at Party (uncredited)
Richard Cramer	...	Iceman at Party (uncredited)
Jack Daley	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Edgar Dearing	...	Bill (uncredited)
Cecil Elliott	...	Servant (uncredited)
Frank Fanning	...	Warden (uncredited)
Chester Gan	...	Chinese Waiter (uncredited)
Mary Gordon	...	Rose (uncredited)
Maude Turner Gordon	...	Cousin Helen (uncredited)
William Gould	...	Detective (uncredited)
Fred Graham	...	Newspaper Distributor (uncredited)
Jesse Graves	...	Red Cap (uncredited)
Jack Grey	...	Plainclothesman (uncredited)
George Guhl	...	Policeman at Party (uncredited)
Ben Hall	...	Butcher Boy (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Lew Harvey	...	Thug with Joe at Nick's Table (uncredited)
Sam Hayes	...	First News Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Allen 'Farina' Hoskins	...	Screwy (uncredited)
Arthur Housman	...	Man Rehearsing Welcome Speech (uncredited)
Bert Howard	...	Wrestling Manager's Assistant (uncredited)
Ethel Jackson	...	Girl with Fireman (uncredited)
John Kelly	...	Harold the Chauffer (uncredited)
Edith Kingdon	...	Aunt Hattie (uncredited)
Clarence Kolb	...	Cousin Lucius (uncredited)
Jean Laverty	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Hal Le Sueur	...	Polly's Admirer (uncredited)
Harry Leroy	...	Man in the Mob (uncredited)
Carl M. Leviness	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Bert Lindley	...	Station Agent (uncredited)
Richard Loo	...	Lichee Club Headwaiter (uncredited)
Jimmie Lucas	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Tom McGuire	...	Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Pat McKee	...	New Year's Partygoer (uncredited)
Charles McMurphy	...	Cop (uncredited)
Roger Moore	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Sue Moore	...	Sexy Blonde (uncredited)
Kewpie Morgan	...	Boyfriend of Girl Standing on Hands (uncredited)
Bob Murphy	...	Detective Arresting Nora and David (uncredited)
Jack Norton	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Paddy O'Flynn	...	Singing Guest (uncredited)
Frank Otto	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Harvey Parry	...	Man Standing on Hands (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Flop House Proprietor (uncredited)
Joe Phillips	...	Willie the Weeper (uncredited)
Thomas Pogue	...	Uncle Willie (uncredited)
Richard Powell	...	Surprised Policeman Who Shot at Mirror (uncredited)
Jack Raymond	...	Photographer (uncredited)
George Reed	...	Dudley (uncredited)
Jack Richardson	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Tom Ricketts	...	Henry the Butler (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jeanie Roberts	...	Girl Working with Jerry (uncredited)
Claire Rochelle	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Constantine Romanoff	...	Wrestler at Party (uncredited)
Dick Rush	...	San Francisco Detective (uncredited)
Fred Santley	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Bert Scott	...	Man at Piano (uncredited)
Marion Sheldon	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Alice H. Smith	...	Cousin Emily (uncredited)
Jane Talent	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
George Taylor	...	Eddie (uncredited)
Zeffie Tilbury	...	Aunt Lucy (uncredited)
Edith Trivers	...	Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
Charles Trowbridge	...	Ballistics Man (uncredited)
Harry Tyler	...	Fingers (uncredited)
Guy Usher	...	Police Captain (uncredited)
Monte Vandergrift	...	Detective Asked to Check On It (uncredited)
Dorothy Vaughan	...	Charlotte (uncredited)
Lucille Ward	...	Prison Matron (uncredited)
Bobby Watson	...	Leader of Late Crowd (uncredited)
Norman Willis	...	Fireman at Party (uncredited)
Eric Wilton	...	Peter - Nick's Butler (uncredited)
William Worthington	...	'Respectable' Man in Car (uncredited)

Directed by
W.S. Van Dyke

Writing credits
Frances Goodrich		(screen play) and
Albert Hackett		(screen play)
Dashiell Hammett		(from the story by)

Produced by
Hunt Stromberg	....	producer

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart
Edward Ward

Cinematography by
Oliver T. Marsh		(photographed by)

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

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Henry Grace		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Robert J. Schiffer	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Dorian	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Harry McAfee	....	associate art director
Edwin B. Willis	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Camera and Electrical Department
Eddie Croninworth	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Dolly Tree	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Wayne Allen	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Seymour Felix	....	dance stager
Wallace Worsley Jr.	....	script clerk (uncredited)

Production Companies

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

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1936) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1937) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1937) (France) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1937) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Epoca (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

112 min | Canada:113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #2889) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (DVD rating) | Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Coit Tower, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

George Zucco made his Hollywood debut in this film, after 6 years working in British features.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As the train is arriving in San Francisco at the start of the movie, the rear-screen exterior is backward. Notice the lettering on the buildings.

Quotes:

Nick Charles:Who was that?
Nora Charles:Oh, you wouldn't know them, darling. They're respectable.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hollywood Hist-o-Rama: Myrna Loy" (1961)

Soundtrack:

Smoke Dreams

Nick & Nora: "...a hard habit to get out of!"

Very few sequels ever live up to the film that started the entire franchise--AFTER THE THIN MAN, second in a series of six films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Detective Nick Charles and his inquisitive, charming wife Nora, is one of those that just about manages it. It brings back the characters we've gotten to know in the first film, THE THIN MAN, and subjects them to even more wacky criminal hijinks.

This time, Nick (Powell) and Nora (Loy) return to San Francisco just in time for a surprise New Year's Eve party (at which no one recognises them, ironically enough!). However, Nora's dour Aunt Katherine (Jessie Ralph) spoils Nick's plans to spend New Year's Eve blissfully alone--and most likely inebriated--by inviting the couple to her house to help Nora's cousin Selma (Elissa Landi). Selma's husband Robert (Alan Marshal) has been missing for days, off with Polly Byrnes (Penny Singleton), a nightclub entertainer at the Lychee Club owned by Dancer (Joseph Calleia). David Graham, Selma's erstwhile but painfully rejected fiance, still apparently holds a torch for Selma, and Robert gleefully blackmails David in return for a promise to leave his own wife. Little does Robert know that he is very much part of a web of intrigue, about to be cheated himself by Polly and Dancer, and he inevitably ends up as the murder case for the rest of the film.

The great part about this film is that the murder case actually does keep one in suspense, even if one knows the identity of the murderer before watching the film for the first time, as I did. It keeps you guessing about why and where, and the entire cast of supporting characters, as in the first Thin Man film, are shrouded in mystery and suspicion. It could be anyone of them, and in a trademark revelation scene at the very end, Nick gathers the whole assembly of players to catch the murderer red-handed, as it were.

Throw this cleverly-written murder mystery in with a healthy heaping of literate dialogue, thrown out only as William Powell and Myrna Loy can, and you get a classy film that hints at crime, love, sex, power and hatred without ever needing to resort to cheaper tricks. It's great to meet these characters again: Nick, constantly inebriated and the epitome of gentlemanly cool as usual (witness the scene in which Dancer causes a blackout and a great deal of loud scuffling and gunshots are heard in the darkness--Nick is calmly making a phone call under the table, amidst all the chaos); Nora, the charming, understanding modern wife who's game for anything that Nick can dream up (unless, of course, he locks her into the bathroom to prevent her from tagging along)... and of course, Asta, who we discover has his own family (made up of Mrs. Asta and the cutest puppies one can imagine) that he's trying very hard to protect.

As with the previous Thin Man film, however, AFTER THE THIN MAN combines a great mystery story with a very real portrayal of the marriage everyone wished they had. It's no small wonder that menfolk in the 1930s used to form 'Men Must Marry Myrna' Clubs--she's able to stand up to her man whenever necessary, and even when she's chattering through the night evidently hungering for Nick's scrambled eggs, Myrna Loy's Nora Charles is one of the cutest female characters ever created. One of the best scenes would undeniably be when Nick realises he's kissed someone else on the stroke of midnight, so goes on a quest for Nora. He finds her and she asks him if he has any New Year's complaints or resolutions; he does have a complaint and gravely informs her of it. She nods seriously in agreement and says, "Must scold. Must nag. Mustn't be too pretty in the mornings." I won't spoil the ending of the film, but Nora's own revelation to Nick as they take the train back to New York is also as touching and sweet as can be imagined.

If you're up for a good romance story, or a good murder mystery, or better yet, a combination of the two, you really couldn't go wrong with this second installment in the Thin Man series. Try your best to get your hands on the first film, but AFTER THE THIN MAN is truly a sequel that does the original film and the franchise to follow proud.