Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke

Writers:

Dashiell Hammett (characters)
Harry Kurnitz (story)

Release Date:

November 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama | Mystery | Crime

Tagline:

Hey everybody, my folks are back on the trail of the dog-gondest mystery you ever saw! They're Wackier Than Ever!

Plot:

Nick and Nora are at their wise-cracking best as they investigate murder and racketeering at a local race-track.

Plot Keywords:

Jockey | Nick And Nora Charles | Murder | Racketeer | Birthday Party

Cast

William Powell	...	Nick Charles
Myrna Loy	...	Nora Charles
Barry Nelson	...	Paul Clarke - reporter
Donna Reed	...	Molly - Stephens' receptionist
Sam Levene	...	Lieutenant Abrams
Alan Baxter	...	'Whitey' Barrow
Henry O'Neill	...	Major Jason I. Sculley
Richard Hall	...	Nick Charles, Jr. (as Dickie Hall)
Stella Adler	...	Claire Porter / Clara Peters
Loring Smith	...	'Link' Stephens - Gambling syndicate boss
Joseph Anthony	...	Fred Macy - Stephens' deputy
Lou Lubin	...	'Rainbow' Benny
Louise Beavers	...	Stella
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aldrich Bowker	...	Watchman (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7707)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Debut of Sid Melton.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Nick is pulled over by the motorcycle cop for speeding, the window on Nora's side of the car changes from being up when as the car slows down, to completely down when it stops.

Quotes:

Nick Charles: Nicky, something tells me that something important is happening somewhere and I think we should be there.
[cut to Nora with a cocktail shaker]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kingdom of the Vampire (2007) (V)

nothing particularly new here, but still pretty good

This is the fourth of the THIN MAN movies. As you would expect, the earliest of these movies are the best, as the originality of the series began to wane by the 4th movie. Regardless, it's still high quality series entertainment and is well worth watching. Unfortunately, in addition to being less "fresh", the witty dialog also seems a little less witty--I just didn't laugh as much with this outing as the others--even the later episodes. So the final verdict is that this is a decent but not great entry in the series. If you haven't seen the first ones, see them first. If you see this one first, the movies might seem just a bit mediocre--bear with it they are wonderfully fun movies.