I watched this last night and I thought it was a good movie, and had some funny moments. This movie is very much 'Nick and Nora Charles' Thin Man material, which was very popular at the time, which it seems Britain was glad to copy it. The banter is rapid and often amusing once the audience gets into the movie. By far the best character is Everett Horton as the Butler, and he has a gag which runs through the whole picture, to much hilarity I thought. I got two or three good belly laughs, and is a good reason to watch it. Withers is not Nora Charles and is underused. The stage makeup of the lead and his stiffness for some of the movie is not so great; but becomes part of the lead character after a while and becomes unnoticeable. The drama is hokey to OK - but never fierce or madcap. The plot is very easy to follow thanks to a series of clues in a vain similar to the Pink Panther, and certainly Buchanans relationship with butler Treadwell is akin to Sellars and Burt Kwok. There are a couple of small Monty Python moments too. The rest of the movie is so-so, sometimes amusing and sometimes not so much, but still what I'd call a Good movie.
I'd say this is not as good as The Thin Man 1 or 2, but is better than some of it's later sequels, and is actually a must-see for all Horton fans.
I'd say this is not as good as The Thin Man 1 or 2, but is better than some of it's later sequels, and is actually a must-see for all Horton fans.