Another Thin Man (1939)

An explosives manufacturer suspects a young man is out to kill him. He calls in new parents Nick and Nora to sort things out.

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke (as W.S. Van Dyke II)

Writers:

Frances Goodrich (screen play), Albert Hackett (screen play)

Stars:

William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Powell	...	Nick Charles
Myrna Loy	...	Nora Charles
Virginia Grey	...	Lois MacFay
Otto Kruger	...	Van Slack
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Colonel MacFay
Ruth Hussey	...	Dorothy Waters
Nat Pendleton	...	Lieutenant Guild
Patric Knowles	...	Dudley Horn
Tom Neal	...	Freddie
Phyllis Gordon	...	Mrs. Bellam
Sheldon Leonard	...	Phil Church
Don Costello	...	'Diamond Back' Vogel
Harry Bellaver	...	'Creeps' Binder
William A. Poulsen	...	Nickie Jr.
Muriel Hutchison	...	Smitty

Storyline

In this adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's "The Farewell Murder", Nick and Nora (and their dog Asta) visit the estate of Col. MacFay, who is being threatened by a mysterious man wanting revenge for a past injustice. When MacFay is murdered, that man is the obvious suspect - maybe too obvious.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | screwball comedy | murder | held at gunpoint | shot to death | 

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Taglines:

It's a blessed event

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

17 November 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Return of the Thin Man

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The placard outside the West Indies Club advertised the dance team as René y Estela, but the opening credits anglicized it as Renee and Stella. They were real headliners at New York's Havana-Madrid Club.

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Goofs

Keep a close eye on the steamer trunks at the train station in the opening scene. Three large all-white trunks are transported from the station to the hotel room where Nick and Nora are staying, but when the delivery men bring the white trunks into the room, they place them next to two more steamer trunks which are already there, and these are a darker color with several strips. At the 5:30 mark, Nora begins to struggle with the latches on one of the darker trunks with strips, but when Nick comes to her aid, the trunk is suddenly one of the white ones! Thirty seconds later, after the chauffeur comes in, the trunk is the dark one with the strips again, and the white trunks are well off to the left.

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Quotes

Barney - MacFay's Bodyguard: What's the idea of the kid?
Nick Charles: Well, we have a dog, and he was lonesome. That was the idea, wasn't it, Mummy?

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Connections

Referenced in Murder, She Wrote: Night of the Tarantula (1989)

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Soundtracks

Siboney
(1929) (uncredited)
Music by Ernesto Lecuona
Danced by Renee and Stella

User Reviews

Whether it's solving a murder or sipping a Bacardi, Nick and Nora Charles are excellent company

When a movie begins with C. Aubrey Smith, that craggy paragon of old-fashioned values, beaten, shot and stabbed to death and then finishes with Shemp Howard, one of the Stooges, dandling a baby, you might believe you're in some odd alternate universe. In a way, you are, but the universe is the world of Nick and Nora Charles and the movie is Another Thin Man. It's the third film William Powell and Myrna Loy made about the debonaire amateur sleuth and his wealthy wife. If it doesn't quite reach the heights of witty sophistication of the first two, it'll do.

Nick and Nora, together with their new baby and Asta, are at the Long Island estate of the aging and imperious Burr MacFay (Smith), the partner of Nora's father before her father died. He's a financial wizard who still manages much of Nora's wealth...and he believes he's a man under a death threat. Within hours of their arrival, late at night, a fire starts in the ornate bath house, a fuse apparently blows taking out all the lights, the huge dog of the house is found killed...and MacFay is discovered shot, beaten and stabbed. Yet everyone seems to have an alibi. And what a bunch there is: MacFay's adopted daughter, Lois MacFay; Dudley Horn, the man she plans to marry who seems to love her money as much as he says he loves her; Freddie Coleman, MacFay's young, baby-faced secretary who is smitten with Lois; Mrs. Bellam, the curiously uncurious housekeeper; and Dorothy Waters, the nanny Nora engaged to help look after Nickie, Jr., who suddenly disappears. Those are the ones in the mansion. Lurking outside is a former employee of MacFay, Phil Church, who went to prison and now has schemes to cash in; his girl friend, his loyal goon and a slow-speaking piece of muscle who wears thick glasses. Nick and Nora head back to New York as soon as they can, but the mystery and the threats follow them. It takes a visit to the apartment of a woman no one seems to have met and some clever thinking before Nick brings everyone together in the Charles' hotel apartment where the ruthless murderer is exposed. Even that is complicated by Nickie, Jr.'s boithday party thrown by some of Nick's disreputable acquaintances and their kids.

In the meantime, we get to enjoy the imperturbable, affectionate and wittily ironic relationship between Nick and Nora, and delight in the expert playing of William Powell and Myrna Loy. Nick and Nora, especially Nick, enjoys his martinis and scotch, but this time around it's a little less obvious and a little more fun. "A Bacardi," says Nick to the waiter in a Latin nightclub. He glances over at Nora and adds, "Two Bacardis." Says Nora with a straight face to the waiter, "I'll have the same." The waiter brings four Bacardis. The mystery is complicated and, in my view, a little too much time is spend on it at the expense of time with the two of them. Still, the movie's extended nightclub scene shows just how witty, light and affectionate Powell and Loy could be when they had enough time to work their characters together. They made 14 movies together over 20 years, including the six in the Thin Man series. Individually or together, Powell and Loy were class acts.

And yes, Shemp Howard really is there. So's a chest-thumping Marjorie Main.