Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

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

Director:

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

Writers:

Irving Brecher (screen play), Harry Kurnitz (screen play)

Stars:

William Powell, Myrna Loy, Barry Nelson

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Powell	...	Nick Charles
Myrna Loy	...	Nora Charles
Barry Nelson	...	Paul Clarke
Donna Reed	...	Molly Ford
Sam Levene	...	Police Lt. Abrams
Alan Baxter	...	'Whitey' Barrow
Henry O'Neill	...	Maj. Jason I. Sculley
Richard Hall	...	Nick Charles Jr. (as Dickie Hall)
Stella Adler	...	Claire Porter
Loring Smith	...	'Link' Stephens
Joseph Anthony	...	Fred Macy
Lou Lubin	...	'Rainbow' Benny Lumis
Louise Beavers	...	Stella
Asta	...	Asta

Storyline

Nick and Nora's hopes for a pleasant afternoon at the local race track are dashed when a jockey is found shot dead in the locker room. Nick's friend Lt. Abrams wants him to help out but Nick is enjoying the good life too much to get involved. However, he is subsequently approached by Major Scully to look into corruption and the role of organized crime in gambling. Others are killed but in the end, Nick gathers all of the suspects into a room and identifies the killer.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | fourth part | screwball comedy | nick and nora charles | murder | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'ombra dell'uomo ombra

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$821,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Feature debut of Ava Gardner, who can be briefly glimpsed standing by Nick's car.

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Goofs

After Nick gets off of the merry-go-round, there is a close-up of Asta also exiting the merry-go round. If you look at Asta's front paws you can see the straps and fishing line used to pull his legs out from under him. This was done to make him lose his balance and give him the appearance of being dizzy from riding around in circles.

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Quotes

Nora Charles: He's getting more like his father everyday.
Estrellita: He sure is. This morning he was playing with a corkscrew.

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Connections

Follows After the Thin Man (1936)

User Reviews

A Dead Jockey

The fourth Thin Man outing, Shadow of the Thin Man finds Nick and Nora Charles back in San Francisco where they happen to be at a race track when a jockey is killed in the tack room.

The jockey's death uncovers an investigation by the state crime commission involving them trying to indict a syndicate of illegal bookmakers. Two rival newspaper reporters are trying for a scoop on the story and one of them has some other interesting activities going for him.

Powell uncovers a good group of suspects brought together for the inevitable finale. The murderer and he notches two to his credit before he's finally caught is one the audience won't suspect.

Powell does show off a bit here though, the murderer with a slip of the tongue is given away to the audience. I think the writers just wanted Powell to show off before the other suspects, he could have nailed the murderer a reel before he did.

The usual witticisms involving the Charles's parenthood are present. Funniest scene is when Loy tries to get Powell to go off his usual liquid diet so their son will learn to drink milk.