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

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

Film debut of Sid Melton.

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Goofs

When Nick sits down to read a story to Nicky Jr. the racing form is under the book. When he is seated it is inside the book.

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Quotes

Nick Charles: Oh, honey...
Nora Charles: I'll be with you in two shakes of a cocktail.
Nick Charles: Cocktail? Cocktail? I think I'll try one of those things.

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Connections

Referenced in Kingdom of the Vampire (2007)

User Reviews

Entertaining and funny

Caught this again in a TCM triple feature of Thin Man movies. Even I'm not old enough to have seen these in the theater, but I saw them before as a youth when all of these movies were dumped by Hollywood onto the small screen in the Fifties and Sixties. They have aged very well. Myrna Loy is beautiful and wonderful as perhaps the prototypical smart Aleck and generally competent wife and partner. Her money obviously allows her husband William Powell to be the wise cracking, hard drinking playboy detective in the series start. She's a good influence and he turns into a more acceptable father type by the series end. The movies are all well written, directed and filled with plenty of great 'character actors'. Plot and character driven with nothing a modern audience would perceive as a 'special effect', they're also good detective stories. There's always the gathering of the suspects and the review of the clues at the end where in the less litigious '30s and '40s the killer always confesses. Highly recommended as light comedy and drama.