Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

Nick & nora deal with jockeys wrestlers & gamblers as they investigate a murder. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/07/2007 Starring: William Powell Myrna Loy Run time: 97 minutes Rating: Nr Product Description

A Day at the Races

Nick Charles is walking in a park, his son in tow. He scans the racing form. Later Nick and Nora travel across a bridge but are stopped for speeding. Police and ambulances rush to the racetrack. A jockey was shot after he was caught cheating. Not as punishment, but to shut his mouth. Lt. Abrams asks Nick Charles for advice. An investigator was looking into a gang who was fixing the races. Nick and Nora go to a wrestling match and get a hot dog. Two heavy wrestlers put on a show. Then a man wants to go away; he asks for a lot of money. A reporter gets the keys to an office. Someone catches him, and they fight. Someone off camera shoots one of these men, and escapes. Lt. Abrams investigates this murder. Nick Charles explains what he deduces from the murder scene, and a laundry list. Was the shooting of that jockey an accident?

Nora talks to a man, and gives the message to Nick. Nick talks to a witness. Then they have lunch. Asta trips a waiter, and a fight breaks out (for comic relief?). When they go to question "Rainbow" they find he won't talk. Nick explains what he observed. All the suspects are gathered in Lt. Abrams' office for the questioning that will reveal the murderer. Nick discovers a new fact that will reveal the murderer (because of an earlier lie). There is a shocking surprise ending. Nora helps to save Nick. The lesson here may be to beware of fixed sporting events. Nick seems to do less drinking in this film. [A "shadow" is an operative who follows after a person.]
July 10, 2007

An amusing murder mystery at the racetrack, with Nick and Nora Charles...and a waiter who insists they order the sea bass

"You know that jockey, Gomez," says Lieutenant Abrams (Sam Levene) to Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) as the two arrive at the racetrack for a little betting, "the one who was caught throwing the fourth race yesterday? He was shot." "My," says Nora, "they're strict at this track." And we're off on the fourth of the Nick and Nora Charles Thin Man series. The mystery isn't bad. The Powell-Loy chemistry is just as fine as always, and the characters...well, Nick remains the suave, gentleman private detective, fond of martinis and double-breasted suits, clever at putting puzzles together, and a man who seems to know everyone from distinguished officials to Rainbow Benny, a racetrack tout. Nora, his wealthy, socialite wife, remains most of the time a skeptical, affectionate, funny helpmate who can match her husband's martini intake whenever she chooses. However, slowly the series is turning Nora into a more conventional wife and mother. In Shadow of the Thin Man, the writers have Nora sometimes just being a ditzy, adoring wife. Myrna Loy makes it work, but some of Nora's smartness and wit have been dumbed down.

Nick agrees to look into the death of the jockey, but then another shooting takes place, this time of Whitey Barrow, a corrupt reporter who is in cahoots with a ring of racketeers who are making a fortune on racetrack gambling. When the dignified Major Jason Scully, hired by the track commission to clean up the situation, and Paul Clark, a young, crusading reporter, visit Nick and try to enlist his services, he turns them down. He's got too much on his hands already with Nora and their three-year-old son, Nick, Jr. That second murder makes him change his mind. Before long he's up to his waist in suspects. There's Link Stephens, the tough smoothie who runs the syndicate and who is weak around the edges; Fred Main, his wise-guy enforcer; Claire Porter, Stephen's upper-class girl friend; and Baku, her chauffeur. There is even a ticket seller to be suspicious of. Plus, just maybe Paul Clark (Barry Nelson) isn't as honest as he seems, especially since his girlfriend, Molly (Donna Reed), works for Stephens. It all comes together, of course, with a big meeting of all the suspects, with Nick taking apart the case clue by clue until the murderer is unmasked. This time, Nora does a bit of heroics that ends with a loving smooch by our favorite couple, with Asta the dog covering its eyes with a paw.

The movie features three genuinely funny set pieces. First up is Nick and Nora at a crowded wrestling match. It's reassuring to see that professional wrestling hasn't advanced an inch in more than 65 years when it comes to the need for great acting ability. Next is the merry-go-round where Nick has to prove that he's not a scaredy-cat to a group of sneering tykes. And finally is a classic that should be revived, where the waiter at Mario's Grotto is determined Nick and Nora and their two guests will all order the sea bass. He will not take broiled lobster as an answer.

And let's spend a moment with Stella Adler, who plays Claire Porter. She was 40 when she made this movie. She was born into one of the leading Yiddish theater families in New York, and became a star in Yiddish theater in the Twenties. In the Thirties she joined the Group Theater, became a star on Broadway, went to the Soviet Union to study under Stanislavsky himself, and returned to become one of America's great drama teachers, as well as an actor and director. Adler never made much of an impression in Hollywood; she spent most of her life in New York. She taught and mentored Marlon Brando and was the single most important influence on his acting career. She died, honored and full of years, in 1992. Just watch her as Porter, a lush, well-bred blonde with a voice as cultured as clotted cream. Except that Claire had been a professional woman, as in the oldest profession. When Claire loses her temper, she loses her culture, her class and her accent. Nick finds this out. Adler handles the role with aplomb, and her instant transformation from cultured to common is something to see.

The black and white DVD transfer is excellent. There is one noteworthy extra, a 20-minute dramatic short based on Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. It was Jules Dassin's first job as a director. It's creepy and it's first-rate. June 6, 2007

"Baby, you've arrived!"

The most fun and sophisticated series in the history of film continued with Maj. W.S. Van Dyke's 1941 entry, Shadow of the Thin Man. William Powell was back, of course, as Dashiell Hammett's greatest creation, Nick Charles. Myrna Loy was back as his better half, and needless to say a shaker of martinis and a lot of witty banter was sure to follow as Nick and Nora got involved in yet another murder mystery. Nora has a new du in this one and is cuter than she's ever been. Nick is busy in the park reading a fairy tale to Nicky Jr. which sounds suspiciously like a racing form, and it isn't long before Nick and "Mummy" are off to the track.

A jockey has just been murdered by the time they arrive with a police escort and it appears to be tied in with a gambling syndicate. Nick does his best to avoid getting roped into real work but when another murder occurs at a wrestling match and a reporter who's an acquaintance of theirs is fingered for the job, Nick sort of saunters into action. A third murder occurs before Nick can get it all sorted out and when Nora gets one of the clues first, a trap is set for the killer. Nora is adorable and she ends up "saving" Nick's life once the denouement scene rolls around.

An attractive cast of MGM players which includes a funny turn by Louise Beavers as the Charles' maid and a very young and pretty Donna Reed as the girlfriend of the accused, make this one easy to watch. Nick gathers the suspects all together as usual, and it's quite a suprise when he fingers the real killer. A gun hidden in a drain pipe, an expensive bracelet used as payment for blackmail and a ledger worth killing for all play a part in the mystery portion of this one.

But the Thin Man films were always about how much fun the audience could have watching Nick and Nora interact as she pushed Nick into action, drink in hand. There is a very funny scene where Nick is shamed by little Nick into drinking a glass of--gulp--milk! Both Nick and Asta get dizzy on a carousel and Asta starts a brawl in a restaurant as this entry moves along at a nice pace. And I'd be remiss not to mention a turtle race on a bar counter which adds to the fun.

All of the five films which followed the original masterpiece were charming and witty fun and there has never been anything that even came close to equaling them as entertainment. They were wildly popular during their day and even more so today, as Hollywood seems to have forgotten what made going to the movies great. The public hasn't, however, which is why films like this one are such a fun breath of fresh air. A great one to own and watch over and over.


May 26, 2007

A jockey is shot in the shower.

DVD will automatically play movie if option has not been chosen in nearly 3 minutes.
Very cute option screen of Asta hiding and popping up.
This is the fourth "Thin Man" film in the series.
Another who-done-it mystery for Nick Castle (William Powell) and his wife Nora (Myrna Loy) to solve. A horse jockey, Goldez, was shot in the shower. They say he threw a race yesterday.
According to Major Sculley (Henry O'Neill) and reporter Paul (Barry Nelson), the deceased jockey was a witness to a gambling racket.
So once again, Nick and Nora are hot on the trail of the killer. Even Asta the dog (Skippy) finds a couple clues.
Nick Jr. (Dickie Hall) tries to get his father to drink milk.

Also in the cast: Donna Reed, Sam Levene, Noel Cravat. Duke York played "Valentine".

W.S. Van Dyke, director of the first four "Thin Man" films committed suicide, February 5, 1943 at the age of 53.

DVD includes in Special Features, Theatrical trailer, 19-minute short "Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'", MGM Technicolor cartoon "The Goose Goes South".

The next film is: THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1944). September 14, 2006

One Glaring Flaw

Entertaining and charming as this movie is I found one very annoying and puzzling flaw. During the inevitable and formulaic "gathering of the suspects and revealing the killer" scenes, there seems to be the inclusion of what can only be called an editing mistake. I had to watch the ending several times to make sure it was not just my lack of concentration. The police inspector, in response to the killer grabbing a gun after being "outed", pulls his gun and fires off two shots. In the very next cut Nora attacks the killer to disarm him, but no one reacts to the shots fired, no one is hit, and no one acknowledges that it even happened. What's up with that? June 17, 2006

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