Counting Down the Greatest Crime Films of All-Time: # 7

Otto Penzler ranks, analyzes, & celebrates the 106 greatest crime films of all-time. Catch up on the series and find new installments daily here.

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The Thin Man (1934)

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TYPE OF FILM: Detective/Comedy

STUDIO: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

PRODUCER: Hunt Stromberg

DIRECTOR: W.S. Van Dyke

SCREENWRITERS: Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett

SOURCE: The Thin Man, novel by Dashiell Hammett

RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes

PRINCIPAL PLAYERS:

William Powell……………………………………………………………………….Nick Charles

Myrna Loy……………………………………………………………………………Nora Charles

Maureen O’Sullivan………………………………………………………………Dorothy Wynant

Nat Pendleton……………………………………………………………….……….Lt. John Guild

Minna Gombell……………………………………………………………..…….….Mimi Wynant

Cesar Romero……………………………………………..……………………….Chris Jorgenson

Natalie Moorhead…………………………………………………………………….….Julia Wolf

Edward Ellis………………………………………………………………………….Clyde Wynant

Porter Hall……………………………………………………………………….……..MacCauley

Henry Wadsworth………………………………………………………………………….Tommy

William Henry………………………………………………………………….….Gilbert Wynant

Harold Huber………………………………………………………………………………Nunheim

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DID YOU KNOW?

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The on-screen chemistry between Powell and Loy was so good that many people though they were married in real life as well. On one awkward occasion, a San Francisco hotel had them booked into a single room as “Mr. and Mrs. Powell.” Powell, meanwhile, was dating Jean Harlow, who had traveled to San Francisco to be with Powell while the film was being shot. The awkward situation was resolved by Loy and Harlow sharing one room, while Powell took the single room he had booked for Harlow.

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THE STORY

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Former private detective Nick Charles travels to New York for the Christmas season with his wealthy wife, Nora. When the successful inventor Clyde Wynant disappears shortly before his daughter’s wedding, she asks Nick to find him. Although Nick is interested exclusively in drinking, partying, and watching over his wife’s finances, Nora persuades him to help the young woman. He learns that Wynant had ruined his marriage by taking a young girlfriend, who had another lover and stole $50,000 from Wynant just before his disappearance. When the young mistress is murdered, suspicion falls on her lover until he, too, turns up dead. In a classic denouement scene, Nick brings all the remaining suspects together and identifies the surprise culprit.

Based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1934 novel, The Thin Man became a tremendously successful film (one of the ten top-grossing films of 1934) and spurred five additional films about the hard-drinking and fun-loving Nick and Nora. The second Thin Man movie, After the Thin Man, was every bit the equal of the first, and while the last four did not quite measure up, they remained popular with audiences and continued to provide witty and sophisticated dialogue.

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Lillian Hellman famously repeated often that she was the model for Nora, but she also claimed to be the real-life prototype of the best-friend character in the “biographical” movie Julia. The very existence of this saintly titular character is suspect, and it stretches the imagination to think of Hellman as having any connection to the very loveable Nora.

Asta, the hugely popular wire-haired terrier who played in all six Thin Man films, was played by Skippy, and no one except the trainers was permitted to interact with him while off camera. When Loy disobeyed the order and went to pet Skippy, the dog bit her.

In one scene, a thug visits Nick and Nora in the middle of the night, and the police come and capture him. After questioning Nick, they decide to search the apartment. Nora spots one of them in her room and exclaims, “What’s that man doing in my drawers?”, causing Nick to spit out his drink (and hundreds of theater operators to censor the line).

After the second film, it was reported that Powell would not continue the role because of illness, and Melvyn Douglas and Reginald Gardiner were considered as his replacement. Happily, Powell recovered.

As has been noted on numerous occasions, the original “thin man” was the gaunt Wynant; however, audiences so much associated Powell with the title of the first film that he then assumed the sobriquet.

Academy Award nominations went to The Thin Man for Best Picture, Powell for Best Actor, Van Dyke for Best Director, and Goodrich and Hackett for Best Adapted Screenplay.

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BEST LINE

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When the police discover a handgun in Charles’s apartment, a cop asks Nick if he has a permit, which he doesn’t. “Ever hear of the Sullivan Act? The cop asks. “Oh, that’s all right,” replies Nora. “We’re married.”