Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the third of six Thin Man flicks. If you’re just now tuning in, I’m running through the Thin Man Box Set, one film a day, leading up until next Monday’s kick-off of my all new column: A Movie A Week, which will be HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, starring Marilyn Monroe and THIN MAN’s William Powell.
Yesterday’s sequel AFTER THE THIN MAN put a little fear into me. I liked it, but if it was considered the second best of the series then I was about to hit a streak of movies that were going to be hard to sit through.
What worked in AFTER THE THIN MAN was the chemistry, but what I didn’t like about it was how repetitious it was. It seemed like director WS Van Dyke and screenwriters Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett just splashed a new coat of paint on the first film and hoped that Powell and Loy’s chemistry would be enough to make it work.
It was an enjoyable film, but one I was dreading would be a precedent of what was to come. I’ve also been reading in the talkbacks and various places online that the series loses some of its luster after the first two films.
So, to my great surprise and delight ANOTHER THIN MAN had me howling with laughter and fully engaged throughout. William Powell is back to playing Nick Charles without the exaggerated vaudeville-like drunk man swagger from the second film, there’s more time for Powell and Myrna Loy to verbally match wits and generally be awesome with each other and they don’t copy the structure of the previous films.
This time out Nick, Nora and Asta return to New York, this time with child and don’t have a moment to breath before they’re called up to Long Island by C. Aubrey Smith’s Col. MacFray, the nutty old bugger who manages Nora’s businesses and wealth.
Apparently he’s not the most law-abiding fellow and a Cuban partner of his took the rap for some shady enterprises with cooked books. Now this guy, Phil Church (Sheldon Leonard), is hanging around the mansion trying to freak him out.
I love the idea of the bad guy of the movie just psychologically fucking with this old coot and his staff… having his goons appear murdered on the road leading up to the house, then removing the bodies… Church also has “premonitions” about Col. MacFray dying, murdered, he says… and his premonitions come true after the third dream, which apparently just happened.
Indeed, MacFray is murdered while Nick and Nora and a houseful of people are there and the murder mystery begins. It clearly seems as if Phil Church did it… he predicted the murder and how it would happen to the detail, afterall, but how could he get in and out unnoticed?
What was interesting to me this time out was this was the first of the Thin Man films that really put Nick and Nora into any danger. The previous two films have the couple being so famous and well-liked that even the criminals give them respect and keep them off-limits. Here, Nick is warned to keep out or he’ll be shipped back to his baby and wife in a box.
The end of the film even puts their baby in jeopardy. It seemed as if the gloves were off here.
There’s also a great set-piece at a nightclub that features a pair of African-American salsa dancers entertaining the crowd… A couple days ago I received an email from a reader giving me the heads up on this scene and to watch out for the male dancer, who had moves this reader was sure was the inspiration for Michael Jackson decades later.
And he’s not wrong. This guy somehow spun around the floor without his feet moving. I don’t know how he did it, but it’s the damndest thing. I’m sure WS Van Dyke thought so, too, or else he wouldn’t have featured this 2 minute dance scene before diving into the comedy of Nora being wooed by a Latin lover while Nick sits back and drinks/digs up dirt on the missing Cuban.
Asta doesn’t have the same home drama this time out, but he does have a great scene where a knife is thrown at Nick, missing him by centimeters and embedding itself into a wall… Asta jumps up and grabs the knife and runs it back to the guy who threw it! Love it! I want an Asta… and I want a Nora, too. Make sure you guys work on that, will ya’?
Final Thoughts: I was worried this film, which brought in the baby, would come off more kiddie and I wouldn’t get the same lovable alkies, but I my fear was misplaced. This one really got to me and is my second favorite of the series so far. But I’m weird like that. I thought THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES BACK was one of the best of the PANTHER films… what can I say, Herbert Lom’s Dreyfuss as the main villain is music to my ears. I don’t know if anyone will agree with me on ANOTHER THIN MAN, but I loved it.
Up next:
Thursday, April 23rd: SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN (1941)
Friday, April 24th: THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1944)
Saturday, April 25th: SONG OF THE THIN MAN (1947)
Halfway through! See you folks tomorrow for 1941’S SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
