The Thin Man

Synopsis of The Thin Man

Between cocktails and the first course of a society dinner, urbane,dry-witted detectives and sophisticates Nick and Nora Charles will show the police the holes in their investigation. They’ll unmask a brutal murderer and solve the mystery behind the disappearance of The Thin Man.

The Thin Man (1934) starring William Powell , Myrna Loy , Maureen O’Sullivan

When New York City private eye Nick Charles (William Powell) married wealthy Nora (Myrna Loy), he thought he was going to trade his gum-soled shoes for a life of luxury and leisure. But he soon discovers that Nora finds sleuthing both exciting and seductive.

Review

The Thin Man is an absolute delight! It tells the story of retired detective Nick Charles, coming back to New York City with his newlywed wife Nora, on a vacation. Nora’s a wealthy heiress, and at least half the pleasure of the movie is the interactions between the two. Not to mention the family dog, Asta! But then the retired Charles gets pulled into a murder investigation …

And the murder mystery itself is equally riveting, a true “who done it?” It’s very well done with a large cast of suspects characters. And the movie takes time to slowly give the audience some background on each — see the Cast of characters for some examples.

In short, The Thin Man is an absolutely wonderful movie, highly recommended. How good is it? It spawned five sequels. And won numerous Oscars, as well. I recommend it unreservedly.

Product Description 

Nick and Nora Charles cordially invite you to bring your own alibi to The Thin Man, the jaunty whodunit that made William Powell and Myrna Loy the champagne elite of sleuthing. Bantering in the boudoir, enjoying walks with beloved dog Asta or matching each other highball for highball and clue for clue, they combined screwball romance with mystery. The resulting triumph nabbed four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and spawned five sequels. Credit W.S. “Woody” Van Dyke for recognizing that Powell and Loy were ideal together and for getting the studio’s okay by promising to shoot this splendid adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s novel in three weeks. He took 12 days. They didn’t call him “One-Take Woody” for nothing.

Cast

• William Powell (The Kennel Murder Case) … Nick Charles
• Myrna Loy (Double Wedding) … Nora Charles
• Maureen O’Sullivan (Tarzan the Ape Man) … Dorothy Wynant. The daughter of the missing man. She believes that her father is a murderer. And so, doesn’t want to marry anyone in case it’s genetic. However …
• Nat Pendleton (Scared to Death) … Lieutenant John Guild. The not-too-bright police detective. He keeps jumping to the wrong conclusions.
• Minna Gombell (Block-Heads) … Mimi Jorgenson, formerly Wynant.
• Porter Hall (Double Indemnity) … Herbert MacCaulay.
• Henry Wadsworth … Tommy. In love with Dorothy, loving and protective.
• William Henry … Gilbert Wynant. Dorothy’s brother, who’s educated too much for his own good.
• Harold Huber (A Slight Case of Murder) … Nunheim. A crook who knows more than he’s telling the police. And, tries to blackmail an unseen someone for $5,000 to get out of town — and keep quiet. He gets murdered for his trouble.
• Cesar Romero (Week-end in Havana) … Chris
• Natalie Moorhead (The Office Wife) … Julia Wolf. Wynant’s daughter. Murdered to cover up the first murder.
• Edward Brophy (The Whole Town’s Talking) … Morelli
• Edward Ellis … Wynant. The missing man — the “thin man” of the title.
• Cyril Thornton … Tanner. The “reformed” criminal, who was hired as Wynant’s bookkeeper.