Happening This Month

6 Movies / December 31

Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated sleuthing couple of the Dashiell Hammett novel The Thin Man, were given screen immortality by William Powell and Myrna Loy, who played the pair in a sparkling series of mystery/comedies.

Nick and Nora, a leisure-class husband and wife, enjoy cocktails, witty repartee and each other while solving crimes that come their way. He is a retired detective, she a wealthy socialite.

Among the charms of this pair is the fact that they seemed to have more fun, and take more delight in each other, than any other onscreen married couple. Their adventures together combine the suspense of a whodunit with the lilt of screwball comedy.

Powell and Loy, who had previously costarred with Clark Gable in the non-Thin Man adventure Manhattan Melodrama (1934), shared a delightful chemistry that made their teaming special. Asta, the couple’s scene-stealing pooch, is played by a wire-haired fox terrier named Skippy who had several other film credits.

There were six Thin Man movies, and TCM is screening all of them in our New Year’s Eve marathon. The first four films were directed by W.S. Van Dyke, whose spontaneous style lent the series a great deal of its appeal.

The Thin Man (1934) was the screen introduction of Nick and Nora. In a screenplay by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich (a married couple), this first film adventure has the pair visiting New York City from their home in San Francisco.

Nick, to Nora’s excitement, is pressed back into service as a detective when a scientist (the “Thin Man” of the title, played by Edward Ellis) goes missing and is suspected of murder. The cast also includes Maureen O’Sullivan and Cesar Romero.

After the Thin Man (1936) takes the couple back to San Francisco, where Nora’s cousin (Elissa Landi) is suspected of murdering her husband. In a classic resolution, Nick gathers all the suspects in one room to identify the killer. Among the suspects is a young James Stewart as Landi’s former boyfriend.

Another Thin Man (1939), based on a story by “Thin Man” creator Dashiell Hammett, moves the action to Long Island, where a friend, business mogul C. Aubrey Smith, fears he is the subject of a murder plot. In this one a baby, Nick Jr., is introduced to the Charles household. The supporting cast includes Virginia Grey, Otto Kruger and Marjorie Main.

Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) is the final entry in the series to be directed by Van Dyke, who died in 1943. This one has Nick and Nora visiting a San Francisco racetrack where a jockey has been shot dead. As Nick reluctantly investigates, he discovers that an illegal gambling syndicate is involved. Supporting cast is headed by Donna Reed and Barry Nelson, with little Dickie Hall as Nick Jr.

The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), directed by Richard Thorpe, has Nick returning with his little family to his parents’ house in New England. After the local criminal element suspects that Nick is in town for an investigation, a man is shot to death on the family doorstep. Harry Davenport and Lucile Watson play the parents in a cast that also includes Gloria DeHaven and Anne Revere.

Song of the Thin Man (1947), directed by Edward Buzzell, adds a jazz milieu to the proceedings as Nick and Nora investigate the murder of a band leader (Phillip Reed). This time Nick Jr. is played by former child actor Dean Stockwell, who passed away this November at age 85. Other familiar faces in the cast include Keenan Wynn, Gloria Grahame, Patricia Morison, Don Taylor and Jayne Meadows.