The Thin Man Goes Home
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Written by Robert Riskin and Dwight Taylor based on an original story by Riskin and Harry Kurnitz and characters created by Dashiell Hammett
1945/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Brogan: Well, cut off my legs and call me Shorty.[/box]
Loy and Powell, together or apart, cannot help but be enjoyable. I thought this was one of the weaker entries in the Thin Man franchise, however. Luckily, with Thin Man movies, “weaker” sill means highly entertaining!
Nick (Powell) and Nora (Loy) visit Nick’s family in small-town upstate New York. To prepare himself, Nick has taken to drinking cider in place of his customary martinis because his father disapproves (also there was wartime rationing at the time this was made). Actually, Nick’s father (Harry Davenport) disapproves in general but this mostly masks his disappointment that Nick decided to pursue a career with the police rather than follow the old man’s footsteps into the medical profession. Nora is determined to make the father give Nick a pat on the back, predicting that NIck will burst his buttons in pride when he does so. If this means digging up a crime for Nick to solve, well Nora is always game.
At any rate, a crime drops in Nick’s lap. A local artist is murdered on his parents’ doorstep. Unwittingly, Nora has purchased one of his paintings for Nick’s birthday. What is the secret hidden in the paintings and which of the many suspects did the deed and the other murders in its wake? With Lucille Watson as Nick’s mother and Ann Revere as “Crazy Mary”.
This is solid but somehow lacks the sparkle of previous entries. There are not so many double entendres or drinking jokes for one thing. For another, longtime series director W.S. Van Dyke died and this was helmed by a replacement. I enjoyed it a lot but had a hard time getting worked up about the mystery story, which I thought fairly convoluted. And unless I missed something, Nick and Nora seem to have lost son Nick, Jr. somewhere along the line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGda_I-3CBY
Trailer
