The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)

Toronto Film Society presented The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) on Monday, July 29, 1985 in a double bill with Woman of the Year as part of the Season 38 Summer Series, Programme 4.

Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  Producer: Everett Riskin.  Director: Richard Thorpe.  Screenplay: Robert Riskin, Dwight Taylor with Original Story by Robert Riskin, Harry Kurnitz, based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett.  Photographer: Karl Freund.  Editor: Ralph E. Winters.  Art Directors: Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno.  Music: David Snell.

Cast:  William Powell (Nick Charles), Myrna Loy (Nora Charles), Lucile Watson (Mrs. Charles), Gloria DeHaven (Laura Ronson), Anne Revere (Crazy Mary), Harry Davenport (Dr. Charles), Helen Vinson (Helena Draque), Lloyd Corrigan (Bruce Clayworth), Donald Meek (Willie Crump), Edward Brophy (Brogan), Leon Ames (Edgar Draque), Paul Langton (Tom  Clayworth), Donald McBride (Chief MacGregor), Minor Watson (Sam Ronson), Anita Bolster (Hilda), and “Asta”.

The series of six “Thin Man” films, which appeared between 1934 and 1946, brought to the screen one of the most popular Hollywood acting couples of all time, Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated, fun-loving detectives whose charm and sparkle never diminished, despite the declining quality of the films toward the end of the series.  It was Van Dyke II who convinced Louis B. Mayer to bring together Powell and Loy in the original film The Thin Man (1934), blending the fast-paced thrill of the mystery story with the zaniness of the screwball comedy to launch the successful, post-Depression “modern marriage” formula which was box-office gold.

Powell and Loy were the most durable couple in Hollywood film history, making a total of 13 films together (followed by Rogers & Astaire – 10, and Tracy & Hepburn – 9), and their spontaneity and well-matched styles blended perfectly in the vehicle of the “Thin Man” films which represented their breakthrough in popularity.  Myrna Loy, of the brittle, wise-cracking sophistication, became the “Queen of the Movies” in 1937 (Powell lost out to Clark Gable as “King” in the popularity poll).  William Powell, the epitome of the slick, debonaire detective, which he carried over into the series from his earlier appearances as Philo Vance, was one of the most under-rated light comedians of all time.  Writing about the Nick Charles character as portrayed by Powell, Graham Greene wrote “…he is rather like an advertisement of a man-about-town in Esquire, he shares some of the irritating day-dream quality of Lord Peter Wimsey.”

As Nick and Nora Charles, Powell and Loy were not exactly the couple that Hammett had had in mind, but their instant charisma on screen made them the romantic ideal of a liberated partnership in the 30’s and 40’s.  Their continued appeal serves to reinforce not only the wish-fulfillment which they brought to the Depression-suffering audiences of the time, but also the escapism which they represent to the modern “liberation-laden” couples of today.  Their witty repartee, based on liquor, philandering and wealth, was always underscored by their securely based emotional partnership and the sharing of their detecting adventures.

In The Thin Man Goes Home, the series shifts from previous views of Nora Charles’ relations to the background of Nick’s family, with Nick “on the wagon” in an atmosphere which makes the rebelliousness of the dazzling couple easy to understand.  In terms of detective films, the series followed the same formula:  Nora persuades and encourages Nick to “get involved”, Nick encounters and detects, Nora provides the sparks, Nick solves the crimes in the time-honoured tradition of assembling the suspects for the grand finale.  Although this, the fifth film in the series, was criticized for its tedious pace and unconvincing plot, the teamwork of Powell and Loy as well as the good supporting cast were generally thought to have saved the film.  Richard Thorpe, who replaced the late Van Dyke as director, followed the formula with fast snappy dialogue and expressive, suspenseful continuity.  But it is the players who overshadow the intrigue.  Lucile Watson as Nick’s mother is perfectly cast in a typical witty matriarch role, and Harry Davenport retains the quiet flair which Nick inherited.  Leon Ames as the dapper crook was just as capable in either good or bad-guy roles, and Gloria DeHaven, in a rare dramatic role, plays the spoiled rotten society girl quite well.  And Anne Revere is sufficiently hysterical as the painter’s mother, “Crazy Mary”.

Although The Thin Man Goes Home does not live up to the original brilliance of the series, (Myrna Loy called both the fifth and sixth films “very bad”), and most critics felt the popularity of the series was dimmed due to the sweeping tide of conservatism in America, the Loy-Powell couple still brings off the attractive spark which delights audiences of today.  The delightfully urbane and loving couple was almost effortlessly achieved by the two stars–“It wasn’t a conscious thing.  If you heard us talking in a room, you’d hear the same thing.  He’d tease me a little, and there was a sort of blending which seemed to please people.”  (Myrna Loy, in Gentleman: The Williiam Powell Story by Charles Francisco.)  As Richard Schickel pointed out, they portray “the best cinematic representation of the workings of the modern male and female intelligences, how they clash and how they mesh.”  (The Stars)

Notes by Geraldine Koohtow