Going Home with The Thin Man

This is an example where people's perception of the character outweigh the actual story lines. They didn't have ways to buy movies back then to review old movies so perhaps it can be forgiven. 

Nick Charles wasn't actually the Thin Man of the first movie. By now, we've accepted that Nick Charles is the thin man as far as movies go. 

Now we go home. 

Every movie since the Thin Man has Nick ready to retire and give up the crime solving yet no one will believe it. He ends up solving the case in the end. This movie was no exception actually a big part of the conflict will fall right on Nick’s doorstep because no one will believe that he wants to retire. 

This 1945 classic is the first Thin Man after World War II. It’s also the first without director W.S. Van Dyke who died in 1943. 

In addition to the wanting to retire, what makes Nick so interesting is that he has a real issue with authority. He helps the police, but he has fun at their expense. It's like he solves a crime just to mock the police that he did it first. He has a strained relationship with Nora’s older family members and even his own parents. He wants a relationship with his father, but on his terms, not his father's. 

Here's what happens:

An aircraft employee knows a secret war plan and wants to tell Nick, but he is shot before he can tell Nick the plans. This leads Nick on a mission to discover what this guy wanted and since this guy died on Nick’s parent’s doorstep, are his family in jeopardy? 

Nick Jr. is only briefly mentioned here. The threat his to Nora and Nick's parents. 

We have some new elements and some old ones. 

Again Nora mocks Nick’s old girlfriends. Nick has given up alcohol. 

At this point in the series, it doesn’t feel right. The actors are the same. The fast paced banter between Nick and Nora are the same. Nick’s parents’ small town life and fighting with a lounge chair are funny, it’s not Thin Man material. 

America probably wanted a comfort movie after the war. Nick and Nora were America’s friends for years. This is the fifth of the series and all the movies were successful. Loy and Powell had made other very enjoyable movies together and this feels like one of those. The jazz age was really gone. The carefree years of America's early century were over. The war may have been part of that reason. Gone is the debonair detective and his glamorous wife. Gone is the drinking and parties. The drunken party was replaced by windmill paintings and lounge chairs. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good movie and I’ll recommend it, but it’s not like the first movies.

notice that the quick witty banter wasn't there?

I still like this movie. Next week: The Song of the Thin Man!!!