Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Charleses Are a Family Now. Still Charming but Less Witty., March 16, 2006
The third installment in the "Thin Man" series, "Another Thin Man" (1939) was the last episode to which writer Dashiell Hammett would contribute. Hammett provided the story; Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett reunited for the screenplay -also for the last time; and W. S. Van Dyke returned to direct William Powell and Myrna Loy as comic detective duo Nick and Nora Charles. "Another Thin Man" finds the Charleses back East again with a nearly one-year-old son, Nick Jr. and dog Asta in tow. Just as they arrive in New York, Colonel MacFay (C. Aubrey Smith), who had been Nora's father's business partner, insists that Nick and Nora visit his Long Island estate on a matter of some urgency. MacFay is being shaken down and harassed by former employee Phil Church (Sheldon Leonard), whom MacFay believes means to kill him. Ever the reluctant detective, Nick is compelled to take the case on when MacFay's fears become reality.
"Another Thin Man" isn't as witty or charming as 1934's "The Thin Man", but very few films since then have been. William Powell and Myrna Loy still have great chemistry and comic timing -although I find it grating when Nick calls his wife "Mommy". As usual, the murder case is chaos and the solution strained. But this is pretty good light entertainment. Nick and Nora's quiet weekend in the country turns hectic immediately, and when the possibilities there have been exhausted, the melée moves to the city. Police Lieutenant Guild (Nat Pendleton), whom you will remember from the original "Thin Man" film, is back, though he has left his hard-boiled persona behind. He's bit of a bumbling fool now. The entire police investigation is played for laughs and made out to be ridiculously incompetent. It's funny, but it's not Dashiell Hammett's style. The sordid family affairs beneath a veneer of wealth and respectability, on the other hand, are very much Hammett's style.
The DVD (Warner Brothers 2005): The film has only a few minor flaws, but it is not perfect. A short film and a cartoon are included as bonus features, so you can watch the film the way audiences saw it in theaters in 1939. "Love on Tap" (10 min) features "The Abbott Dancers", a women's dance troupe, and concerns their overly dedicated chaperone, who always puts the dancers' needs before her fiancé, much to his frustration. It's a silly film designed mainly to showcase the ladies' acrobatic dancing. "The Bookworm" (8 min) is a cartoon about storybook characters who decide that they need a worm to complete their witch's brew, so they set off to find one in another storybook. They find a bookworm, of course, who proves difficult to catch. There is also a theatrical trailer for "Another Thin Man" (2 ½ min). Subtitles for the film are available in English, Spanish, and French. Dubbing is available in French.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Based on Dashiell Hammett's "The Farewell Murder", November 30, 2007
The first movie in this series was based on a book with the same name as the movie "The thin Man" Which referred to the murder victim, not the detective.
This movie instead of just basing it on the same story or making something up to keep the characters going is based on another writing from Dashiell Hammett. "The Farewell Murder" (1930) written as a part of a short story series "The Continental Op (Vintage Crime)". The promotional title of this movie is "Return of the Thin Man."
Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) are invited to visit an old partner of Nora's father. He is Col. MacFay (C. Aubrey Smith) and he is being threatened, more like blackmailed. You guessed it. Despite all precautions the Col. is a dead chicken.
Who did it?
Aside from all the standard creepy suspects, now the Nick and Nora have a little one to add to some of the comic relief and even suspense.
The Complete Thin Man Collection (The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man / Alias Nick and Nora)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Whether it's solving a murder or sipping a Bacardi, Nick and Nora Charles are excellent company, January 5, 2007
When a movie begins with C. Aubrey Smith, that craggy paragon of old-fashioned values, beaten, shot and stabbed to death and then finishes with Shemp Howard, one of the Stooges, dandling a baby, you might believe you're in some odd alternate universe. In a way, you are, but the universe is the world of Nick and Nora Charles and the movie is Another Thin Man. It's the third film William Powell and Myrna Loy made about the debonaire amateur sleuth and his wealthy wife. If it doesn't quite reach the heights of witty sophistication of the first two, it'll do.
Nick and Nora, together with their new baby and Asta, are at the Long Island estate of the aging and imperious Burr MacFay (Smith), the partner of Nora's father before her father died. He's a financial wizard who still manages much of Nora's wealth...and he believes he's a man under a death threat. Within hours of their arrival, late at night, a fire starts in the ornate bath house, a fuse apparently blows taking out all the lights, the huge dog of the house is found killed...and MacFay is discovered shot, beaten and stabbed. Yet everyone seems to have an alibi. And what a bunch there is: MacFay's adopted daughter, Lois MacFay; Dudley Horn, the man she plans to marry who seems to love her money as much as he says he loves her; Freddie Coleman, MacFay's young, baby-faced secretary who is smitten with Lois; Mrs. Bellam, the curiously uncurious housekeeper; and Dorothy Waters, the nanny Nora engaged to help look after Nickie, Jr., who suddenly disappears. Those are the ones in the mansion. Lurking outside is a former employee of MacFay, Phil Church, who went to prison and now has schemes to cash in; his girl friend, his loyal goon and a slow-speaking piece of muscle who wears thick glasses. Nick and Nora head back to New York as soon as they can, but the mystery and the threats follow them. It takes a visit to the apartment of a woman no one seems to have met and some clever thinking before Nick brings everyone together in the Charles' hotel apartment where the ruthless murderer is exposed. Even that is complicated by Nickie, Jr.'s boithday party thrown by some of Nick's disreputable acquaintances and their kids.
In the meantime, we get to enjoy the imperturbable, affectionate and wittily ironic relationship between Nick and Nora, and delight in the expert playing of William Powell and Myrna Loy. Nick and Nora, especially Nick, enjoys his martinis and scotch, but this time around it's a little less obvious and a little more fun. "A Bacardi," says Nick to the waiter in a latin nightclub. He glances over at Nora and adds, "Two Bacardis." Says Nora with a straight face to the waiter, "I'll have the same." The waiter brings four Bacardis. The mystery is complicated and, in my view, a little too much time is spend on it at the expense of time with the two of them. Still, the movie's extended nightclub scene shows just how witty, light and affectionate Powell and Loy could be when they had enough time to work their characters together. They made 14 movies together over 20 years, including the six in the Thin Man series. Individually or together, Powell and Loy were class acts.
And yes, Shemp Howard really is there. So's a chest-thumping Marjorie Main.
The black-and-white DVD transfer is immaculate. For extras, there is a short musical feature and a cartoon. I didn't watch either. All the Thin Man movies are available in a box set. They're worth having.
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DVD ~ Edie Adams
DVD ~ William Powell
DVD ~ William Powell
DVD ~ William Powell
DVD ~ William Powell
