Sick Product of a Sick System

Fantastic!

Blistering performances.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

"After the Thin Man" is the second film in the "Thin Man" series that stars William Powell and Myrna Loy. Oh, yes, and Asta their talented pet, Scottie. James Stewart has the next lead and is at the head of a large cast of good actors. After the success of his first book and the movie based on it, Dashiell Hammett was commissioned to write more stories about Nick and Nora Charles. So, he wrote screenplay stories for this film and the next one, "Another Thin Man." MGM hired another man and wife team, Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, to write the screenplays. It was decades after Hammett's death that manuscripts for these two novellas were found. They had publication notes from Hammett urging that the screenplay revisions by Goodrich and Hackett be made in the stories themselves before their publication. That happened in 2012, in a book entitled, "Return of the Thin Man."This story has a huge cast with an intriguing plot of betrayal, infidelity, blackmail, forgery, fraud and murder. About the only crimes not part of this one are bank robbery and kidnapping. It's another very good comedy-mystery for nick and Nora Charles to tackle. It occurred to me, watching this film again recently, that there is one specific distinction about the crimes in Dashiell Hammett stories compared to the great detective mysteries of Agatha Christie. Hammett's crime stories generally have many possible suspects, whereas Christie's Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple crimes have just a few suspects. Both Hammett and Christie were master storytellers who could do what it took to keep the solutions close to secret until near the end. And, that has most always been to the delight of we mystery story and film aficionados. Here are some favorite lines from this film. For more humorous dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Nora exchanges greetings with a couple in another open car that is passing in the opposite direction. Nick says, "Who's that?" Nora, "Oh, you wouldn't know them. They're respectable."Nick, "Come on. Let's get something to eat. I'm thirsty."Nora, "Well, how you gonna do it?" Nick, "I haven't the faintest idea. I'm just gonna look and listen and pray that somebody makes a slip. Just one slip."Polly, "What do ya mean, illiterate? My father and mother were married right here in the city hall."

All of us are a bit too hard on sequels. All of us. Critics, fans, general moviegoers, we all tend to judge the sequel by the standard of the original movie. Thus the thumbs down to Son of Kong, Belle Starr's Daughter and The Return of a Man Called Horse. Yes, it's certainly true that studios often skimp on production values when they have a ready market for a sequel. It's equally true that the script is often hastily written and the film directed by a man whose emphasis is on celerity rather than meticulous craftsmanship. But many of these scruples do not apply to "After the Thin Man". Here we have the same leads, the same director, same writers, same producer, even the same film editor. Mr Powell is the same sharp, inebriated, self-indulgent Charles, and Miss Loy continues to be gorgeously gowned by Dolly Tree. Only the supporting cast has changed. Instead of Nat Pendleton's reasonably intelligent, co- operative police lieutenant, we now have Sam Levene's more aggressive yet equally co-operative police lieutenant. Instead of Maureen O'Sullivan's pleadingly lovely damsel-in-distress, substitute Elissa Landi's slightly more hysterical yet equally attractive damsel-in-distress. Instead of a missing father, make it a missing husband. Instead of a more mature low-life friend for dad, introduce a more hoydenish bit of low-life for hubby. Instead of a bookish brother for the heroine, conjure up a more sensitive, more helpful ex-lover. Don't forget the matriarch and the blackmailer, they're virtually the same. Mix them all together and round them all up for a final confrontation and there you have "After the Thin Man". Never was there a truer title! Yes, same plot, same characters — but less action and more songs — why are we complaining that the sequel isn't as bright, as witty, as agreeable as the original? I like it as much anyway. Maybe it's a bit too talky — and loudmouthed Sam Levene does get on our nerves a bit — but it does have at least three incomparable advantages: — James Stewart, Penny Singleton and Jessie Ralph.To catch Jimmy Stewart in an unsympathetic role — I believe this is the only time he ever played a heel in his entire screen career — is reason enough to see "After the Thin Man". But he does the part really well. In fact, it's a performance that actually improves the more you watch it, full of subtleties that you miss on a first viewing: little bits of business, fleeting facial expressions, body movements and gestures that give more than a clue to the character's real persona behind the oh-so-friendly and politely diffident mask.In another turn-up for the books, Penny Singleton here essays a characterization as far removed from Blondie as Peter Ibbetson from Count Dracula. She's not only totally convincing, bogus accent and all, she doesn't even look like Mrs. Bumstead. And she has a couple of songs as well. What a wonderful bonus! And for matriarchal roles, you simply can't go past Jessie Ralph. She's the queen. Minna Gombell, by comparison, can rise no higher than upstairs maid. To these three reasons for catching "After the Thin Man", add Bill Powell, Myrna Loy and a marvelous support cast. If Van Dyke's direction isn't quite as stylish, and if you tend to agree with some reviewers that too much time is wasted on the dogs, surely this rich assembly of favorite players more than compensates?

Two years later, "After the Thin Man" continues exactly where the immensely successful first "Thin Man" movie had left off: Nick and Nora come home to California after solving the difficult Wynant murder case in New York - and find themselves in their own house right in the middle of a wild New Year's Eve party that their friends are giving to welcome them back; although they'd planned to just take a big rest for about a month...But they can't do that anyway, because they're 'summoned' to dine with Nora's distinguished family by her aunt, whose neurotic daughter Selma once more has got love trouble: her unfaithful husband has been missing for days... So, after a dreadfully boring 'high society' family dinner, they set off in search for the prodigal husband Robert. They find him pretty soon in a shady night club, ready to beat it with the singer after he 'payed off' Selma's former boyfriend David, who's still in love with her, promising to vanish forever and leave them alone. But - soon afterward, Robert is shot dead in the street...Even from this moment on, we all know just as well as Nick and Nora that there were at least half a dozen suspects (each of whom had a pretty good motive to kill Robert) near the scene of the crime - so there are lots of motives and no alibis... And now, the only thing that's left for clever and experienced Nick is to solve the mystery by investigating the psychological side of the crime, grilling everybody until they all reveal their real selves! Again, our nonchalant and cocky detective couple 'party' themselves through a complicated murder case, this time 'torn' between two worlds: Nick's 'natural' night life and ex-con environment, and Nora's haughty rich relatives. Supported by a brilliant cast (especially young James Stewart as Selma's eternal worshiper, Joseph Calleia as the crooked night club owner, and George Zucco as Selma's psychologist, who seems somewhat nutty himself...), Powell and Loy give an equally marvelous performance as in the first 'Nick and Nora' adventure, and director W.S. van Dyke once more grants us a hilarious mixture of crime and comedy - this film certainly established 'Mr. and Mrs. Charles' as the audience's favorite married sleuthing couple, which they remain until today...

Our recent trip to see The Artist got me nostalgic for some classic cinema so I decided to sit down with one of my favorites, After the Thin Man. The second movie in the the Thin Man series based on the book by Dashiell Hammett. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, it was very popular in the 1930's and they eventually made six films in all. It featured Willam Powell as Nick Charles, a retired detective from New York who has settled into a life of leisure after marrying a wealthy heiress named Nora (Myrna Loy). Despite being retired Nick finds himself being dragged into various investigations.In After the Thin Man, Nick and Nora have just returned from New York to their home in San Francisco. As soon as they arrive they are asked to attend a dinner party at Nora's aunts house. While at the party, Nick finds out that they were asked there to look into the whereabouts of Nora's cousins husband (Robert). He has been missing for several days and Nora's cousin (Selma) thinks he might be out having an affair. Nick and Nora locate Robert and soon discover that he is up to no good. Robert is having an affair with a night club singer and is planning to extort money from David, a wealthy business man who has always loved Selma, and would love to have Robert out of the way. Robert promises to move away and leave Selma to David if he pays him $25,000. Robert has pushed his luck a little too far though and he winds up on the wrong side of dead. Now, Selma is the number 1 suspect and Nick and Nora have to find out who the real killer was.The plot sounds a little bit more convoluted than it really is. The movie plays out like a pretty typical who dunnit right down to the final scene where all the murder suspects are brought together in the same room so the killer can be revealed. What made this movie and all the Thin Man movies great was the chemistry between the two leads. William Powell and Myrna Loy play off each other so well that many people assumed they were married in real life. The thin man concept has been duplicated many times on TV. Show's like Hart to Hart, Remington Steele, and Moonlighting all tried to play off a similar theme. There are a couple of other things worth checking out in this one as well. Jimmy Stewart is in the movie in one of his very early roles. Also, check out Asta the Charles family dog. You should be able to see where the idea for the dog in the artist came from. If you have never seen any of these films I recommend checking out the original The Thin Man first and then trying out some of sequels but, After the Thin Man definitely stand out on its own as true classic.