Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

A new decade has begun, Nick Jr. is growing bigger - but Nick and Nora still are FAR from being 'normal' American parents: Nick reads the horse racing news to his son instead of fairy tales, Nora prepares her husband a cocktail to 'lure' him home... But Nickie Jr. has also already developed QUITE a stubbornness: he forces his father to drink... MILK! Nick, on his part, exceeds the speed limit once again; and so they are escorted by the police to the racetrack where they were heading for - but when they arrive there, the whole place is packed with cops: a jockey has just been murdered...Of course, Nick can't resist helping poor, slow-witted Lieutenant Abrams with the case, which inevitably soon leads them to a big-scale gambling ring, which government official Major Sculley is trying to break, with the help of a brave young reporter, Paul Clarke, an old friend of Nick's an Nora's. And while Nora drags Nick to a wrestling event (!), where the gambling ring is of course also involved, Paul gets some information from his girlfriend, who's the secretary of one of the crooks, and he decides to break into his office to search for evidence - and stumbles upon his 'bad' colleague Whitey there, who's working and writing for the gangsters. A fight for the incriminating notebook ensues; and the result is that both reporters are found on the floor - Whitey shot, and Paul unconscious with a pistol next to him, as the number one murder suspect...Now, for the sake of his friend, Nick starts investigating for good, of course, and we soon get to know a whole bunch of shady types who are all more or less involved in the whole thing - but where's the notebook, and who's the head of the ring?? With the atmosphere being nicely balanced between a tough crime yarn and a hilarious spoof throughout the movie, we certainly won't get bored until Nick enlightens us in the end...This forth entry in the 'Thin Man' series (and the last one being directed by W.S. van Dyke, who died two years later) really almost equals its 30s' predecessors concerning suspense as well as fun; William Powell and Myrna Loy once again play Hollywood's most unusual couple - and by now parents, too - in a most wonderful and charming way, the plot is very clever and twisted (but not too much for those who keep paying attention!) - it could maybe be called the last 'classic' one of the 'Thin Man' movies. Not that the last two films that followed during and after the War were that much inferior, but the style definitely changed due to the circumstances and the generally changing attitudes in the American society...

How do you get private detective Nick Charles to bring his son home from the park? Mix a martini, shaken not stirred, of course, and the sound alone will get him running. Of course, you also want to get him to stop reading the racing pages to Nick Jr., the cute 5 year old son of New York's most sophisticated husband and wife detective team. That sends Nick and Nora off to another murder case, this one at the racing track, and one that will bring out all the usual suspects, including some red herrings and pink elephants if Nick doesn't stop boozin' it up! All the archetypes are there for Nick and Nora, those from the opposite side of the social spectrum mixing it up with the jet set, and filled with social climbers, gamblers, boozers and floozies. The great acting coach Stella Adler has one of her two movie roles as a true hard-boiled dame here, and is unforgettable, even though it is obvious she belonged to the stage. Dickie Hall is adorable as Nick Jr., a little firecracker with both a bit of mom and dad in him, which you know means a sense of fun. Asta is adorable as ever, especially when one of his hijinks results in a bar brawl. Powell keeps the comic aspects of Nick alive, taking a rousing ride on a children's merry-go-round (is it the carousel or some previous cocktail which has him spinning?) and Loy remains the most perfect wife of all times, still beautiful in the morning, not nagging, not scolding, and filled with that love for life that here even includes a brief conversation with a professional wrestler while he's still in the ring.

Another good series entry [4/6], more sedate than its predecessors but still a quality funny whodunnit, again set in Red Herring City.Nick finds himself embroiled in a murder case after a racetrack killing leads to another implicating an "obviously" decent guy, trying to unravel the murderer from a long list of "guilty" suspects. Nick's deductions again spring a surprise, culminating with a detail only discovered near the end of the picture. The funniest scene is the outbreak of fisticuffs in the restaurant - I'm glad I never got a dog, cute as Asta was! Again Nick Jr. was sidelined for the second half, probably so as not to complicate the plot further. Donna Reed's second film.With a beautiful print and the chorus of "Why, It's Nick Charles!" ringing in my ears I found this one to be almost up to par with the first three and one I certainly hope to watch again.

This is the fourth of the THIN MAN movies. As you would expect, the earliest of these movies are the best, as the originality of the series began to wane by the 4th movie. Regardless, it's still high quality series entertainment and is well worth watching. Unfortunately, in addition to being less "fresh", the witty dialog also seems a little less witty--I just didn't laugh as much with this outing as the others--even the later episodes. So the final verdict is that this is a decent but not great entry in the series. If you haven't seen the first ones, see them first. If you see this one first, the movies might seem just a bit mediocre--bear with it they are wonderfully fun movies.