IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

The Thirties saw hardboiled detectives and screwball socialites put away liquor with equal aplomb. So when the two genres were combined with 1934’s The Thin Man, it was a cocktail of explosive magnitude.  The film surprised everyone with its popularity at the box office, earning back six times its production cost, spawning five sequels, and inspiring numerous knockoffs.  The picture remains enormously popular today, when most audiences can count on one hand the number of films they’ve watched from the 1930s, and it has been one of the most requested catalog titles for a Blu-ray upgrade.  After a year of extensive restoration work, the Warner Archive Collection has released a “dream come true” Blu-ray disc (more about that in the “Video” selection below).

This loose adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel features William Powell as Nick Charles, a retired detective with a Herculean capacity for Scotch, and Myrna Loy as Nora, his equally swizzled socialite wife.  Nick is perfectly happy spending his wife’s money pickling his liver until the daughter of an old client (Maureen O’Sullivan) requests his help.  It’s only after several dead bodies pile up that he grudgingly agrees to take the case.  Once involved, Nick proves himself to be one of soused cinema’s most functional alcoholics by solving the murder with a little help from Nora and their tenacious terrier, Asta (played by the legendary Skippy).  Nick’s initial reluctance to get drawn into the investigation is perfectly understandable, because as he states, “It’s putting me way behind in my drinking.”

The Thin Man was the second pairing of Powell and Loy, after starring together in Manhattan Melodrama earlier the same year.  However, The Thin Man was the first time in which their scenes together were played primarily for comedy.  Their chemistry was electric, and their comic timing was perfection.  In short, they’re delightful.  It’s no wonder that the studio paired Powell and Loy in 14 films in all, including five more Thin Man sequels.

All of the Thin Man films feature wonderful supporting performances from MGM’s stable of upcoming stars and starlets, as well as a wealth of “that guy” character actors.  The 1934 film includes support from the always lovely and charming Maureen “You Jane” O’Sullivan, as well as familiar faces such as Edward Brophy, Porter Hall, Nat Pendleton, and Cesar Romero (in his second film role).  Of course, Skippy the Wonder Dog gets some scene-stealing moments as Asta.

The script by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich borrows the best lines from the Dashiell Hammett novel and adds lots of additional banter for Nick and Nora.  And while there is nothing particularly special about the direction and composition of the shots, the fast filmmaking style of “One Take Woody” Van Dyke is thought to have added energy to the performances.  One could complain that the mystery itself is fairly unengaging, but who cares, when the window dressing is so much fun.

The popularity of this screwball mystery led to five sequels — After the Thin Man (1936), Another Thin Man (1939), Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), and Song of the Thin Man (1947), which hopefully will each receive Blu-ray releases of their own eventually.  The first sequel is arguably even more fun than the original.  Incidentally, while all of the films include “The Thin Man” in the title, the “thin man” referred to in the original film is not Nick but Clyde Wynant (Edward Ellis).

The Thin Man (1934) is an all-time classic, and the new Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray does the title proud (details below).  The movie and the disc both receive my highest recommendation.

USA/B&W-93m./Dir: W.S. Van Dyke/Wr: Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich/Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Skippy (as Asta), Maureen O’Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Porter Hall, Henry Wadsworth, William Henry, Harold Huber, Cesar Romero, Natalie Moorhead, Edward Brophy, Edward Ellis, Cyril Thornton

For Fans of: I’ve never met anyone that didn’t like The Thin Man.  

Video: The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray release of The Thin Man (1934) is absolutely beautiful.  It is easily the best the movie has looked, in any format, since its original release.  The exceptional picture quality is especially laudable considering that the original negative no longer exists.  Warner Brothers spent a year determining the best surviving film elements for each scene, and then scanned them in 4K.  Scratches and debris were removed through digital clean-up, and the final result looks like a pristine original film print.  The audio is also solid.  Fans of the film should be overjoyed with the video presentation.

The HD upgrade is the real selling point of this disc, but the Warner Archive has provided a few extras:

• “Scene of the Crime” (1957) — An episode of The Thin Man television series, starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis “House of Wax” Kirk.  The series ran 72 episodes, but this sample just goes to prove what amazing “lightning in a bottle” chemistry occurred when William Powell and Myrna Loy came together.  Kirk has a bit of Loy’s wacky charm, but Lawford is simply dullsville.
• More of interest is a radio adaptation of the film from a 1936 episode of The Lux Radio Theater, with guest stars Powell and Loy reprising their roles.  I always like the inclusion of old radio shows with video releases.  The Thin Man movies also spawned a radio series that ran from 1941-1950.  Hopefully, some of the surviving episodes will be included if the Thin Man sequels eventually get a Blu-ray upgrade.
• The original theatrical trailer (HD)
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

The only possible complaint that fans might have with the new release is the fact that The Thin Man was released individually, rather than as part of a six-film Blu-ray box set of the entire series.  However, considering how much time and effort went into restoring the first film, you can understand why the Warner Archive wanted to release the 1934 film (and recoup some of their expenses) before the other titles are HD-ready.

You can purchase the Blu-ray directly from the Warner Archive or from other online retailers (Amazon link below).

Streaming: The Thin Man can be rented or purchased digitally in high definition through Amazon and other outlets, but you won’t get the beautiful 4K restoration provided on the Blu-ray.  The film is not currently streaming as part of any of the major subscription services.

More to Explore: While you wait for the Thin Man sequels to get a Blu-ray upgrade, let me suggest that you check out the highly enjoyable B-mystery, Grand Central Murder (1942), starring Van Heflin as snarky detective, Rocky Custer, and Virginia Grey as his wife/assistant, Sue. The great Sam Levene is also on hand as an exasperated police inspector.  Heflin and Grey are a great match and banter beautifully.  I wish this film would have also spawned a series.  You can obtain this lesser-known detective film via a manufacture-on-demand DVD from the Warner Archive.

Trivia: Louis B. Mayer didn’t want Myrna Loy to play Nora Charles, because she was mostly known for playing mysterious, exotic beauties in films like The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932).  Mayer tried to discourage director W.S. Van Dyke from using Loy by telling him he could only have her for three weeks, so she wouldn’t miss filming of Stamboul Quest (1934).  Van Dyke agreed to the terms, and he completed shooting the entire film in around two weeks.

For More Info: Dashiell Hammett’s original novel, The Thin Man is a good read. The hardboiled author also wrote the original stories that served as the basis of the first two sequels, After the Thin Man (1936) and Another Thin Man (1939). Those stories were collected in the book Return of the Thin Man.  Finally, there are a few books on the film series — The Thin Man: Murder Over Cocktails by Charles Tranberg, Thoughts on The Thin Man: Essays on the Delightful Detective Work of Nick and Nora Charles edited by Danny Reid, and The Real Nick and Nora: Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Writers of Stage and Screen Classics by David L. Goodrich.