If you want to see a well-oiled Classic Hollywood machine at work, you should look for something like Shadow of the Thin Man, the 1941 crime comedy directed by W. S. Van Dyke and the fourth instalment in the popular Thin Man series. William Powell and Myrna Loy repeat their iconic roles as former police detective Nick Charles and his wealthy socialite wife, Nora. The plot begins with the couple going to enjoy a day at the San Francisco race track, only to be greeted by the news that one of the jockeys has apparently been killed. Nick, rather reluctantly, joins an investigation that initially points to race-fixing and organised crime as likely motives. Soon afterwards, another murder occurs, and Nick must use all of his skills to solve the mystery.
After three previous films, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett—the spouses who drew on their real-life experience to create the comic banter between the Charleses—felt too exhausted with the series. They were replaced by Harry Kurnitz and Irving Brecher, dependable Hollywood scriptwriters who here didn’t provide anything particularly remarkable or original, but who nevertheless recognised an effective formula and stayed within it. This was rather easy with Powell and Loy, who had appeared together in ten previous films (including the Thin Man series), effortlessly repeating their on-screen chemistry, and with W. S. Van Dyke, one of Classic Hollywood’s most efficient directors, delivering another fast-paced, solid mix of murder mystery and screwball comedy.
The mystery itself, for the first time, had nothing to do with the characters’ original creator, Dashiell Hammett, and isn’t anything to write home about. It features many suspects who are, in the fashion of Agatha Christie’s whodunnit novels, brought together near the end, with the actual culprit revealed to be the least likely of all. The film is more imaginative in its comical scenes, which serve as a sort of filler—the initial encounter between the Charleses and a motorcycle policeman on the recently built San Francisco bridge; Nick experiencing dizziness while accompanying Nick Jr. (played by Dickie Moore) on a merry-go-round; and a visit to a pirate ship-themed restaurant where the Charleses encounter a massive brawl.
Shadow of the Thin Man also features a more-than-fine cast, which includes Stella Adler, the legendary drama teacher (who, amongst others, trained Marlon Brando), in one of only three film appearances of her career. Donna Reed, who would later become a great star both on film and television, also appears in a prominent role as a mobster’s clerk. Another future screen legend, Ava Gardner, briefly appears in her film debut.
Despite being far from a classic, Shadow of the Thin Man is an easily digestible and entertaining film that could be recommended even to those viewers who care little about Classic Hollywood legends. It was a major success at the box office, but soon after its premiere, the USA entered the Second World War. With Myrna Loy temporarily abandoning her acting career to serve as a Red Cross volunteer, a new instalment in the series had to wait until 1945 and The Thin Man Goes Home.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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