Another Thin Man | |
---|---|
Directed by | W. S. Van Dyke |
Written by | Anita Loos |
Screenplay by | |
Story by | Dashiell Hammett |
Based on | The Farewell Murder by Dashiell Hammett |
Produced by | Hunt Stromberg |
Starring | |
Cinematography | |
Edited by | Fredrick Y. Smith |
Music by | Edward Ward |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,107,000 |
Box office | $2,223,000 |
Another Thin Man is a 1939 American detective film directed by W. S. Van Dyke, the third of six in the Thin Man series. It again stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles and is based on Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op story "The Farewell Murder". [1] The Charles' son Nicky Jr. is introduced for the first time. The cast includes their terrier Asta, Virginia Grey, Otto Kruger, C. Aubrey Smith, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton, Patric Knowles, Sheldon Leonard, Tom Neal, Phyllis Gordon and Marjorie Main. Shemp Howard appears in an uncredited role as Wacky. [2] [3]
The film was unable to be called Return of the Thin Man because The Thin Man from the original film was "completely dead" according to newspapers in 1939. It was followed by Shadow of the Thin Man (1941).
Nick and Nora Charles are back in New York with Asta and their son Nicky Jr. They are invited by Colonel Burr MacFay to spend the weekend at his house on Long Island. MacFay, the former business partner of Nora's father and the administrator of her fortune, desperately wants Nick to put his well-known detective skills to work, as he has been receiving death threats from a shady character named Phil Church. When MacFay is killed, Church seems to be the obvious suspect, but Nick is skeptical, suspecting more than a simple murder. MacFay's housekeeper, his adopted daughter, and various hangers-on all may have had an interest in killing him.
The film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes show's the film score to be 85% based on reviews from 20 professional critics. [6]
According to Frank S. Nugent, "this third of the trademarked Thin Men takes its murders as jauntily as ever, confirms our impression that matrimony need not be too serious a business, and provides as light an entertainment as any holiday-amusement seeker is likely to find". [7]
Another Thin Man is the third of six feature films based on the characters of Nick and Nora Charles:
Another Thin Man grossed a domestic and foreign total of $2,223,000: $1,523,000 from the U.S. and Canada and $700,000 elsewhere. It returned a profit of $394,000. [8]
The Thin Man is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy-mystery film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and based on the 1934 novel by Dashiell Hammett. The film stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a leisure-class couple who enjoy copious drinking and flirtatious banter. Nick is a retired private detective who left his very successful career when he married Nora, a wealthy heiress accustomed to high society. Their wire-haired fox terrier Asta was played by canine actor Skippy. In 1997, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
After the Thin Man is a 1936 American murder mystery comedy film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring William Powell, Myrna Loy and James Stewart. A sequel to the 1934 feature The Thin Man, the film presents Powell and Loy as Dashiell Hammett's characters Nick and Nora Charles. The film also features Elissa Landi, Joseph Calleia, Jessie Ralph, Alan Marshal and Penny Singleton.
Shadow of the Thin Man is a 1941 American murder mystery comedy film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. It was produced and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as the fourth in the series of six The Thin Man films. In this film their son Nick Jr. is old enough to figure in the comic subplot. Other cast members include Donna Reed and Barry Nelson. This was one of three films in which Stella Adler appeared.
Song of the Thin Man is a 1947 American murder mystery-comedy film directed by Edward Buzzell. The sixth and final film in MGM's Thin Man series, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Nick Jr. is played by Dean Stockwell. Phillip Reed, Keenan Wynn, Gloria Grahame, and Jayne Meadows are featured in this story set in the world of nightclub musicians.
The Thin Man Goes Home is a 1944 American comedy mystery film directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper ex-private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora. The supporting cast includes Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven and Helen Vinson. This entry in The Thin Man series was the first not directed by W.S. Van Dyke, who had died in 1943.
Nick and Nora Charles are fictional characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel The Thin Man. The characters were later adapted for film in a series of films between 1934 and 1947; for radio from 1941 to 1950; for television from 1957 through 1959; as a Broadway musical in 1991; and as a stage play in 2009.
Myrna Loy was an American film, television and stage actress. As a performer, she was known for her ability to adapt to her screen partner's acting style.
Frances Goodrich was an American actress, dramatist, and screenwriter, best known for her collaborations with her partner and husband Albert Hackett. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with her husband in 1956 for The Diary of Anne Frank which had premiered the previous year.
Skippy was a Wire Fox Terrier dog actor who appeared in dozens of movies during the 1930s. Skippy is best known for the role of the pet dog "Asta" in the 1934 detective comedy The Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, and for his role in the 1938 comedy Bringing Up Baby, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Due to the popularity of The Thin Man role, Skippy is sometimes credited as Asta in public and in other films.
Midnight Lace is a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by David Miller and starring Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin, Myrna Loy, and Roddy McDowall. The plot centers on a woman threatened by an anonymous stalker and who has a hard time convincing others of what is happening. The screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts was based on the play Matilda Shouted Fire by Janet Green. The new title referred to a lacy dress that Day's character purchases early in the film and wears at the climax.
Henry Nemo was an American musician, songwriter, and actor in Hollywood films who had a reputation as a hipster.
I Love You Again is an MGM comedy released in 1940. It was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy, all three of whom were prominently involved in the Thin Man film series.
Penthouse is a 1933 American Pre-Code crime film starring Warner Baxter as a lawyer and Myrna Loy as a call girl who helps him with a murder case. The film features Charles Butterworth as the butler, Mae Clarke as the murder victim, Phillips Holmes as the suspected murderer, and C. Henry Gordon as the gangster who arranged the murder. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on a novel by Arthur Somers Roche. The film was later remade as the more sanitized Society Lawyer (1939), without the risqué pre-Code dialogue.
Made for Each Other is a 1939 American romantic comedy film directed by John Cromwell, produced by David O. Selznick, and starring Carole Lombard, James Stewart, and Charles Coburn. Lombard and Stewart portray a couple who get married after only knowing each other for one day.
Fancy Baggage is a 1929 American sound part-talkie drama film directed by John G. Adolfi and released by Warner Bros.. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The film used the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Audrey Ferris and Myrna Loy.
Man-Proof is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Thorpe. The film is based on the 1937 novel The Four Marys written by Fannie Heaslip Lea.
The Truth About Youth is a 1930 American pre-Code drama with songs produced and distributed by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Directed by William A. Seiter, the film stars Loretta Young, Conway Tearle, David Manners and Myrna Loy. It was based on the 1900 play When We Were Twenty-One, written by Henry V. Esmond.
The Heart of Maryland (1927) is a silent film costume Vitaphone drama produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Lloyd Bacon. The film stars Dolores Costello as the title character, and features Jason Robards, Sr. It is based on David Belasco's 1895 play The Heart of Maryland performed on Broadway. The film is the last silent version of the oft-filmed Victorian story, other versions having been produced in 1915 and 1921.
The Honeymoon's Over is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Eugene Forde and written by Leonard Hoffman, Hamilton MacFadden and Clay Williams. It is based on the 1921 play Six-Cylinder Love by William Anthony McGuire. The film stars Stuart Erwin, Marjorie Weaver, Patric Knowles, Russell Hicks, Jack Carson and Hobart Cavanaugh. The film was released on December 14, 1939, by 20th Century Fox.
William Powell (1892–1984) and Myrna Loy (1905–1993) starred in 13 movies together in the 1930s and '40s. Loy also had an uncredited cameo in their 14th and last film together, The Senator Was Indiscreet, which starred Powell.