Shadow of the Thin Man

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Shadow of the Thin Man
Shadow of the Thin Man.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Screenplay by
Story byHarry Kurnitz
Based on Characters by Dashiell Hammett
Produced by Hunt Stromberg
Starring
Cinematography William H. Daniels
Edited by Robert J. Kern
Music by David Snell
Production
company
Distributed by Loew's Inc.
Release date
  • November 21, 1941 (1941-11-21)(US)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$821,000
Box office$2,301,000

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. (Dickie Hall) 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.

Contents

Plot

Nick and Nora Charles are looking forward to a relaxing day at a racetrack, but when a jockey accused of throwing a race is found shot to death, Police Lieutenant Abrams requests Nick's help. The trail leads to a gambling syndicate that operates out of a wrestling arena, a murdered reporter, and a pretty secretary whose boyfriend has been framed. Along the way, Nick and Nora must contend with a wild wrestling match, a dizzying day at a merry-go-round (accompanied by Nick, Jr.), and a table-clearing restaurant brawl.

Cast

Production

Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the husband and wife team who wrote the first three Thin Man scripts, refused to write another one. Goodrich said: "They press you awfully hard there…when they started talking about another Thin Man, we started throwing up and crying into our typewriters. We had the nervous breakdown together, [so] we said, "let's get out of here [and] we quit". [4]

The film was based on a story by Harry Kurnitz, not Dashiell Hammett, as the previous films had been, with the script written by Harry Kurnitz and Irving Brecher.

After difficulties with the previous films, author Dashiell Hammett was uninvolved in the production of Shadow or the two subsequent films in the series. [5]

On 22 June 1941, [6] MGM filmed exteriors for Shadow of the Thin Man in Berkeley, California, with Golden Gate Fields racetrack, which first opened on 1 February the same year, [7] [8] as Greenway Park. [9] On the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, Nick and Nora Charles get "pulled over" for speeding on the upper deck of the bridge. [10]

Box office

Shadow of the Thin Man was eagerly welcomed, coming two years after the previous outing and hitting theaters just two weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It would be three years before Loy would make another film ( The Thin Man Goes Home in 1945) as she left Hollywood for New York, where she volunteered for the war effort with the Red Cross, as an assistant to the director of military and naval welfare. [11]

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,453,000 in the US and Canada and $848,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $769,000. [12]

Nick and Nora Charles film series

This film was the fourth of six based on the characters of Nick and Nora Charles:

Related Research Articles

<i>The Thin Man</i> (film) 1934 film by W. S. Van Dyke

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".

<i>After the Thin Man</i> 1936 film by W. S. Van Dyke

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.

<i>Another Thin Man</i> 1939 film directed by W. S. Van Dyke

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". 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.

<i>Song of the Thin Man</i> 1947 film by Edward Buzzell

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.

<i>The Thin Man Goes Home</i> 1944 film by Richard Thorpe

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dashiell Hammett</span> American writer (1894–1961)

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, The Continental Op and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick and Nora Charles</span> Fictional characters by Dashiell Hammett

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myrna Loy</span> American actress (1905–1993)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Hackett</span> American screenwriter (1900–1995)

Albert Maurice Hackett was an American actor, dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Goodrich</span> American writer

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skippy (dog)</span> Wire Fox Terrier dog actor

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.

Henry Nemo was an American musician, songwriter, and actor in Hollywood films who had a reputation as a hipster.

<i>The Thin Man</i> 1934 detective novel by Dashiell Hammett

The Thin Man (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of Redbook. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main characters Nick and Nora Charles, and Hammett was hired to provide scripts for the first two.

Thin Man may refer to:

The Adventures of the Thin Man radio series, initially starring Les Damon, was broadcast on all four major radio networks during the years 1941 to 1950. Claudia Morgan had the female lead role of Nora Charles throughout the program's entire nine-year run. The radio series was modeled after the film series which was based on the 1934 Dashiell Hammett novel.

Nick & Nora is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., and music by Charles Strouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunt Stromberg</span> American film director

Hunt Stromberg was a film producer during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and enduring films, including The Thin Man series, the Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald operettas, The Women, and The Great Ziegfeld, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Powell</span> American actor (1892–1984)

William Horatio Powell was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the Thin Man series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for The Thin Man (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Life with Father (1947).

<i>Parnell</i> (film) 1937 film by John M. Stahl

Parnell is a 1937 American biographical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, the famous Irish politician. It was Gable's least successful film and is generally considered his worst, and it is listed in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. The movie addresses the sex scandal that destroyed Parnell's political career, but its treatment of the subject is highly sanitized in keeping with Hollywood content restrictions at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Powell and Myrna Loy</span> 1930s and 40s acting duo

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.

References

  1. ↑ Lamparski, Richard (1985). Whatever became of ... ?. Vol. 9. Crown. p. 116. ISBN   978-0-517-55541-5.
  2. ↑ The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures: Film Beginnings. R. R. Bowker. 1941. p. 2137. ISBN   9780520215214.
  3. ↑ Staff writer (1944). Who's Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Culver City, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. p. 71 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ Bryant, Roger. William Powell: The Life and Films . Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2006. ISBN   0-7864-2602-0
  5. ↑ Mooney, William H. (3 November 2014). Dashiell Hammett and the Movies. Rutgers University Press. p. 51. ISBN   978-0-8135-6254-4.
  6. ↑ Finacom, Steve (22 June 2016). "Berkeley, A Look Back: Hollywood comes to Albany racetrack in 1941". The Mercury News . Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "Golden Gate Fields". Racecourse Directory. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "Golden Gate Fields". OFF TRACK BETTING. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  9. ↑ Seal, John (30 November 2010). "Made in Berkeley: Shadow of the Thin Man". Berkeleyside . Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "Reliving the Glory Days of the Bay Bridge Through Hollywood Movies". KQED Inc. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  11. ↑ Belinda O. (25 May 2020). "Shadow of the Thin Man". Classic for a Reason. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  12. ↑ "The Eddie Mannix Ledger". Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study (Los Angeles).
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