The Thin Man *****

There are two types of great movies actors. The first type not only fills the screen, but explodes through it as larger than life celluloid characters that become ingrained in our memory ever-after. Think Jimmy Cagney. I love Cagney, but it is the second type we’ll be looking at today. This actor hovers in the background, tossing around bon mots, making every movie that he is in a little bit better. Think William Powell.

I really can’t remember a bad William Powell movie. I should clarify that. I can’t remember a William Powell movie that I did not enjoy, even if the only reason I enjoyed myself was Powell himself. Bill was the essence of the cosmopolitan sophisticate who could do slapstick just as well and make it look graceful at the same time. No matter how bad the story or how bad the script or how bad the director, Powell would shine though.

Bill didn’t have any of those problems in 1934 while he was making The Thin Man, probably the best American drawing room comedy ever made. Powell portrays constantly tipsy former New York detective Nick Charles. Oh yeah, I love this movie. Just for the occasion, I’m putting on my tuxedo and making a pitcher of Cosmopolitans for everyone and since I’m in heaven and you can’t drink through the screen, I’ll just have to drink it all.

Now, I know that I’ve said in the past that the storyline is not important, but this movie really takes it to an extreme. The script is great and the dialogue is top shelf, but this plot is completely preposterous almost intentionally so. The focus is so much on the characters and the dialogue that the bad plot became a running joke. And it worked because as long as Nick and Nora (Myrna Loy) are still on the screen and a full glass of something containing gin is in my hand this movie is fabulous. By the way, I have a huge crush on Myrna Loy and I’m not even sure why, I just do.

I’m not joking about this plot. I’m not even going to bother retelling it. All that you need to know about this film is that when Powell and Loy are on the screen it’s great and when they are not it’s terrible. Thankfully they are on the screen for all but about five minutes of the film. For some bizarre reason, those five minutes take place at the beginning of the movie and almost destroy it right there. But the cavalry soon arrives and we see Powell teaching a bartender the correct techniques for mixing a dry martini (mix with a rhythm…always waltz time…try it, it really works). With that I polish off the Cosmos and switch to dry martinis.

Later in that same scene we see Myrna Loy for the first time and she wants to know how many martinis he’s had so far. After finding out that the answer is six, Loy orders five more to be lined up right in front of her so she can “catch up” (what is not to love). I’m sorry if I’m starting to gush, but I really love Myrna Loy and I’m starting to feel warm inside.

Anyway, most of the scenes go on like this – Powell and Loy tossing barbs back and forth at each other as various people try to talk Powell into taking a case involving the murder of one of his former clients. Powell keeps saying that he is retired from the force and focuses all of his attention on the fortune his wife inherited, so he does not have time to…hmmm….this is the greatest woman of all time. She’s gorgeous, rich and loves to drink.

Finally for reasons which I don’t think are explained (or maybe it was and I’m not holding my booze as well as Charles does), Nick takes the case. Nick and Nora plan a dinner party will all the suspects and of course they all show up. While the guests (a.k.a Nick’s friends, a.k.a. suspects) are arriving and getting ready for dinner, Nora of course makes fun of them.

At the end, Nick comes up with an absurd explanation and points out the criminal (I think it was the ex-wife, or the boyfriend, or the butler…I don’t remember), who, of course, immediately surrenders even though Nick had no evidence. The story is horrible. The movie was shot in two weeks. The conclusion was not only ridiculous, but obvious (not easy to do). The only good thing about the entire movie was Powell and Loy and that was good enough to make it one of the greatest comedies of all time.

This is what I mean when I say Powell makes everything a little better. And Loy is great too.