Screwball Comedies: The Thin Man

Long before The Dude set out in The Big Lebowski to solve a kidnapping with white Russian in hand, former detective Nick Charles (William Powell) was stumbling into cases with whichever drink happened to be nearby. Charles first shook Manhattan’s to fox trot time in 1934’s The Thin Man, which would later rank at 32 on AFI’s list of the greatest American comedies. Charles is less bumbling than his latter-day counterpart is, but he’d probably not like us to know it.

Based on the book of the same name from Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), The Thin Man is a screwball comedy masquerading as a detective story. A local inventor disappears, and the police pin three murders on him – including his secretary and squeeze, Julia Wolf – in his absence. The jilted ex-wife and other red herrings crop up as Charles deftly navigates the landscape of New York City drawing rooms. But Charles never seems particularly concerned about the case, except that it’s cutting into his drinking time. Charles would rather banter with his beloved wife Nora (Myra Loy).

All the good Powell and Loy go line for line and highball for highball in The Thin Man with charm oozing off the screen. (Powell earned an Academy Award nomination for the role.) While most screwball couples continually try to one up the other, Nick and Nora try to amuse each other. The evening after her husband is grazed by a gunshot, Nora says, “I read where you were shot five times in the tabloids.” “It’s not true. He didn’t come anywhere near my tabloids,” Nick replies. Loy might have a comparable presence in personality, but The Thin Man is Powell’s vehicle.

The Charles’s and their beloved dog, Asta, solved five more cases over the next 13 years. It’s easy to see why the films have had such lasting permanence. There’s an ease to the film, which overcomes a stiff, stagy direction. Drawing rooms, dinner parties, and a two-week shooting schedule for what was expected to be a B-movie don’t provide much opportunity for cinematic flourish though.

The Thin Man is currently available as a standalone DVD or as part of the Thin Man collection.