Another Thin Man

Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey, Otto Kruger, C. Aubrey Smith, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton, Patric Knowles
Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke
Rating: Passed
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Crime
1939

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A family friend asks Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) to help him when he believes there's a plot out to take his life.

Review:

Tim: I've been a big fan of the Thin Man franchise, so I was excited about this, the third film. While we once again get William Powell and Myrna Loy reprising their roles as Nick and Nora, this story felt less effective than the first two movies. This is still a good movie, but it's less engaging, less entertaining than we are used to.

I really believe the central issue here was the story. The first two Thin Man movies did a great job of putting our beloved characters into the middle of a mystery and letting Nick's brilliance work through the mystery to solve the crime. This movie takes the same approach, but the story is lacking. This time around, Nick and Nora visit a family friend and business partner of Nora's father. He believes someone wants to kill him. The story features a similar cast of characters and we're not sure who the guilty party is. This story simply felt less interesting than the one we got in the first two films. The story feels more self-contained. While I still loved seeing Nick and Nora again, the mystery here wasn't quite as compelling. It's simply not as memorable as it needed to be.

William Powell and Myrna Loy are both so incredible. I loved their interactions together. It's been great fun to see these two actors take their characters on this journey (they now have a baby!). Nick and Nora Charles are incredible characters and great fun to watch. It's so enjoyably entertaining to watch their banter. In some ways, it only gets better with each film because we've grown more comfortable and familiar with these characters. Nick's penchant for drinking (for example) is even funnier because of all the previous jokes about it. The relationship between these two characters is certainly improving with time.

I know I was critical of the story, but this is still a really good movie, mostly because we get to see Powell and Loy together again. There's six movies in this franchise, and while this one is a step down in quality from the first two, it's still a solid third entry. It did feel like the story was a little predictable at this point. Yes, the characters are different and yes, we're not sure who is guilty, but the story followed the exact same formula. With the decreased interest in the story, the formulaic predictability was simply that much more apparent.

While I do wish this movie was a bit better, I still thoroughly enjoyed Another Thin Man. These films are so entertaining and I loved seeing the Charles' again. I genuinely appreciated this movie and look forward to the next one!

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Thin Man, After the Thin Man