***Watch Out For Jilted Lovers- The Thin Man Series-William Powell and Myra Loy’s’ After The Thin Man-With Kudos To Dashiell Hammett

 

Watch Out For Jilted Lovers- The Thin Man Series-William Powell and Myra Loy’s’ After The Thin Man-With Kudos To Dashiell Hammett

 

DVD Review

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

 

After the Thin Man, starring William Powell, Myra Loy and Asta, based on the crime detection novel by Dashiell Hammett, 1936

Long before Jaws, long before Halloween X, long before Ocean’s X  Hollywood has cashed in on sequelling any film idea that showed the least bit of staying power. One of the early example of that trend was the five (I believe) run Thin Man series starring William Powell, Myra  and of course their faithful dog Asta. While the subsequent four after the initial fairly straightforward film adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s classic crime detection novel The Thin Man running from the mid-1930s into the early 1940s are a mixed bag the film under review here, After The Thin Man, except for a bit too much length and confusing filler is one of the better ones.   

No question that every crime detection novel (and film noir ) aficionado owes Dashiell Hammett (and Raymond Chandler) a great debt for providing us with professional private detectives we can get behind and root for after a long run of amateur Saturday afternoon parlor detectives was snapped in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hammett’s Sam Spade may be the max daddy of all the tough private no question  but Hammett’s more measured attempt to mix a plebian ex-copper Nick Charles and patrician, meaning the one with the dough, Nora (with Asta thrown in) to solve the hard city murders that they wound up solving is interesting as well. Those sleuthing virtues are more apparent in the book than on the various film adaptations but with the exception of the over-the-top use of liquor to loosen up old Nick and Nora’s brains the pains-taking crime detection methodology behind the facile façade come through.      

Take this last case, the one under review, and the one that begs the question about being careful with jilted lovers listed in the title of this piece. There is murder about in old Frisco town where the Charles’ had been based at one time and the place where Nora’s Mayfair swells money and family reside. Seemed that one of Nora’s female cousins married a ne’er-do-well male gold-digger who was putting the squeeze for twenty-five grand on that cousin’s ex-boyfriend who was still madly in love with her (played by a young Jimmy Stewart by the way). The reason for the squeeze was that that ne’er-do-well was playing footsies with a torch singer down at one of the better gin joints in town. Problem is said footsie-player was working with the nefarious gangster-type club-owners to do our gigolo out of his ill-gotten gains after the ex-boyfriend ponies up the dough.    

There is a bigger problem when our gigolo is found face down with a bullet in his back and it looks like his Brahmin wife (Nora’s cousin) was going to take the big step-off for it up at Q or wherever they throw female murderers. Enter Nick and Nora after a tiring night of New Year’s Eve nightclubbing to save day. It looked bad for several parties since we know that scorned wife was not taking the fall, not in Frisco town, and not while the Charles’ had breathe to protect one of their own. It looked bad for the torch singer, the two gangster club owners and assorted other decoys for a while. Hey, what about a society guy who has felt nothing but unrequited rage ever since his sweetie took up with a male gold-digger. Nice work Nick and Nora.

 

 

 

 

DVD Review

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

 

After the Thin Man, starring William Powell, Myra Loy and Asta, based on the crime detection novel by Dashiell Hammett, 1936

Long before Jaws, long before Halloween X, long before Ocean’s X  Hollywood has cashed in on sequelling any film idea that showed the least bit of staying power. One of the early example of that trend was the five (I believe) run Thin Man series starring William Powell, Myra  and of course their faithful dog Asta. While the subsequent four after the initial fairly straightforward film adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s classic crime detection novel The Thin Man running from the mid-1930s into the early 1940s are a mixed bag the film under review here, After The Thin Man, except for a bit too much length and confusing filler is one of the better ones.   

No question that every crime detection novel (and film noir ) aficionado owes Dashiell Hammett (and Raymond Chandler) a great debt for providing us with professional private detectives we can get behind and root for after a long run of amateur Saturday afternoon parlor detectives was snapped in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hammett’s Sam Spade may be the max daddy of all the tough private no question  but Hammett’s more measured attempt to mix a plebian ex-copper Nick Charles and patrician, meaning the one with the dough, Nora (with Asta thrown in) to solve the hard city murders that they wound up solving is interesting as well. Those sleuthing virtues are more apparent in the book than on the various film adaptations but with the exception of the over-the-top use of liquor to loosen up old Nick and Nora’s brains the pains-taking crime detection methodology behind the facile façade come through.      

Take this last case, the one under review, and the one that begs the question about being careful with jilted lovers listed in the title of this piece. There is murder about in old Frisco town where the Charles’ had been based at one time and the place where Nora’s Mayfair swells money and family reside. Seemed that one of Nora’s female cousins married a ne’er-do-well male gold-digger who was putting the squeeze for twenty-five grand on that cousin’s ex-boyfriend who was still madly in love with her (played by a young Jimmy Stewart by the way). The reason for the squeeze was that that ne’er-do-well was playing footsies with a torch singer down at one of the better gin joints in town. Problem is said footsie-player was working with the nefarious gangster-type club-owners to do our gigolo out of his ill-gotten gains after the ex-boyfriend ponies up the dough.    

There is a bigger problem when our gigolo is found face down with a bullet in his back and it looks like his Brahmin wife (Nora’s cousin) was going to take the big step-off for it up at Q or wherever they throw female murderers. Enter Nick and Nora after a tiring night of New Year’s Eve nightclubbing to save day. It looked bad for several parties since we know that scorned wife was not taking the fall, not in Frisco town, and not while the Charles’ had breathe to protect one of their own. It looked bad for the torch singer, the two gangster club owners and assorted other decoys for a while. Hey, what about a society guy who has felt nothing but unrequited rage ever since his sweetie took up with a male gold-digger. Nice work Nick and Nora.