Posted on 08/31/2019 7:45:33 PM PDT by simpson96
The Thin Man is a 1934 comedy-mystery film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and based on the novel of the same name 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 is played by canine actor Skippy.
The Thin Man (1936) - Christmas Morning (video, William Powell shoots ornaments off the tree)
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
even the dog was funny in the thin man movies-
I used to see the old flicks at a Vitaphone Theater (in a converted WWII quonset hut), a by-membership film society that had legal access to high-quality museum archive prints. I saw all six Thin Man movies there, as well as many others.
It was run by a former gaffer and his wife, a former Ziegfield Follies dancer. They were Old Hollywood, and did it up right. They ahd a refurbished Wurlitzer for the Silents, and had quizzes between double features.
Olivia de Haviland, Joan Fontaine, Charleton Heston, and others were members, and occasionally showed up.
They did series and themes, swuch as the above, or Alfred Hitchcock movies, or Cary Grant movies.
They showed everything from Gone with the Wind to War of the Worlds (original).
While I always found Myrna Loy immensely watchable and entertaining, I considered William Powell the better actor - at least in this series. (He was superb in Life with Father.)
Two movies I recommend to anyone who enjoys these:
My Man Godfrey: William Powell, Carole Lombard.
Fifth Avenue Girl: Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly.
And in After the Thin Man, James Stewart plays a rare role as a heavy.
Old movies often show later stars early in their development.
The Powell-Loy on-screen chemistry was dynamite.
“Best Years” is one of my top 5 movies.
“Best Years” is one of my top 5 movies.“
I watch it every year. Amazing film.
L
Love the Thin Man movies. William Powell is one of our favorite actors.
trivia: IIRC the “thin man” was referring to the very first victim in the series.
Makes me cry...
Me too. Every single time.
L
My folks have all the Thin Man series. Fun to watch. Another good one with William Powell is My Man Godfrey.
And not only that, she’s wearing FUR!
Love that film. They are really good together and the Thin Man plots are not bad. I do believe Powell’s character was a high level homicide detective who retired when he got married. Enjoy all the Thin Man Flics.
I’ll watch almost anything with Myrna Loy. I could watch the ‘Thin Man’ movies forever - they never get old. I always though Powell and Loy should’ve been married in real life. But that might’ve ruined the on-screen magic. Another Powell film I enjoy immensely of course, if ‘Life With Father’. No a big fan of Dunne - she just didn’t do anything for me. Loy however...MAN! ;-)
You really know how to "trigger" an (almost) 86-year-old... {:-)
The 1930's were packed with Hollywood's greatest female film stars... You would be hard pressed to find one that wasn't a fine actress, as well as beautiful...
Hollywood was an important patriotic media outlet during WWII... Hollywood actresses contributed greatly to the war effort... Lombard lost her life in that support... Hedy Lamarr was not only a leading morale-boosting pin-up for the troops, but she was the principal developer of electronic systems that finally allowed our subs and torpedo planes to actually start sinking German and Jap shipping...
IAC, rest assured that if WWIII (chicoms) starts, Hollywood will be nowhere to be found (Except, probably, in China supporting the chicoms)...
Although I am not young, I did not have the usual upbringing of my peers. My parents mostly avoided current series, and watched 50s reruns or old Hollywood movies.
My parents bought us memberships to the revival theater Vitaphone, and we saw many of the greatest films of the 30s, 40, and 50s on the silver screen as intended, in newly-restored prints.
I first saw Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, and other great films on screen, not on teevee.
While my friends were talking about Paul Newman and Gene Hackman, I was talking about William Powell and John Garfield.
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