Song of the Thin Man
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Movie Reviews of Song of the Thin Man
Movie Review: The last film of The Thin Man series.
Summary: 5 Stars
DVD will automatically play if option has not been chosen in nearly 2 minutes.
William Powell, Myrna Loy and Asta (Skippy) too return for this sixth and last caper. Powell and Loy appeared in 13 films together, only six "Thin Man" films.
Aboard the S.S. Fortune, which is a gambling ship that Nick Charles (William Powell) and his wife, Nora (Myrna Loy) are on, Tommy Drake (Philip Reed) is shot. The newspaper headlines blames Janet Thayer (Jayne Meadows) and her secret Lover, Phil Brant (Bruce Cowling), who were also aboard the vessel, the suspects in the killing. So absurd, that Janet and Phil ask the Charles' to investigate and get them off the rap. Suddenly another shot rings out and hits Nick's wine bottle he was holding. Nobody hurt, but Asta has licked up all that spilled wine.
Nick is going to investigate without the help of the police and Nick Jr. (Dean Stockwell) wants to help solve the mystery too.
Also in the cast: Keenan Wynn, Gloria Grahame, Leon Ames, Bess Flowers, Henry Nemo, Clinton Sundberg, William Bishop, marie Windsor.
DVD includes in Special Features, Theatrical trailer, 10-minute feature "John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, 'A Really Important Person' with Dean Stockwell and Connie Gilchrist.
MGM Technicolor "Slap Happy Lion" by Tex Avery.
No audio commentary.
The Thin Man tv series (1957-59) starred Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk.
Movie Review: Do you like Keenan Wynn?
Summary: 5 Stars
A must have if you already own the other Thin Man movies and are a fan of William Powell and Myrna Loy. Keenan Wynn is the treat in this movie. Without his performance the movie would not hold up. What a great actor he was. In my opinion he steals the show.Movie Review: Another great classic
Summary: 5 Stars
We love the Thin Man series. This is another classic example of the great talent of Myrna Loy and William Powell!Movie Review: Nick and Nora Charles stroll off arm-in-arm into the distance. We'll miss them
Summary: 4 Stars
Song of the Thin Man is a sad-sweet experience, something like meeting a good friend you haven't seen in years and realizing how much affection you still have for him... but also how much you both have aged. It's been 13 years since The Thin Man appeared in 1934. We have to stop and remember that Nick Charles wasn't the thin man back then; that particular thin man was just one of the many murder victims Nick and Nora came across in their six movies. We remember the sophistication and insouciance of this affectionate and clever couple. They were never at a loss for a quick come-back or to shake a cold, gin martini. Even Nick's modus operandi to bring all the suspects together at the conclusion and pick apart the case until he has the murderer squirming never quite got stale. Alas, with Song of the Thin Man we have the MGM factory squeezing out one more film to try to wring a profit from it, this time attempting to make it "contemporary" by setting the story in the post-WWII social world of after-hours jazz clubs, bebop musicians and hep cat dialogue. Nick and Nora never looked uncomfortable anywhere their adventures took them in the past. They look at times now as out of place as salesmen from Peru, Indiana, at a Linda and Cole Porter party.
Gone is the sophisticated world of white sofas and polished black floors, of naughty Porter lyrics and earnestly sophisticated Gershwin tunes. Martinis seem oddly old fashioned now (and so do Old Fashioneds) as Nick drinks high balls and Nora sips sherry. And instead of clever repartee, Song of the Thin Man gives us the kind of dialogue only studio journeymen can write. Says one character, "I must have blown my top, kicking Buddy over for a road company Casanova like you!" The solution depends on the kind of half-baked, melodramatic psychology popular at the time. To make it even more tedious, there are no characters except Nick and Nora to care about. The movie is peopled with crooks, opportunists, gold-diggers, scat-talking musicians and the unattractive rich. The acting is so variable that it doesn't take long to realize we're watching the kind of movie that MGM did not waste much effort on.
Why spend time on it? Two names: William Powell and Myrna Loy. Even though 13 years have elapsed, even though, at 55, Powell is a little fuller around the face (Loy at 42 doesn't seem to have changed a bit) and even though WWII altered decisively the world of films, they remain one of the most refreshing, attractive and delightful movie pairs in screen history. They raise the movie, if at least not to their level, to a level of enduring affection for their style, their warmth, their intelligence and, that word again, their insouciance. So three stars is too much for the movie but five stars is too little for them.
The DVD transfer looks just fine. There are a couple of extras, a cartoon and a short feature.
Movie Review: The 6-Film "Thin Man" Series Ends on a High Note.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Song of the Thin Man" (1947) is the third-best film in the "Thin Man" series, after the original "The Thin Man" (1934) and "After the Thin Man" (1936). Typical of the "Thin Man" movies, there is no shortage of suspects or red herrings, and the case is solved when Nick Charles brings everyone together at the end to sweat the solution out of them. Screenwriters Steve Fischer and Nat Perrin and director Edward Buzzell are all newcomers to the franchise, but this mystery is one of the best. Tommy Drake (Philip Reed), bandleader and inveterate gambler, is shot to death aboard a gambling ship owned by Phil Brant (Bruce Cowling). Tommy was in debt to a bookie, just had a fight over a woman with his unstable reed man, announced he was taking his band and leaving Phil for greener and richer pastures, and was disliked by everyone. But the police blame Phil Brant, who has just married the blue-blooded Janet Thayer (Jayne Meadows) against her father's strong objections. Janet and Phil turn to their friends Nick and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy and William Powell) in desperation, hoping that Nick can crack the case and clear Phil's name.
The "Thin Man" franchise is in its 13th year at this point, and Nick and Nora Charles are looking very much the middle-aged couple with a son (Dean Stockwell), who is increasingly like his father, in grade school. Nick doesn't seem to drink anymore. And Nora is no longer a fashion plate. I like the fact that this film admits they are not young. It would be ridiculous if it didn't. Nick's sleuthing takes the couple into the world of jazz musicians, who speak a hipster lingo that befuddles Nick and Nora, poking fun at the generation gap. Newlyweds Janet and Phil are a younger version of the Charleses, an aristocratic woman who married an ambitious street-wise working stiff, who look to the older couple for understanding. Two actresses who became staples of film noir in the years to come have small roles: Gloria Grahame is "canary" and suspect Fran Page, and Marie Windsor plays a bookie's wife. Nick's method of eliciting a confession is more far-fetched than usual, and that seemed like a flaw to me. But "Song of the Thin Man" is one of the most entertaining mysteries in the series. As Nick says to an anxious Nora: "We're on no spot that the solution of the crime won't get us off."
The DVD (Warner Brothers 2005): Bonus features include a short film, a cartoon, and a theatrical trailer (3 min). "A Really Important Person" (11 min) is a John Nesbitt "Passing Parade" short film starring Dean Stockwell as an 8-year-old boy who is looking for someone important to write about for an essay contest and finally decides that that person is his father. "Slap Happy Lion" (7 min) is a cartoon about a formerly ferocious and fearless lion who is now afraid of a particularly self-assured and pesky mouse.
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