Film Review: After the Thin Man (1936)

about 2 years ago

(source: tmdb.org)

William Powell and Myrna Loy, the most formidable of all screen couples of Classic Hollywood, have firmly established their stardom by playing Nick and Nora Charles, protagonists of 1934 crime comedy The Thin Man. Immense success of that film led to inevitable 1936 sequel After the Thin Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke.

Dashiel Hammett, famous crime fiction author whose eponymous novel served as basis for the first film, wrote a story for second. Plot begins in a train when former detective Nick Charles (played by Powell) and his rich socialite wife Nora (played by Loy) are returning to San Francisco in order to celebrate New Year. Upon arrival, Nick would have to first deal with Nora’s dysfunctional relatives – snobbish aunt Katharine Forrest (played by Jessie Ralph) and young cousin Selma Landis (played by Elissa Landi), whose playboy husband Robert (played by Alan Marshal) have disappeared. Nick reluctantly agrees to help find him and the trail leads to Chinese night club where Robert is having good time with its lead singer Polly Byrnes (played by Penny Singleton, credited as “Dorothy McNulty”). He actually wants to leave Selma, much encouraged by David Graham (played by James Stewart), Selma’s friend and former fiance who is willing to pay 25,000 US$ for that. Polly and “Dancer” (played by Joseph Calleia), the shady night club owner, want that money for themselves, and situation is further complicated by presence of Polly’s possessive brother Phil Byrnes (played by Paul Fix). When Robert gets killed, emotionally distraught Selma appears to be the prime suspect and Nick starts to investigate.

After the Thin Man was much more expensive than The Thin Man, but it doesn’t bring anything particularly new. MGM, studio behind the film, was clearly guided by “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” and more or less replicates the formula of the previous film. Script is again written by spouses Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, who give two protagonist plenty of comical banter. “Skippy”, one of the most celebrated dog “actors” of Classic Hollywood, again appears in the role of Charles’ dog Asta, this time being given partner called “Mrs. Asta” in the scene that implicitly mocks prudishness of Hays Office censors and MPAA Production Code. The murder mystery plot that serves as an excuse for Nick and Nora banter is also used as an opportunity to have diverse cast of character actors among which the most recognisable is young James Stewart in one of the most atypical roles of his career. He is good, just like the rest of the cast, although the mystery, again resolved in manner of Agatha Christie novels when Nick gathers all suspects in the same room, can be decrypted by more perceptive viewers through the principle of “least likely suspect”. Despite formula working, After the Thin Man is slightly and somewhat predictably worse than the first film and this could be attributed with problems in pacing, especially in the first part, which make this film at least twenty minutes longer than it should have been. Economic direction by W. S. Van Dyke is nevertheless more than solid and fans of Classic Hollywood crime comedies are going to be pleased. After the Thin Man became another massive hit, which would lead to Powell and Loy repeating their roles in four more films of the series.

RATING: 6/10 (++)