"The Thin Man" had the advantage of being based on a successful book by Dashiel Hammett, who had himself been a private eye
The audience did not have to bother about who murdered the butler with a sliver of ice in the locked library: they were asked to be interested in what was happening now, why it was happening and sometimes how it was happening They could be just as concerned with the by-play between detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora (William Powell and Myrna Loy) as in wondering who did the murders
For most of the film, in fact, the audience is led to believe that Winant, the missing inventor, is the murderer; only towards the end does Nick show that Winant has been dead a long time and someone else is doing the killing
Another factor which made "The Thin Man" notable was that Nick and Nora were - well, almost real people Rich they might be: hard drinkers they certainly were They were a married couple in the film, and they actually managed to appear to enjoy it, making gentle fun of one another in every scene they played
"The Thin Man" pointed the way, with such success that five follow-ups were made, culminating in "Song of the Thin Man" in 1947.
Most of "The Thin Man" films were predictable but they were historically important for introducing sophistication and witty repartee into the private eye film Their biggest asset was that they were escapist pictures made for a Depression-weary audience The Thin Man pictures took the audience away from grim reality simply by ignoring it
The audience did not have to bother about who murdered the butler with a sliver of ice in the locked library: they were asked to be interested in what was happening now, why it was happening and sometimes how it was happening They could be just as concerned with the by-play between detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora (William Powell and Myrna Loy) as in wondering who did the murders
For most of the film, in fact, the audience is led to believe that Winant, the missing inventor, is the murderer; only towards the end does Nick show that Winant has been dead a long time and someone else is doing the killing
Another factor which made "The Thin Man" notable was that Nick and Nora were - well, almost real people Rich they might be: hard drinkers they certainly were They were a married couple in the film, and they actually managed to appear to enjoy it, making gentle fun of one another in every scene they played
"The Thin Man" pointed the way, with such success that five follow-ups were made, culminating in "Song of the Thin Man" in 1947.
Most of "The Thin Man" films were predictable but they were historically important for introducing sophistication and witty repartee into the private eye film Their biggest asset was that they were escapist pictures made for a Depression-weary audience The Thin Man pictures took the audience away from grim reality simply by ignoring it