A crowded train would be the obvious place for a murder, but in spite of a lack of room, the disallowance of pets in the sitting car and huge lines for the dining car, that's not where the murder occurs. It's in Nick Charles's home town, a quaint suburb of Boston where eccentrics roam around with rumors of something evil going on. Nick's parents are seemingly normal, but the neighbors not so much, so when a young man is suddenly shot and killed (right as he is ringing Nick's parents' doorbell), there are a lot of suspects, and between Nick, Nora and Asta, the killer is obviously going to be exposed.
The fifth and second to last installment of the "Thin Man" series is a comic delight with suspense to boot. The chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy remains strong, with Lucille Watson and Harry Davenport a delight as Nick's homey parents. Anne Revere lets her hair down as a downtrodden recluse, with Donald meek, Lloyd Corrigan, Donald MacBride and Edward Brophy among the town eccentrics. The young Gloria DeHaven is boisterous but shrill as the girlfriend of the murder victim. Other minor roles are played with babbity and provincial coldness by some delightful minor character places.
Focusing more on the visual farce from the start (Powell chasing after Asta in a crowded train station; Nick and Nora trying to get through a crowded train corridor while a fat man coming towards them tries the same thing; Nora getting a spanking in front of his parents, and later a reluctant participant in a sudden jitterbug), this is light entertainment, and if not in the same class as the entries directed by W.S. Van Dyke, it is still quite good. The script is clever and witty, and the mystery filled with twists and turns quite surprising.
The fifth and second to last installment of the "Thin Man" series is a comic delight with suspense to boot. The chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy remains strong, with Lucille Watson and Harry Davenport a delight as Nick's homey parents. Anne Revere lets her hair down as a downtrodden recluse, with Donald meek, Lloyd Corrigan, Donald MacBride and Edward Brophy among the town eccentrics. The young Gloria DeHaven is boisterous but shrill as the girlfriend of the murder victim. Other minor roles are played with babbity and provincial coldness by some delightful minor character places.
Focusing more on the visual farce from the start (Powell chasing after Asta in a crowded train station; Nick and Nora trying to get through a crowded train corridor while a fat man coming towards them tries the same thing; Nora getting a spanking in front of his parents, and later a reluctant participant in a sudden jitterbug), this is light entertainment, and if not in the same class as the entries directed by W.S. Van Dyke, it is still quite good. The script is clever and witty, and the mystery filled with twists and turns quite surprising.