Another Thin Man by W.S. Van Dyke (1939)
25 July 2008Another fun enjoyable Thin Man adventure, and this one with a baby. Again the mystery is not all that important, and it all happens in basically the same way, but it is the relationship between William Powell and Myrna Loy’s characters that makes the film so enjoyable. These films are as fun as can be.
Nick Charles (William Powell) his lovely and rich wife Nora (Myrna Loy) and their new son Nicky Jr. and there hysterical dog Asta return to New York city from California. When they arrive they get a call from Colonel Bree MacFay (C. Aubrey Smith) who manages Nora’s money is having trouble, and has them come to his house in the country immediately, so t hey head out. On they way Nick spots a dead body on the road, but when they stop it is gone. The house is protected by guards with guns, and MacFay believes that he is going to be murdered by a man named Phil Church (Sheldon Leonard) who used to work for him. Phil told MacFay he had dreamed of his death, on when he dreamed something 3 times it always came true. Nick didn’t believe at first, but then the swimming pool is set on fire, and the Colonel’s daughter’s [Louis {Virginia Grey) dog gets killed as well.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Nick goes to visit Phil in his nearby cottage, seeing a strange cop on the way. Phil tells NIck that MacFay had used him as a scapegoat for some shady business deal and he had gone to prison because of it, and now he wanted payback. Nick is heading to Cuba, but he threatens Nick with another of his dreams, and Phil’s thug H. Culverton Smith (Muriel Hutchison) throws a knife at Nick, but Asta ends up picking it up.
Back at MacFay’s house that night they hear a gunshot, and go in and find that MacFay is dead with his throat cut. Asta had found the knife, but was running with it, so Nick had to go get Asta, Nick is almost killed by Louis’s fiancee Dudley Horn (Patric Knowles) but he is warned by Louis and the cops kill Dudley.
Nick doesn’t like the police investigating, so they head back to New York along with Louis, the housekeeper Mrs. Bellam (Phyllis Gordon) and MacFay’s secretary Freddie Coleman (Tom Neal) who is in love with Louis.
The Assistant D.A. Van Slack (Otto Kruger) Comes by to see Nick, and asking him to help investigate, and Nicke heads to a nightclub, where he finds Nora surrounded by men. Nora had of course been investigating on her own, and was about to meet another of Phil’s men Dum Dum (Abner Biberman), but instead the end up finding Dum Dum himself. Dum Dum knocks out a drunken man, to step him telling Nick and Nora about Phil’s other girlfriend Linda Mills, but Nick does get the an address.
Nora goes pretending to see rooms, while Nick checks out Linda Mills apartment where he finds bullet holes and gun residue, when 2 gangsters show up from the fire escape, but luckily Lieutenant Gould (Nat Pendleton) shows up to save him.
Nick and Nora are back at their apartment, when a roomful of cons with baby’s show up (including Shemp Howard) for a birthday party. Phil Church shows up and threatens to kill Nick and Nora if they don’t keep quiet, but when he goes otu on the balcony he is shot and killed, and they find Fum Dum and Smitty in the back ally.
Nick figured it out though. MacFay was dead already when he heard the gunshot using a delaying mechanism that took 5 minutes, and it turned out that Phil wanted money, and Louis wanted her inheritance. And Luis had Phil killed when she found out about the other woman. She then says she has Nicky Jr. and was going to use that to get out, but then the baby shows up with one of the con friends.
And finally Nick, and Nora get some rest.
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Another enjoyable Thin Man film. Quite enjoyable and fun!
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