Another Thin Man

Nick and Nora Charles are parents now; they have a son and their lives are in theory settled. An old business partner of Nora's family invites them to his estate. The man is afraid: he believes someone will kill him and says he has dreamed it. Nick does not take it seriously. That night the man is killed. There are many people at the estate, each with a reason, and the police cannot solve it. Nick takes on the investigation reluctantly and Nora is beside him at every step. W. S. Van Dyke directs. William Powell plays Nick and Myrna Loy plays Nora. The film is the third link in the Thin Man series; the series came out of Dashiell Hammett's novel and ran to six films. It carries Hammett's contribution as the last text of his in the series; the later films were written by others. The real material is not the murder but the talk between husband and wife; the lines are fast and traded. The baby entering the narrative is a change for the series and the film makes a joke of it; parenthood slows nothing. The murder plot is in the classical closed circle arrangement and there are many suspects. The dog Asta is part of the plot here as in the rest of the series. Who it is for: viewers who like classic Hollywood crime films and fast dialogue. Who it is not for: the plot is tangled, the solution is hurried, and some supporting characters cannot be told apart.