Post by Salzmank on Mar 24, 2017 20:18:51 GMT
About The Thin Man, I've seen the first film and wonder if the sequels are on par with the first film? If they are then I will place them in my watch-queue (which is getting longer by the minute....).
I love a good murder-mystery puzzle plot any day, so I'm very impressed by that element in the movie (bloody ingenious on the part of Messrs. Sondheim and Perkins, I think!), but I think what sets it apart are the actors' performances. With the exception of Raquel Welch (who looks good enough in a bikini that I, as a red-blooded American male, can't really criticize), the acting is brilliantly done, especially from Joan Hackett and James Mason. Mason gives a grand, fully-rounded performance, which is an absolute joy because at this stage in his career he could have easily phoned it in, but instead he chose to invest fully in his character. (Sondheim later reported he was the only person in the cast to understand the movie as a whodunit!) Sheila is definitely one of my favorite movies--and so little seen and unavailable, more's the pity!
As for The Thin Man, I hope you enjoyed the first one. I love it and find Powell and Loy hilarious, charming, debonair, wonderful... Well, as I said, I just love it. To answer your question, most fans actually consider the first sequel, After the Thin Man, to be even better. I wouldn't quite go that far, but I believe it is at least equal to the first. After that, the sequels gradually deteriorate, unfortunately. I'm a great fan of the third picture, Another Thin Man, which has the best puzzle/whodunit plot of all of them. It's not the best of the movies--it's not quite as funny, freewheeling, and joyous as the first two--but it is great fun with Nick and Nora. The rest have their moments, but none of them quite live up to the first three, especially as the studio wanted to add in more domestic, proto-family sitcom elements. Still, I would recommend them just for Powell and Loy's sheer charm and way of making a movie flow.
Hope that helps!