Rate: The Thin Man (1934)

I just watched this again the other night, for perhaps the millionth time--and how wonderful it is, to return to old friends once more! It is difficult to elaborate on what others wiser than I have written before, but let me highlight the sheer delight of Nick's introduction: we look at the dancers enjoying ourselves before the camera moves to a fellow teaching the bartenders how to mix drinks. We see only his back as he explains that one must shake the drinks according to rhythm, but the snappy voice, the carefree air, and the charming demeanor tells us exactly with whom we are dealing. Then he puts the drink he'd been shaking on the tray--turns--smells it with the love of the connoisseur--and drinks it himself! It is a classic welcome to an iconic character, and one of the best such moments of them all (though Nora's entrance a minute later, Van Dyke's camera following Asta through the hotel, comes close). Then their repartee, their obvious love for each other, Nora's attempt to tie Nick in the number of drinks... Oy! Makes me want to watch it again.

Just to disagree on a small aspect re: The Thin Man (one of my favorite movies of all time)... I don't find the lack of inevitability (or even, really, surprise) in the revelation of the murderer to be much of a flaw in that particular case (the first one, let me emphasize). Two main reasons why: (1) it was never much of a mystery in the first place but rather a superb character comedy with a detective character (the emphasis is so obviously on the Charleses, not the plot) and (2) Hammett wrote the original novel as an anti-whodunit, anti-puzzle plot.

My last contention is particularly borne out by the last lines of Hammett's novel. Nick has been telling Nora how he arrived at a solution--all guesswork, no deduction. Nora responds, "That may be...but it's all pretty unsatisfactory." The End. To some extent, then, the in-book character of Nora is, believe it or not, criticizing the solution for its lack of satisfaction--and satisfaction is exactly the product of anagnorisis. (Nora's a puzzle-plot fan too!) In other words, Hammett is trying to show how, in real life, detective work isn't so neat and tidy as it is in a classical whodunit. The film doesn't emphasize this aspect as much, but it is still an undercurrent, methinks.

So, because of those two facts, I'd say the fact that The Thin Man actually avoids the puzzle plot is a surprisingly good thing. (It increases the comedy.) As a fan of the puzzle plot, I'd argue that having a good detective film that does so is a rare, isolated incident, but it is true in this case.