After the Thin Man (1936)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) released After The Thin Man (1936), the sequel to the popular Thin Man (1934), on Christmas Day 1936. The film is one of 14 films William Powell and Myrna Loy made together. Powell and Loy play Dashiell Hammet’s characters Nick and Nora Charles respectively.

Nick Charles formerly worked as a private detective before marrying the wealthy heiress Nora. Nick “retires” to manage his wife’s holdings but is constantly dragged back into detective work. In this film, Nick is pulled into an investigation at the request of Nora’s Aunt Katherine.

Nora’s cousin Selma has married a frivolous playboy, who disappears before New Year’s. Aunt Katherine asks Nick to find Robert Landis and bring him home. Nick finds Robert, who has taken up with a nightclub singer. Robert is in the process of running off with the singer, when he is shot in front of the Forrest Estate.

Nick works with old friend Lieutenant Abrams, who gathers all the suspects at the end of the film in a common plot device from the film series. Nick walks everyone through the crime until he reveals the solution.

The Thin Man series was based on a popular book “The Thin Man” by Dashiell Hammett. The series was well-written and After The Thin Man (affiliate link) was nominated for a Best Screenplay Academy Award. However, the on-screen chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy is what made the film series. Film viewers assumed Powell and Loy had to be in love with each other.

Besides Powell and Loy, a young Jimmy Stewart also has one of his early roles in this feature film, which runs almost two hours. I watched it recently on Amazon Video. The film was as entertaining as I remember. Let me know what you thought of it.

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