Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 3-August-03
Spoiler Rating: Low

The Thin Man (1934)

It's comforting to know that there have been times when marriage was sexy in Hollywood. This is hard to believe nowadays, when romantic movies invariably show how boy met girl, boy lost girl, and boy regained and proposed to girl, with no interest whatsoever in taking the story beyond the altar. The initial attraction, pursuit, and yearning are what turn people on, while the thought of someone waking up next to the same person every single day seems horribly painful or boring.

But arguably the sexiest and most captivating romantic pair the movies have ever known is a couple of marrieds well past the point where they could be called a boy and a girl. I speak of course of Nick and Nora Charles (as embodied by William Powell and Myrna Loy), stars of the six Thin Man movies made between 1934 and 1947. Adapted from Dashiell Hammett, the series follows the escapades of a "retired" master detective and his heiress wife, whose leisurely lifestyle of late nights, dry martinis, and trips around the country is repeatedly interrupted by murder and mayhem. Nick Charles is the epitome of dapper insouciance: brilliant, impeccably dressed, always ready with a quip, and unflappable in every situation. Nora is the only woman who could ever tie him down: smart, classy, funny, and completely self-possessed. Together (and with their famous terrier Asta), they serve up more affectionate and irreverent fun than any other couple on film, and they do so amid a large cast of supporting characters who leave you guessing Whodunit? until the very end.

"The Thin Man" starts the series off on a good foot. Surprisingly, the eponymous character is not Nick Charles, but an inventor named Wynant who disappears at the beginning of the film. Only his daughter Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) sincerely misses the old man, especially since he promised to give her away at her impending New Year's wedding. But many others want to know where he is for less sentimental reasons (usually involving his money), and one by one they line up as potential suspects in an increasingly intricate plot. In town for pleasure, not business, Nick and Nora unexpectedly find themselves visited by Wynant's lawyer, ex-wife, estranged mistress, and daffy son, as well as a couple of worthless lugs attached to Wynant's women and a stool pigeon hoping to profit from the madness. Nick is also sought out by the cop on the case (Nat Pendleton), who, like most policemen in detective stories, is gruff and bluff but never quite up to snuff. Between holiday parties and hourly applications of booze, Nick manages to gather together clues with Nora egging him on. They finally stage an elegant dinner party with all of the suspects on hand (or at least the ones still breathing), where Nick proceeds to flush out the killer.

Powell and Loy are so utterly at ease with their breezy roles and each other that it's hard to believe they're paid actors. (Their chemistry ensures that Nick and Nora are as much models of cool today as they were 70 years ago.) To be honest, the Charleses are the kind of people best approached through fiction: they're too confident, comfortable, and pleased with their lives to be palatable if you really knew them. On screen, however, they are delightful, making marriage, love, and crime fighting seem like a delicious lark. They are also marvelously bawdy, as in this interchange from "The Thin Man" in which Nora, lounging in her new Christmas fur, describes the exaggerated accounts of Nick's adventures that appear in the morning papers:

Nora: "You were shot five times, in the tabloids."
Nick: "It's not true: he didn't come anywhere near my tabloids."

"The Thin Man" and its sequels are romantic movies that aren't about two people falling in love, and that's their greatest strength. In addition to intricate and interesting mysteries, they provide a look at a couple who make every moment of their married life a good time. And that, my friends, is a turn-on.

Copyright © 2003 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.