Another Thin Man
Theatrical release poster
Directed byW. S. Van Dyke
Written byAnita Loos
Screenplay by
Story byDashiell Hammett
Based onThe Farewell Murder
by Dashiell Hammett
Produced byHunt Stromberg
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byFredrick Y. Smith
Music byEdward Ward
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
  • November 17, 1939 (1939-11-17) (US)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,107,000
Box office$2,223,000

Another Thin Man is a 1939 American detective film directed by W. S. Van Dyke, the third of six in the Thin Man series. It again stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles and is based on Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op story "The Farewell Murder".[1] The Charles' son Nicky Jr. is introduced for the first time. The cast includes their terrier Asta, Virginia Grey, Otto Kruger, C. Aubrey Smith, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton, Patric Knowles, Sheldon Leonard, Tom Neal, Phyllis Gordon and Marjorie Main. Shemp Howard appears in an uncredited role as Wacky.[2][3]

The film was unable to be called Return of the Thin Man because The Thin Man from the original film was "completely dead" according to newspapers in 1939. It was followed by Shadow of the Thin Man (1941).

Plot

Nick and Nora Charles are back in New York with Asta and their son Nicky Jr. They are invited by Colonel Burr MacFay to spend the weekend at his house on Long Island. MacFay, the former business partner of Nora's father and the administrator of her fortune, desperately wants Nick to put his well-known detective skills to work, as he has been receiving death threats from a shady character named Phil Church. When MacFay is killed, Church seems to be the obvious suspect, but Nick is skeptical, suspecting more than a simple murder. MacFay's housekeeper, his adopted daughter, and various hangers-on all may have had an interest in killing him.

Cast

Reception

The film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes show's the film score to be 85% based on reviews from 20 professional critics.[6]

According to Frank S. Nugent, "this third of the trademarked Thin Men takes its murders as jauntily as ever, confirms our impression that matrimony need not be too serious a business, and provides as light an entertainment as any holiday-amusement seeker is likely to find".[7]

Another Thin Man on the marquee of a Toronto cinema as a double feature with the Richard Arlen film Missing Daughters.

Another Thin Man is the third of six feature films based on the characters of Nick and Nora Charles:

Box office

Another Thin Man grossed a domestic and foreign total of $2,223,000: $1,523,000 from the U.S. and Canada and $700,000 elsewhere. It returned a profit of $394,000.[8]

References

  1. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1938). Catalog of Copyright Entries. p. 269. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  2. ^ "Another Thin Man". The Three Stooges Online Filmography. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  3. ^ "Cast: Another Thin Man". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  4. ^ "'Thin Man' Shows Cuban Dance Team". The Pittsburgh Press. August 30, 1939. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  5. ^ "Another Thin Man". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  6. ^ "Another Thin Man". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  7. ^ Nugent, Frank S. (November 24, 1939). "Post-Turkey Reports on Another Thin Man at the Capitol, Daytime Wife at the Roxy, Flying Deuces at Rialto and a double feature at the Palace". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  8. ^ "The Eddie Mannix Ledger". Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study (Los Angeles).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Another Thin Man (film).
The Thin Man series
Films directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Dashiell Hammett
Categories