''Shadow of the Thin Man'' is the fourth of six ''The Thin Man''

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

comedy films A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...

. It was released by MGM in 1941 and was directed by W. S. Van Dyke. It stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. Also, in this film their son Nick Jr. (Dickie Hall) is old enough to figure in the comic subplot. Other cast members include Donna Reed and

Barry Nelson Barry Nelson (born Robert Haakon Nielsen; April 16, 1917 – April 7, 2007) was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond. Early life Nelson was born in San Francisco, the son of Norwegian immi ...

. This was one of three films in which Stella Adler appeared.

Plot

Nick and Nora Charles are looking forward to a relaxing day at a racetrack, but when a jockey accused of throwing a race is found shot to death, Police Lieutenant Abrams requests Nick's help. The trail leads to a gambling syndicate that operates out of a wrestling arena, a murdered reporter, and a pretty secretary whose boyfriend has been framed. Along the way, Nick and Nora must contend with a wild wrestling match, a dizzying day at a merry-go-round (accompanied by Nick, Jr.), and a table-clearing restaurant brawl.

Cast

* William Powell as Nick Charles * Myrna Loy as Nora Charles *

as Paul Clarke *

Louise Beavers Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 – October 26, 1962) was an American film and television actress. From the 1920s until 1960, she appeared in dozens of films and two hit television shows. She was most often cast in the roles of a maid, servant ...

as Stella * Donna Reed as Molly * Sam Levene as Lieutenant Abrams * Alan Baxter as "Whitey" Barrow *

Henry O'Neill Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s. Early years He was born in Orange, New Jersey. Caree ...

as Major Jason I. Sculley * Stella Adler as Claire Porter (aka Clara Peters) * Loring Smith as "Link" Stephens * Joseph Anthony as Fred Macy * Will Wright as Maguire - Nervous Ticket Seller (uncredited) *

Sid Melton Sidney Meltzer (May 22, 1917 – November 2, 2011), known professionally as Sid Melton, was an American actor. He played the roles of incompetent carpenter Alf Monroe in the CBS sitcom '' Green Acres'' and Uncle Charlie Halper, proprietor ...

as "Fingers" (uncredited) * Adeline De Walt Reynolds as Barrow's landlady (uncredited) * Tor Johnson as Jack the Ripper - wrestler (uncredited) * Frankie Burke as Jockey at the races (uncredited) * Joe Oakie as Spider Webb (uncredited) * Lou Lubin as Rainbow Benny * Richard Hall as Nick Jr.

Production

Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the husband and wife team who wrote the first three ''Thin Man'' scripts, refused to write another one. Goodrich said "They press you awfully hard there…when they started talking about another Thin Man, we started throwing up and crying into our typewriters. We had the nervous breakdown together, owe said, “let’s get out of here ndwe quit.”" It was based on a story by Harry Kurnitz, not Dashiell Hammett, as the previous films had been, with the script written by Harry Kurnitz and Irving Brecher. After difficulties with the previous films, author

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

was uninvolved in the production of ''Shadow'' or the two subsequent films in the series. On 22 June 1941, MGM filmed exteriors for ''Shadow of the Thin Man'' in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, with Golden Gate Fields racetrack, which first opened 1 February 1941, as ''Greenway Park''. On the

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ...

, Nick and Nora Charles get "pulled over" for speeding on the upper deck of the bridge.

Box office

''Shadow of the Thin Man'' was eagerly welcomed, coming two years after the previous outing and hitting theaters just two weeks before the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

. It would be three years before Loy would make another film (''

The Thin Man Goes Home ''The Thin Man Goes Home'' is a 1945 comedy- mystery film directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six '' Thin Man'' films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper ex-private detective Nick Charles and his ...

'' in 1945) as she left Hollywood for New York, where she volunteered for the war effort with the Red Cross, as an assistant to the director of military and naval welfare. According to MGM records, the film earned $1,453,000 in the US and Canada and $848,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $769,000."The Eddie Mannix Ledger." ''Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study'' (Los Angeles).

Nick and Nora Charles film series

This film was the fourth of six based on the characters of Nick and Nora Charles: * '' The Thin Man'' (1934) * '' After the Thin Man'' (1936) * '' Another Thin Man'' (1939) * ''Shadow of the Thin Man'' (1941) * ''

'' (1945) * '' Song of the Thin Man'' (1947)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow Of The Thin Man 1941 films 1940s crime comedy films 1940s comedy mystery films American black-and-white films American crime comedy films American detective films American sequel films Films directed by W. S. Van Dyke Films set in San Francisco Gambling films American horse racing films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films with screenplays by Harry Kurnitz Films with screenplays by Irving Brecher The Thin Man films American comedy mystery films 1941 comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films