THE THIN MAN (1934)

Hard-drinking Nick Charles (William Powell) is one of the greatest detectives alive, but he recently married a wealthy industrialist's daughter, Nora (Myrna Loy), so from now on it's smooth sailing!!  No more gumshoeing or hiding in the shadows for him. No siree, Bob! Just a bunch of relaxing, getting drunk as a skunk and gettin' up in his wife's guts...or at least that was the plan.

No matter how hard he fights it, he can't help but get pulled into the case of a married scientist (Edward Ellis) who disappeared around the time his mistress was found murdered. All of New York is abuzz with wild rumors and stories. And to make matters even worse, Nick's beautiful new bride is chomping at the bit to see her famous detective husband in action! Finally, he agrees and after some entertaining snooping around, he has all of the players in the mystery forced to attend a dinner party at his penthouse.  Fireworks ensue.

The murder mystery in THE THIN MAN is entertaining, but the real attraction (and the reason the film endures even to this day) is the on-screen chemistry between Myrna Loy and William Powell.  The two of them together as Nick and Nora Charles really is movie perfection.  The playfulness and quick wit...and the funny faces!  Oh my god, the funny faces they make at each other is the cutest thing that I've seen in a long time.

Quick pace, great mystery, amazing supporting cast, nice use of shadows, clever script (based on an outstanding novel by Dashiell Hammett), outstanding direction by W.S. Van Dyke (a.k.a. "One-Take Woody") who somehow shot this movie in less than 3 weeks!!!  Fun fact: Hammett's novel was originally published in December 1933 and the film premiered five months later in May 1934!  Holy duck-billed platypus testicles, that's fast!!!

If you enjoy classic Hollywood mysteries, then THE THIN MAN is required viewing and the start to a wonderful series that actually has a two sequels that I think are better than the original (parts 2 and 3). Highly recommended.

Part 2 - After the Thin Man (1936)
Part 3 - Another Thin Man (1939)
Part 4 - Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Part 5 - The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Part 6 - Song of the Thin Man (1947)

PARNELL (1937)

This sixth pairing of Clark Gable and Myrna Loy finds them portraying real life 19th century Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell and his wife Katharine O'Shea.  Before watching the film, I'd never even heard of Charles Parnell and afterwards I still didn't know much and cared even less, but I did look him up on Wikipedia and from just the few minutes I spent on there, it seems like this film was wildly inaccurate.  Example: In the film they only had a brief courtship and a very short marriage before his early death, but in reality they had three children together while she was still married to another man!!!

Historical inaccuracies aside, PARNELL is still a snoozer.  I love Gable and Loy, but watching them here was a chore.  Neither have anything to work with and as a result the entire film is just lifeless scene after lifeless scene...Gable gives a lame speech, Loy and Gable talking, more talking, politic rivals dislike Gable, Billie Burke talks and it make me daydream about THE WIZARD OF OZ, Donald Meek shows up and I start daydreaming about YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, more talking, Gable and Loy eat potatoes, Gable and Loy love each other, Gable goes on trial, more talking, The End.

As far as the filmmaking qualities go PARNELL looked good and the acting was passable, but the story was just terrible!  Zero ups or downs, boring characters, dull romance.  Ugh, PARNELL is simply a nothing movie.  Skip it.