Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.
The Thin Man is a genuinely singular film built around the crackling, witty chemistry of William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles — a model of sophisticated screwball-meets-mystery that defined an entire subgenre. Their performances are exceptionally natural and warm, earning a top acting mark. Novelty is high because the film's voice — cocktail-fueled banter, mutual affection replacing the usual romantic tension, a detective who'd rather drink than detect — was genuinely fresh and unmistakably itself, spawning five sequels but never quite being replicated. The plot is a serviceable mystery with a busy cast of suspects that can feel cluttered, and the cinematography, while competent pre-code studio work, is functional rather than distinguished. The ending dinner-table revelation is a charming genre set-piece but not especially surprising by modern standards.