Shadow of the Thin Man

The Thin Man
Directed by	W.S. Van Dyke
Produced by	Hunt Stromberg
Written by	Dashiell Hammett (novel) Harry Kurnitz
Starring	William Powell Myrna Loy
Music by	Edward Ward
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	November 21, 1941 (1941-11-21)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Shadow of the Thin Man is the fourth of the six The Thin Man films. It was released 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.

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.

Production notes

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. It would be three years before Loy would make another film (The Thin Man Goes Home in 1945) as she left Hollywood for New York, where she volunteered with the Red Cross.

The film includes a historic sequence on the then-new San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge when the Charles' car is stopped by a highway patrolman. Just after this scene, there's also a shot of the MacArthur Maze, an interchange on the east end of the bridge. The local racetrack central to the plot is Golden Gate Fields.

For this film, producers moved Nick and Nora from their mansion into a modest flat, in consideration of the cutbacks that U.S. citizens were making during wartime.

Cast

• William Powell as Nick Charles
• Myrna Loy as Nora Charles
• Barry Nelson as Paul Clarke
• Donna Reed as Molly
• Sam Levene as Lieutenant Abrams
• Alan Baxter as "Whitey" Barrow
• Henry O'Neill as Major Jason I. Sculley
• Dickie Hall as Nick, Jr.
• Stella Adler as Claire Porter aka Clara Peters
• Loring Smith as "Link" Stephens
• Joseph Anthony as Fred Macy
• Lou Lubin as "Rainbow" Benny
• Louise Beavers as Stella

External links

• Shadow of the Thin Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Shadow of the Thin Man at AllRovi