Review of Shadow of the Thin Man

I love the chemistry that William Powell and Myrna Loy display throughout the entire Thin Man series and "Shadow" is no exception. This film is packed with humor, mostly centered around Nick's drinking and gambling vices and the "screwy" hat that Nora wears to a wrestling match. My favorite scenes are toward the beginning of the film and include a line where Nora tells her maid that little Nick, Jr. is getting more like his father everyday to which the maid responds that she caught the little boy playing with a corkscrew earlier. The scene where Nick, Jr. insists that his daddy drink milk and Nora demands it by removing his cocktail shaker and ordering him a glass of it is hilarious. The great detective is momentarily reduced to a small child protesting and then making horrible faces when he actually drinks it.

While the humor is terrific and the plot serviceable, unfortunately, many of the supporting characters are so one dimensional and cliched. I think this was more a function of the writing and direction rather than the supporting actors, which included Donna Reed. She is given so little to do in this film except to stand by and act helpless. The worst supporting character was the lawyer of one of the suspects who does nothing but get in the way. I still enjoyed this movie and would rate this somewhere in the middle of the Thin Man series(better than "Song" and "Another, but not up to the original and "After"). 7/10