A new decade has begun, Nick Jr. is growing bigger - but Nick and Nora still are FAR from being 'normal' American parents: Nick reads the horse racing news to his son instead of fairy tales, Nora prepares her husband a cocktail to 'lure' him home... But Nickie Jr. has also already developed QUITE a stubbornness: he forces his father to drink... MILK! Nick, on his part, exceeds the speed limit once again; and so they are escorted by the police to the racetrack where they were heading for - but when they arrive there, the whole place is packed with cops: a jockey has just been murdered...
Of course, Nick can't resist helping poor, slow-witted Lieutenant Abrams with the case, which inevitably soon leads them to a big-scale gambling ring, which government official Major Sculley is trying to break, with the help of a brave young reporter, Paul Clarke, an old friend of Nick's an Nora's. And while Nora drags Nick to a wrestling event (!), where the gambling ring is of course also involved, Paul gets some information from his girlfriend, who's the secretary of one of the crooks, and he decides to break into his office to search for evidence - and stumbles upon his 'bad' colleague Whitey there, who's working and writing for the gangsters. A fight for the incriminating notebook ensues; and the result is that both reporters are found on the floor - Whitey shot, and Paul unconscious with a pistol next to him, as the number one murder suspect...
Now, for the sake of his friend, Nick starts investigating for good, of course, and we soon get to know a whole bunch of shady types who are all more or less involved in the whole thing - but where's the notebook, and who's the head of the ring?? With the atmosphere being nicely balanced between a tough crime yarn and a hilarious spoof throughout the movie, we certainly won't get bored until Nick enlightens us in the end...
This forth entry in the 'Thin Man' series (and the last one being directed by W.S. van Dyke, who died two years later) really almost equals its 30s' predecessors concerning suspense as well as fun; William Powell and Myrna Loy once again play Hollywood's most unusual couple - and by now parents, too - in a most wonderful and charming way, the plot is very clever and twisted (but not too much for those who keep paying attention!) - it could maybe be called the last 'classic' one of the 'Thin Man' movies. Not that the last two films that followed during and after the War were that much inferior, but the style definitely changed due to the circumstances and the generally changing attitudes in the American society...
Of course, Nick can't resist helping poor, slow-witted Lieutenant Abrams with the case, which inevitably soon leads them to a big-scale gambling ring, which government official Major Sculley is trying to break, with the help of a brave young reporter, Paul Clarke, an old friend of Nick's an Nora's. And while Nora drags Nick to a wrestling event (!), where the gambling ring is of course also involved, Paul gets some information from his girlfriend, who's the secretary of one of the crooks, and he decides to break into his office to search for evidence - and stumbles upon his 'bad' colleague Whitey there, who's working and writing for the gangsters. A fight for the incriminating notebook ensues; and the result is that both reporters are found on the floor - Whitey shot, and Paul unconscious with a pistol next to him, as the number one murder suspect...
Now, for the sake of his friend, Nick starts investigating for good, of course, and we soon get to know a whole bunch of shady types who are all more or less involved in the whole thing - but where's the notebook, and who's the head of the ring?? With the atmosphere being nicely balanced between a tough crime yarn and a hilarious spoof throughout the movie, we certainly won't get bored until Nick enlightens us in the end...
This forth entry in the 'Thin Man' series (and the last one being directed by W.S. van Dyke, who died two years later) really almost equals its 30s' predecessors concerning suspense as well as fun; William Powell and Myrna Loy once again play Hollywood's most unusual couple - and by now parents, too - in a most wonderful and charming way, the plot is very clever and twisted (but not too much for those who keep paying attention!) - it could maybe be called the last 'classic' one of the 'Thin Man' movies. Not that the last two films that followed during and after the War were that much inferior, but the style definitely changed due to the circumstances and the generally changing attitudes in the American society...