The Worst Film Ever

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Fourth in the fabulous Thin Man series has Nick & Nora investigating a murder at a race track. Also in this one is the ever-adorable dog Asta and the Charles' young son Nicky. The Thin Man series was a cut above the other detective films from the '30s and '40s. Even though this fourth film isn't the series' best, it's still a great watch. William Powell and Myrna Loy are both flawless as usual. They still have that undeniable chemistry we all love. The supporting cast includes Donna Reed, Barry Nelson, Sam Levene, Louise Beavers, and famed acting teacher Stella Adler in a rare film appearance. Highlights include Nora at the wrestling match, Nick being forced to drink milk, the old lady with the radio, and colorful characters like Meatballs Murphy, Spider Webb, and Rainbow Benny. A fun movie that fans of the series will love.

Watching Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) Charles takes you back to a day when wit was king, and men carried cigarette cases and gold lighters. The subtle humor throughout makes this more than a simple murder mystery.Oscar and Golden Globe winner Donna Reed ("The Donna Reed Show", From Here to Eternity) gets a big break in her debut year as she gets a good role in the film. This was Barry Nelson's film debut, but it din't work as well for him as it did for Reed.Even the dog Astor was hilarious, and the Charles are now parents of a four-year=old, even though there was only two years since the last film.Great movie.

Caught this again in a TCM triple feature of Thin Man movies. Even I'm not old enough to have seen these in the theater, but I saw them before as a youth when all of these movies were dumped by Hollywood onto the small screen in the Fifties and Sixties. They have aged very well. Myrna Loy is beautiful and wonderful as perhaps the prototypical smart Aleck and generally competent wife and partner. Her money obviously allows her husband William Powell to be the wise cracking, hard drinking playboy detective in the series start. She's a good influence and he turns into a more acceptable father type by the series end. The movies are all well written, directed and filled with plenty of great 'character actors'. Plot and character driven with nothing a modern audience would perceive as a 'special effect', they're also good detective stories. There's always the gathering of the suspects and the review of the clues at the end where in the less litigious '30s and '40s the killer always confesses. Highly recommended as light comedy and drama.

Spoilers herein.There's something of a miracle at work here. This consists of amazing characters, some of the very best in movieland. By this film, we already know the setup: the dog, the booze, the prodding wife, and the fact that Nick knows everyone in town.I believe the magic of Hammett was that the created stories that weren't just incidental, but integral to the lives of these attractive weirdos. This is the first of the series to not be based on a Hammett story. So we get characters that are a little more colorful and a story that almost is background noise.Nonetheless, Van Dyke - nearing his suicide - falls off his usually crisp rhythm. Everything is off in the pacing, from completely unnecessary and unfunny sequences (the carousel) to an amazingly hackneyed bar fight scene, except in a restaurant. Consequently, the snappy delivery of the dialog in the original is off. The words are there, but no humor.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.