Song of the Thin Man (1947)

Song of the Thin Man (1947)

Dean Stockwell (as Nick Jr.) joins the cast in this further Nick and Nora (William Powell and Myrna Loy) adventure where the former flatfoot and the high society bride he married find themselves investigating the murderous result of a four-side triangle aboard a floating casino.

Nora, while still seeking excitement seems to have accepted that her husband has indeed settled nicely into parenthood and is maybe not as insecure about his past as she once was.

After a near-sleepless night of sleuthing she crashes in bed but is still somewhat ready for further action when Nick gets a new, last-minute lead. At the site of the questioning, she again falls asleep (on a chair, a good call-back to that family dinner with those ancient relatives?)

How long can these two go without sleep?

While this remains a nice, solid mystery and works well on its own, we still aren’t quite getting as much drinking, partying, and funny, romantic interplay as before which kinda makes sense as our couple is already just a little bit older (Powell comes off worst, especially in one particular suit they gave him; Loy doesn't look bad, but the wolf whistles she gets are a bit unbelievable, especially with a smoking-hot Gloria Grahame sharing the screen,) and further settled in domesticity.

This would make an interesting double bill with Ball of Fire in its exploration of obscure jazz lingo.

A lot of it is quite dated; some of it still sounds authentic; and some of it is probably just the script writers trying to be much too clever.

Keenan Wynn, whom I mostly identify with his late career crotchety Disney villain roles is not quite what I would picture as a cool, jazz musician, (the best, most authentic onscreen one, both as written and performed, I can think of would have to be the animated Harry Connick Jr. in The Iron Giant), but our two leads turn out to be just a couple of squares even with Nora trying her best.

Nick doesn’t even bother trying.

The final unmasking of the killer happens much too easily and conveniently, especially after a particularly complicated setup, (but do we really care?)

Also, with Phillip Reed and Jayne Meadows.