William
Powell and Myrna Loy return for their third go-around as married sleuths Nick
and Nora Charles. This time out, in
addition to their loyal pooch Asta, they have their newborn baby Nick Jr. along
on their adventure. An old friend invites
the couple to his secluded mansion out in the country because he’s paranoid
someone is out to get him. When someone
indeed bumps him off, Nick and Nora investigate and try to bring the killer to
justice.
The
addition of a baby to the plot enriches the characters, making them slightly
less of the caricatures they became in the last installment, After the Thin Man. Rarely in film franchises do we get to see
the characters’ lives continue at a realistic progression. The baby itself is cute enough and the sweet scenes
of Asta and the kid give Another Thin Man a different flavor than the previous
installments. Powell and Loy are their
usual charming selves, which also helps, even if their banter isn’t as
consistently amusing as it has been in the past.
Unfortunately,
the story itself is a bit of an old hat.
After a solid start, the film becomes increasingly spotty as it goes
along. As with After the Thin Man, the
plot takes a while to unfurl itself (and takes for too long to wrap itself up),
suffers from a bloated running time, and there are too many side characters
that gum up the works. On the plus side,
those side characters are played by an entertaining supporting cast that
includes Virginia Grey, Nat Pendleton, Sheldon Leonard, Marjorie Main, and a
memorable bit by an uncredited pre-Stooges Shemp Howard.
All
in all, this isn’t a bad entry. Fans of
the series will enjoy it for Powell and Loy’s continued chemistry. Ultimately, there’s just too much fat that
gets in the way of the mystery (which isn’t all that interesting to begin with).
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