The Thin Man

This is a classic smooth film. A detective story that takes everything lightly and makes fun of its own levity. Brilliantly directed and brilliantly acted, this picture released in 1934 seems years ahead of its time in production value and general aesthetics. A precursor to numerous Hollywood detective stories, ‘The Thin Man’ is both rich in dialogue and high on style.

Mike Powell and Myrna Loy play the adorable husband and wife team of Nick and Nora Charles. A lavishly young, stylized and affluent couple, thanks to good breeding and inheritance. While Mike is probably the first metrosexual in filmdom, Myrna Loy plays an unbelievably adorable first elf.

Mike Powell’s character in this film seems to live in several actors after him, seen manifested in several roles played by Cary Grant and lately by George Clooney. Even Alan Alda’s Hawkeye, with his constant drinking and mild to medium but always healthy cynicism and undying humor seems to have borrowed from the Thin Man.