Watch Song of the Thin Man For Free

Lack of good storyline.

A Major Disappointment

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This was another excuse to showcase the wonderful chemistry between Loy and Powell. Thankfully, I cannot say that there is no attention to detail, story, plot, or execution, because there is. It does somehow seem to be secondary, however, to the marvelous on screen relationship the principles enjoy.I like this in spite of the comparatively weak production style, plot, etc. and more for the quirky, sweet element and less for the tremendously compelling story or plot. It has a close feeling to Another Thin Man in that it was enjoyable, not as good as Shadow, or the first two installments, but enjoyable, nonetheless.All in all? This is great for an afternoon, or rainy day movie.It rates a 7.3/10 from...the Fiend :.

Song of the Thin Man is a sad-sweet experience, something like meeting a good friend you haven't seen in years and realizing how much affection you still have for him... but also how much you both have aged. It's been 13 years since The Thin Man appeared in 1934. We have to stop and remember that Nick Charles wasn't the thin man back then; that particular thin man was just one of the many murder victims Nick and Nora came across in their six movies. We remember the sophistication and insouciance of this affectionate and clever couple. They were never at a loss for a quick come-back or to shake a cold, gin martini. Even Nick's modus operandi to bring all the suspects together at the conclusion and pick apart the case until he has the murderer squirming never quite got stale. Alas, with Song of the Thin Man we have the MGM factory squeezing out one more film to try to wring a profit from it, this time attempting to make it "contemporary" by setting the story in the post-WWII social world of after-hours jazz clubs, bebop musicians and hep cat dialogue. Nick and Nora never looked uncomfortable anywhere their adventures took them in the past. They look at times now as out of place as salesmen from Peru, Indiana, at a Linda and Cole Porter party. Gone is the sophisticated world of white sofas and polished black floors, of naughty Porter lyrics and earnestly sophisticated Gershwin tunes. Martinis seem oddly old fashioned now (and so do Old Fashioneds) as Nick drinks high balls and Nora sips sherry. And instead of clever repartee, Song of the Thin Man gives us the kind of dialogue only studio journeymen can write. Says one character, "I must have blown my top, kicking Buddy over for a road company Casanova like you!" The solution depends on the kind of half-baked, melodramatic psychology popular at the time. To make it even more tedious, there are no characters except Nick and Nora to care about. The movie is peopled with crooks, opportunists, gold- diggers, scat-talking musicians and the unattractive rich. The acting is so variable that it doesn't take long to realize we're watching the kind of movie that MGM did not waste much effort on. Why spend time on it? Two names: William Powell and Myrna Loy. Even though 13 years have elapsed, even though, at 55, Powell is a little fuller around the face (Loy at 42 doesn't seem to have changed a bit) and even though WWII altered decisively the world of films, they remain one of the most refreshing, attractive and delightful movie pairs in screen history. They raise the movie, if at least not to their level, to a level of enduring affection for their style, their warmth, their intelligence and, that word again, their insouciance. So three stars is too much for the movie but five stars is too little for them.

1947 was the last gasp for several long-running MGM series': Maisie bit the dust with Undercover Maisie, grumpy Dr. Gillespie rode out into the sunset on his wheelchair in Dark Delusion and, most notably, Nick & Nora untangled their 6th and last case in Song of the Thin Man. Unfortunately for fans (myself included), this was a pretty limp exit plot-wise. Powell, rather jowly and now well past the age of 50 was still playing Nick like he was capable of jumping shank-wielding thugs and comically weaning himself off the lure of the bottle. Loy and Asta don't look to have aged one whit. The plot involved the gambling boat murder of a womanizing band leader, Tommy Drake, who may--or may not--- have been in debt to the tune of 12G's and had a long list of enemies, including a drunken clarinet player, the gambling boat owner (and his wife), a hood, and any number of the boys in his band. Keenan Wynne's on hand as a hep-talking member of the reed section, whose got an enormous amount of screen time (L.B. Mayer had kept his promise to give him better roles in exchange for divorcing his wife so Van Johnson could have her). Eddie Buzzell directed this without noir or the late W.S. Van Dyke's cleverness. Nick & Nora still co-habitate in twin beds, live in a now zillion dollar Manhattan flat (noticably lacking a new-fangled TV per MGM edict) and there's an occasional glimpse of a fabulous car amongst some wildly cheap looking backdrops--- the irritating Jayne Meadows tools around town suspiciously in a V-12 Lincoln Continental convertible while Nick & Nora pile in and out of postwar suicide door DeSoto cabs. Without giving up a spoiler, the lesson here is never try to keep a dame in expensive jewelry.

Totally ordinary now, the Thin Man bowed out as slightly off-key as one of the clarinet solos played by the mysterious key character Buddy. Can madness be turned on and off like a tap? However still some fine moments here even for 1947, but especially for 2006.Murder is committed on a heaving nightclub-boat the Charles are disporting themselves on, and Nick launches himself into the case with gusto for the once and only. The dissembling suspects are assembled for the viewers, but with this lot for the first time I didn't care whether they were all guilty or innocent. None of them were given enough time to become interesting, whether as baddies or semi-baddies. If Nick had pointed out Junior as the murderer I would have been surprised but accepted his deductions as infallible as usual. Keenan Wynn and other all-white musicians laid on the hep talk with a trowel, to Nick and Nora's continual generation gap bewilderment.Overall a tremendous Golden Age Hollywood comedy drama series, starting with a bang and ending with a slight fizzle. So 6/6 it was but I give this one a good 7/10.