On May 25, 1934, “The Thin Man” was released to rave reviews and big box office returns. The popularity of husband-and-wife sleuths Nick and Nora Charles set the standard for romantic comedies with a dash of thrill and mystery, and cemented actors William Powell and Myrna Loy as one of the greatest film teams of all time. Read on for more about “The Thin Man” 90th anniversary.
Dashiell Hammett was a well-known writer of hardboiled detective novels, but he added a light touch to his novel “The Thin Man,” and MGM quickly snatched up the film rights. Nick Charles (Powell) is a retired detective who enjoys the high life with his wealthy socialite wife Nora (Loy) and their spoiled pooch Asta (Skippy). Nick is lured back to his mystery-solving days by the disappearance of his old acquaintance, Clyde (Edward Ellis), whose daughter Dorothy (Maureen O’Sullivan) begs Nick to find out what happened to her father.
Dashiell Hammett was a well-known writer of hardboiled detective novels, but he added a light touch to his novel “The Thin Man,” and MGM quickly snatched up the film rights. Nick Charles (Powell) is a retired detective who enjoys the high life with his wealthy socialite wife Nora (Loy) and their spoiled pooch Asta (Skippy). Nick is lured back to his mystery-solving days by the disappearance of his old acquaintance, Clyde (Edward Ellis), whose daughter Dorothy (Maureen O’Sullivan) begs Nick to find out what happened to her father.
- 5/25/2024
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
The cherished screen team of William Powell and Myrna Loy met “cute” on their first film together, the gritty 1934 “Manhattan Melodrama.” According to TCM.com, first scene in the film required her to run out a building, maneuver through a crowd of people and jump into a car. The film’s director W.S. “Woody” Van Dyke, who was nicknamed “One Take Woody” because of his efficiency, didn’t bother to introduce the actress to Powell. So, when Van Dyke called “action “Loy recalled jumping into the car and landing “smack on William Powell’s lap. He looked up nonchalantly: Miss Loy, I presume?” I said, Mr. Powell? That’s how I met the man who would be my partner in 14 films.”
It was their next film, the smart screwball comedy/mystery “The Thin Man,” which opened May 25, 1934, transformed the couple into top stars at MGM. Directed by Van Dyke...
It was their next film, the smart screwball comedy/mystery “The Thin Man,” which opened May 25, 1934, transformed the couple into top stars at MGM. Directed by Van Dyke...
- 5/20/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
David O. Selznick, one of the most famous producers in Hollywood history, almost passed on his most famous movie.
According to Time, Selznick's story editor, Kay Brown, found author Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" and tried to convince the producer to adapt it into a movie. (You can read her actual note to him here.) But when Selznick first read the synopsis and realized it was a Civil War story, he passed on the project, reportedly because it was too similar to a movie he had recently made, 1935's "So Red the Rose," which was a financial disappointment. No trailers for "So Red the Rose" are available on YouTube or any other legal streaming platform, but this tribute video contains some footage from the film. Watching that, it's easy to see why Selznick may have been hesitant to greenlight "Gone with the Wind" -- there are plenty of surface-level similarities,...
According to Time, Selznick's story editor, Kay Brown, found author Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" and tried to convince the producer to adapt it into a movie. (You can read her actual note to him here.) But when Selznick first read the synopsis and realized it was a Civil War story, he passed on the project, reportedly because it was too similar to a movie he had recently made, 1935's "So Red the Rose," which was a financial disappointment. No trailers for "So Red the Rose" are available on YouTube or any other legal streaming platform, but this tribute video contains some footage from the film. Watching that, it's easy to see why Selznick may have been hesitant to greenlight "Gone with the Wind" -- there are plenty of surface-level similarities,...
- 3/3/2024
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon is the latest turn in a long motion picture tradition of pilfering FBI case files for screen scenarios. Originally, Hollywood coveted the validation of the bureau (“based on actual FBI case histories!”) and the personal imprimatur of its lord high ruler, J. Edgar Hoover (who in 1945 actually read life insurance commercials for NBC radio’s This Is Your FBI). Today, it often takes cues without the official stamp of the FBI shield. Either way, the two American institutions have enjoyed a profitable relationship.
Created in 1908 within the Department of Justice as the Bureau of Investigation and formally branded with the trademark initials in 1935, the FBI grew up during the first wave of electronic age media and took full advantage of the coincidence. Hollywood cinema (newsreels, shorts, and feature films), radio crime shows, comic strips and television series...
Created in 1908 within the Department of Justice as the Bureau of Investigation and formally branded with the trademark initials in 1935, the FBI grew up during the first wave of electronic age media and took full advantage of the coincidence. Hollywood cinema (newsreels, shorts, and feature films), radio crime shows, comic strips and television series...
- 7/7/2023
- by Thomas Doherty
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Long before Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” (2006) won the best picture Oscar, Academy voters had a soft spot for bad fellas. From the first Academy Awards, voters have taken crime tales and gangster yarns seriously. In 1929, “The Racket” was “best picture, production” nommed, and Ben Hecht won the screenplay award for “Underworld.” In 1931, the classic James Cagney-starrer “The Public Enemy,” competed in the original screenplay category, while Edward G. Robinson’s iconic “Little Caesar” competed for the adapted screenplay award.
In 1935, the gangster film not only won its second Oscar, but that movie became part of American crime lore when John Dillinger met his fate at the hands of the G-men’s Tommy guns when he made the mistake of escorting a certain lady in red to a screening of the picture in Chicago.
As evidence of the genre’s respectability back in that era, perhaps no “serious” actor...
In 1935, the gangster film not only won its second Oscar, but that movie became part of American crime lore when John Dillinger met his fate at the hands of the G-men’s Tommy guns when he made the mistake of escorting a certain lady in red to a screening of the picture in Chicago.
As evidence of the genre’s respectability back in that era, perhaps no “serious” actor...
- 12/20/2019
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
<em>On May 4, 1934, MGM unveiled Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy, in theaters. The film went on to win an Oscar for original story at the 7th Academy Awards ceremony. The Hollywood Reporter's original review is below: </em>
Even if <em>Manhattan Melodrama</em> were only half as good as it is, you would have a hit picture in the combination of Gable, Powell and Myrna Loy. But with the sure-fire audience plot contained in the story by Arthur Caesar and screenplay by Garrett and Mankiewicz, plus the powerful direction by W.S. Van Dyke, it has all ...
Even if <em>Manhattan Melodrama</em> were only half as good as it is, you would have a hit picture in the combination of Gable, Powell and Myrna Loy. But with the sure-fire audience plot contained in the story by Arthur Caesar and screenplay by Garrett and Mankiewicz, plus the powerful direction by W.S. Van Dyke, it has all ...
On May 4, 1934, MGM unveiled Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy, in theaters. The film went on to win an Oscar for original story at the 7th Academy Awards ceremony. The Hollywood Reporter's original review is below:
Even if Manhattan Melodrama were only half as good as it is, you would have a hit picture in the combination of Gable, Powell and Myrna Loy. But with the sure-fire audience plot contained in the story by Arthur Caesar and screenplay by Garrett and Mankiewicz, plus the powerful direction by W.S. Van Dyke, it has all the...
Even if Manhattan Melodrama were only half as good as it is, you would have a hit picture in the combination of Gable, Powell and Myrna Loy. But with the sure-fire audience plot contained in the story by Arthur Caesar and screenplay by Garrett and Mankiewicz, plus the powerful direction by W.S. Van Dyke, it has all the...
- 3/22/2018
- by THR Staff
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s no secret that I think Michael Mann is the greatest director of all-time, dead or otherwise. One can throw all the Scorsese, Kurosawa, Ford, or Spielberg they want and I’ll still conclude that Mann is better than all of them. His style is unparalleled and has influenced my own approach to the way I make films. Maybe it’s how cool he makes everyone appear in his movies, or maybe it’s how no one does action better than him. Mr. Mann just has a touch to his films that really speaks to me. I’m awed by how well and how different he’ll shoot his material and how he builds his characters for the actors. While not every one his films has been masterworks (Ali and The Keep come to mind) he rarely misses. Public Enemies, I’m proud to say, falls into the latter category.
- 12/8/2009
- by Philip Barrett
- ReelLoop.com
“I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars and you. What else do you need to know?”
Public Enemies is Michael Mann’s first venture into true-life territory since 1999’s The Insider. He has long been a master of slick fictionalised crime – his CV is a roll call of criminal capers and cops. The first twenty minutes of Public Enemies is this familiar Mann – the man who made Heat, Collateral and Miami Vice is here you think. The screen, the very room filled with slick staccato sights and sounds. It is cool; it looks period but feels contemporary, fast paced; a jail break, a bank heist, bang, bang, rapid-fire images, bang, bang. A car crests a hill with the robbers on the running boards clutching hostages to them, pretty girls, big guns, devil-may-care men; Gangsters. It explodes out of the screen burning with the same white-hot intensity that Mann believes...
Public Enemies is Michael Mann’s first venture into true-life territory since 1999’s The Insider. He has long been a master of slick fictionalised crime – his CV is a roll call of criminal capers and cops. The first twenty minutes of Public Enemies is this familiar Mann – the man who made Heat, Collateral and Miami Vice is here you think. The screen, the very room filled with slick staccato sights and sounds. It is cool; it looks period but feels contemporary, fast paced; a jail break, a bank heist, bang, bang, rapid-fire images, bang, bang. A car crests a hill with the robbers on the running boards clutching hostages to them, pretty girls, big guns, devil-may-care men; Gangsters. It explodes out of the screen burning with the same white-hot intensity that Mann believes...
- 11/2/2009
- by Emily Breen
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
[Spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen "Inglourious Basterds."]
There have been two moments in film this year that have moved me to my cine-loving core. Both involved individuals stirred by the power of image, art and mythology. And both illustrated a personal investment for each character (some, real-life characters), revealing a potent significance and identification -- something that ascended beyond mere fandom. Simple and yet complex, these moments were meaningful to these people.
One, occurred in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies." Watching John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) fatefully sitting inside the Biograph watching Clark Gable as Blackie, essentially playing a version of Johnny (John Dillinger) in "Manhattan Melodrama," the look on J.D.'s face was gripping. And not only because we know what's going to happen to the legendary gangster once he steps out of that theater, but for all of the imagined ideas going through Dillinger's head at that moment. How could he not think...
There have been two moments in film this year that have moved me to my cine-loving core. Both involved individuals stirred by the power of image, art and mythology. And both illustrated a personal investment for each character (some, real-life characters), revealing a potent significance and identification -- something that ascended beyond mere fandom. Simple and yet complex, these moments were meaningful to these people.
One, occurred in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies." Watching John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) fatefully sitting inside the Biograph watching Clark Gable as Blackie, essentially playing a version of Johnny (John Dillinger) in "Manhattan Melodrama," the look on J.D.'s face was gripping. And not only because we know what's going to happen to the legendary gangster once he steps out of that theater, but for all of the imagined ideas going through Dillinger's head at that moment. How could he not think...
- 9/9/2009
- by Kim Morgan
- ifc.com
[Re-printed from my story "What Inglourious Basterds Owes to History" publlished at IFC. Spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen Inglourious Basterds.] There have been two moments in film this year that have moved me to my cine-loving core. Both involved individuals stirred by the power of image, art and mythology. And both illustrated a personal investment for each character (some, real-life characters), revealing a potent significance and identification -- something that ascended beyond mere fandom. Simple and yet complex, these moments were meaningful to these people. One, occurred in Michael Mann's Public Enemies. Watching John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) fatefully sitting inside the Biograph watching Clark Gable as Blackie, essentially playing a version of Johnny (Johnny Dillinger) in Manhattan Melodrama, the look on J.D.'s face was gripping. And not only because we know what's going to happen to the legendary...
- 9/1/2009
- by Kim Morgan
- Huffington Post
Self Styled Siren "anecdote of the week" the great Myrna Loy (Manhattan Melodrama) on John Dillinger -- a great choice 0f topic given all the discussion about Public Enemies this week.
PopWatch the future and end of Friday Night Lights, one of the best shows on television. If you haven't yet watched, please do yourself the favor and rent the DVDs.
Kenneth in the (212) on the documentary "My Big Break". A documentarian decided to film his struggling actor roommates and three of the four ended up finding some fame.
Lazy Eye Theater is a patriot. He alerts the authorities to Roland Emmerich's questionable activities. "If you see something, say something!"
The Hot Blog David Poland has some deep thoughts on the audience/critical divide and what we (the audience) need and accept from movies. Good stuff though I'm not so sure about the final Star Wars examples. CGI Yoda...
PopWatch the future and end of Friday Night Lights, one of the best shows on television. If you haven't yet watched, please do yourself the favor and rent the DVDs.
Kenneth in the (212) on the documentary "My Big Break". A documentarian decided to film his struggling actor roommates and three of the four ended up finding some fame.
Lazy Eye Theater is a patriot. He alerts the authorities to Roland Emmerich's questionable activities. "If you see something, say something!"
The Hot Blog David Poland has some deep thoughts on the audience/critical divide and what we (the audience) need and accept from movies. Good stuff though I'm not so sure about the final Star Wars examples. CGI Yoda...
- 7/7/2009
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Public Enemies is the story of John Dillinger, the silver-tongued bank robber turned folk hero of post-Depression America, and it’s another riveting slice of American crime cinema from director Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral). The film opens with a terrifically visceral jailbreak sequence, as Dillinger busts his gang out of the Indiana State Penitentiary, and the narrative then traces the frenetic 15 months that followed, as Dillinger robbed banks, murdered cops, became a household name, and died on the sidewalk outside the Biograph movie theatre. Mann and star Johnny Depp, who plays Dillinger, spoke about the project at the film’s London press conference:
Mann: “What really interested me was not so much that he [Dillinger] gets out of prison but he explodes onto the landscape, and he’s determined to have everything right now. He lived the dynamic of maybe four or five lifetimes in one, and that one life is only 15 months long,...
Mann: “What really interested me was not so much that he [Dillinger] gets out of prison but he explodes onto the landscape, and he’s determined to have everything right now. He lived the dynamic of maybe four or five lifetimes in one, and that one life is only 15 months long,...
- 7/2/2009
- by Chris Neilan
- Movie-moron.com
Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp in Public Enemies
Photo: Universal Pictures It's no secret how the life of John Dillinger came to an end; so when Michael Mann begins his telling of the Dillinger story in 1933 only allowing for just over a year's worth of story to be told he isn't giving himself a lot of time. However, in a matter of only a few scenes Mann establishes his lead as a calculated and loyal criminal capable of breaking his friends out of jail, but unwilling to lose one along the way -- that is unless you are the man upon which Dillinger places blame. Here is our hero, or anti-hero as it is, and Johnny Depp plays him with an accomplished steely gaze. It's a low-key performance surrounded by menace, desire and love, but at the same time this film won't be for everyone as its slow pace and...
Photo: Universal Pictures It's no secret how the life of John Dillinger came to an end; so when Michael Mann begins his telling of the Dillinger story in 1933 only allowing for just over a year's worth of story to be told he isn't giving himself a lot of time. However, in a matter of only a few scenes Mann establishes his lead as a calculated and loyal criminal capable of breaking his friends out of jail, but unwilling to lose one along the way -- that is unless you are the man upon which Dillinger places blame. Here is our hero, or anti-hero as it is, and Johnny Depp plays him with an accomplished steely gaze. It's a low-key performance surrounded by menace, desire and love, but at the same time this film won't be for everyone as its slow pace and...
- 7/1/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
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