Themes: Unlikely Criminals, Art Theft, Bumbling Cops
Main Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gloria de Haven, Lucile Watson, Anne Revere, Harry Davenport
Release Year: 1944
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
This fifth entry in MGM's off-and-on "Thin Man" series maintains the high production and story values of the first four. Per the title, retired private detective Nick Charles (William Powell) pays a visit to his home town of Sycamore Springs, with wife Nora (Myrna Loy) in tow. Poor Nick is amusingly browbeaten by his parents (Harry Davenport and Lucile Watson), who wanted their boy to study medicine, is frustrated by the fact that there isn't a good stiff drink to be had in town, and is hilariously defeated by a recalcitrant hammock. In a more serious vein, Nick and Nora become involved in international intrigue while investigating the murder of a local house painter. If the identity of the murderer seems obvious today, it is only because the actor in question has played so many "surprise killers" in other films of this genre. A refreshing change of pace for the usually urbanized "Thin Man" series, The Thin Man Goes Home features such colorful suspects as Gloria DeHaven, Edward Brophy, Lloyd Corrigan, Leon Ames, and, best of all, Ann Revere as a local eccentric named "Crazy Mary". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
"Every closet has a skeleton," says famed New York detective Nick Charles (William Powell), or words to that effect, and supposedly laid-back Sycamore Springs is loaded with both. Happily, Nick and Nora (Myrna Loy) are vacationing at the old homestead when the bodies begin to drop and are thus at the right time and place to catch yet another desperate killer. No one in Sycamore Springs takes death too seriously, of course, and The Thin Man Goes Home employs even more comedy than its predecessors, to the point of having the dignified Loy perform a wild jitterbug. Richard Thorpe functions as directorial traffic cop with his usual professionalism and the stock company, which includes such obvious red herrings as Anita Sharp-Bolster, Helen Vinson, Morris Ankrum, and the marvelous Anne Revere, takes care of the rest. Yet for all that, The Thin Man Goes Home is far from vintage comedy-whodunit. Perhaps the reason is the Charleses' newfound sobriety, a necessary concession to a less frivolous time, but the bloom is visibly off the rose and the star duo seems merely to be treading water. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
The film involves Nick and Nora's visit to Nick's parents who live in the small town of Sycamore Springs. The early part of the film highlights difficulties in traveling during wartime with some very funny attempts to smuggle Asta on the train. Early on, it is revealed that Nick's father, Dr. Charles (Harry Davenport) has never been overly impressed with his son's career choice. The remainder of the film is not just about solving the crime, which as typically Nick and Nora stumble into quite innocently, but also about resolving this issue between Nick and his father.
The town citizens are convinced that Nick is in town to solve a case and all the denials from both him and Nora only deepen their conviction. However, Nora's purchase of an old painting provides the means for the pair to become involved in a murder mystery with complications involving an abandoned baby, a spy ring, and a childhood rivalry gone awry. Eventually, Dr. Charles sees how special Nick's talents are and the movie ends on a high note with him finally respecting the talents of his offspring.
The background that the movie provides for Nick is rather interesting as it is totally at odds with what is revealed in the book by Dashiell Hammett. In the book, Nick is of Greek origin from a father who changed his surname from Charalambides to Charles to fit a photograph. The type of small town upbringing which is portrayed in the movie is seemingly at odds with the characterization in the book.
