• Rating:
• Genre: Mystery
• Movie Type: Crime Comedy, Comedy Thriller
• Themes: Unlikely Criminals, Art Theft, Bumbling Cops
• Director: Richard Thorpe
• 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

Cast

• William Powell - Nick Charles
• Myrna Loy - Nora Charles
• Gloria de Haven - Laura Ronson
• Lucile Watson - Mrs. Charles
• Anne Revere - Crazy Mary
• Harry Davenport - Dr. Bertram Charles

Edward S. Brophy - Brogan; Helen Vinson - Helena Draque; Leon Ames - Edgar Draque; Donald Meek - Willie Crump; Lloyd Corrigan - Bruce Clayworth; Anita Bolster - Hilda; Ralph Brooke - Peter Berton; Donald MacBride - Chief MacGregory; Jean Acker - Tart; Morris Ankrum - Willoughby; Irving Bacon - Tom the Proprietor; Oliver Blake - Reporter; Dick Botiller - Big Man's Companion; Ralph Brooks - Tom Burton; Lucille Brown - Skating Act; Wally Cassell - Bill Burns; Nora Cecil - Miss Peavy; Chester Clute - Drunk; Clancy Cooper - Butcher; Thomas P. Dillon; Helen Eby-Rock; Sarah Edwards; Rex Evans - Fat man; Tom Fadden; Edward Gargan - Mickey; Connie Gilchrist - Woman with baby; Sol (Saul) Gorss - Bartender; Charles Halton - Tatum; Harry Hayden - Conductor; Arthur Hohl - Charlie; Robert E. Homans - Railroad Clerk; Frank Jaquet - Train Passenger; Paul Langton - Tom Clayworth; Mitchell Lewis; Mike Mazurki - Man; Etta McDaniel - Ronson's Maid; Catherine McLeod - Montage Shot Daughter; Clarence Muse - Porter; Robert E. O'Connor - Baggage Man; Garry Owen - Pool Player; Lee Phelps - Cop; Virginia Sale - Tom's Wife; Ray Teal - Man; Anthony Warde - Captain; Minor Watson - Sam Ronson; John Wengraf - Big Man; Don Wilson - Masseur; Marjorie Wood - Montage Shot Mother; Joe Yule - Barber; Joseph Greene; Tom Dugan - Slugs; Jane Green - Housekeeper; William Hunter - Officer; Bert May - Sailor; Bill Smith - Skating Man

Credit

Edward C. Carfagno - Art Director; Karl W. Freund - Cinematographer; Cedric Gibbons - Art Director; Harry Kurnitz - Screenwriter; Everett J. Riskin - Producer; Robert Riskin - Screenwriter; Irene Sharaff - Costume Designer; David Snell - Composer (Music Score); Dwight Taylor - Screenwriter; Richard Thorpe - Director; Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer; Ralph Winters - Editor; Mildred Griffiths - Set Designer

Similar Movies

Manhattan Murder Mystery; My Man Godfrey; The Trouble with Harry; Zero Effect

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