"Song Of The Thin Man" + Rams

Tonight I watched "Song Of The Thin Man" (1947), the sixth and final film in the series starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as classy crime sleuths "Nick and Nora Charles" (a side note : I screwed up and ordered the wrong film from the Libe. I had thought "Song" was the fifth one, and "The Thin Man Goes Home" was the last, but I got it backwards). In any event, the film opens on the water, aboard a luxury casino ship. The first thing you notice about Nick and Nora is how much older they look, thirteen years since the original "Thin Man" was released in 1934. But as the movie progresses, you notice this less and less, and they seem to be as they always were. Whether that is a result of makeup or acclimation on the part of the viewer is unknown, but unquestioned is that once the plot begins to unfurl - which in a "Thin Man" movie is right from the get-go - the audience slips into the company of Nick and Nora as if into a pair of comfortable satin pajamas. They are older, so are you, and.....wait a minute.

You haven't even been born yet. I myself wasn't born for another 13 years after the series ended. But you know what I mean. We love Nick and Nora, they define Hollywood Class and Style of the Golden Era, and as we watch them throughout the series of six films, we become comfortable in their presence, so real are they to us.

So there you have it.

In another aside, there was an article today in the Daily News, a full page review of the life of Wyatt Earp, who died 90 years ago today, in Los Angeles. You know how I have been talking lately about how close in time I suddenly am realizing I am to such "ancient" things as Silent Film, and the birth of radio, or the advent of TV (only a decade before I was born).

Well here is a weird one, because we associate Wyatt Earp with the Wild West, and yet he wound up living out his life in Los Angeles, semi-wealthy and as an advisor to Silent Movies of the Western variety. And he lived until 1929, just 31 years before I was born.

I am amazed at how, at almost 60 years of age, I am feeling myself closer in time to things of the past that seemed like ancient history when I was a kid. When I was little, the Wild West might as well have been from a different eon. Ditto Silent Film. But now we see how close these things are.

And the 80 Million Year Old Rocks out at Santa Susana have been sitting there the whole time.

So all of this stuff makes me pause and contemplate, just for a moment.

I won't get any more philosophical on ya, but the Wyatt Earp article got me started this morning.

As for the movie, it is another successful entry in the "Thin Man" franchise. This time the theme is jazz music. A stylin' combo is playing in the ship's main room, featuring a shredding clarinetist with a strong female following. His popularity with one girl in particular has caused a rift with the bandleader, himself a ladies man with an ego to match. But the bandleader has another more pressing problem. He owes a Ton Of Dough to a sociopathic mobster. A concert promoter is onboard the ship, so the bandleader goes to him for a loan. Soon after that, he winds up dead.

Bring on Nick and Nora, who as usual would rather be partying in high style that solving murders (Nick, anyway, Nora likes crime solving). They, along with co-star dog Asta, and child Nick Jr., played by a ten year old Dean Stockwell (of "Blue Velvet" fame), proceed to jump into the world of jazz to try and solve the killing of "the reedman" (the clarinetist). They have to wade their way through a thick swamp of lingo to begin to formulate some clues. Helping as a hip translator is jazzbo Keenan Wynn, a fellow reedman from the same band, who knows all the players and clientele, and who can talk a blue streak of hepcat phraseology.

The plot in this sequel is one of the best, sticking to the formula of course, but with rapid plot development and lived-in performances by Powell and Loy, who have become the Charles by this point. They are one of the greatest of screen pairings, right up there with Astaire and Rogers, and really surpassing them because of their deft comedic ability.

The only thing I found deficient in "Song Of The Thin Man" was the ending. As noted previously, I always try to guess "whodunit", choosing from the standard number of potential culprits in the "Ten Little Indians" format. I was wrong in my guess this time, but the ending and the "reveal" seemed a little bit too quick, not as thoroughly developed and well written to expose the killer as they usually do.

Still, the too-quick ending was not enough to detract from the film, and as a result I give "Song of The Thin Man" my usual Two Thumbs Up, my standard for the entire series. I mean, you could have William Powell and Myrna Loy just standing there mixing drinks and reciting marital dialogue for 90 minutes and it would be a winner, as long as Asta the dog was running around behind them, and as long as he got in the last word, which he does in every "Thin Man" film. /////

Watch the whole series, every movie is classic.

Man, it was cold today. I wore two sweatshirts and a flannel, but if this keeps up I am gonna switch to three sweatshirts......and a flannel.

Rams beat 'Boys, big time. Tomorrow morn, Chargers will beat Pats, and Saints will beat Philly in the afternoon.

I think Rams are Super Bowl bound. Maybe Chargers, too.

See you tomorrow after church. Thank you for singing.

Tons of love.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)