The Thin Man - 1934

<p><em>When inventor Clyde Wynant vanishes days before hisdaughter&#39;s wedding and his secretary turns up murdered, retired detective Nick Charles is pulled back into the case by his unflappable wife Nora — solving it, cocktail in hand, with a dinner-party unmasking and his unbothered terrier Asta in tow.</em></p><p> </p><p><strong>Show Essentials</strong></p><p><strong>Director: </strong>W.S. Van Dyke</p><p><strong>Stars: </strong>William Powell(Nick Charles), Myrna Loy (Nora Charles), Maureen O&#39;Sullivan (Dorothy Wynant)</p><p><strong>Based on: </strong>DashiellHammett&#39;s 1934 novel The Thin Man</p><p><strong>Release: </strong>May 25, 1934 ·91 minutes · Black-and-white</p><p><strong>Recognition: </strong>98% onRotten Tomatoes · 4 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture ·National Film Registry (1997) · #32 on AFI&#39;s 100 Years...100 Laughs</p><p><strong>Panelists: </strong>Marty Jencius(host) &amp; Cindy Rotz (co-host)</p><p> </p><p><strong>Trivia Facts</strong></p><p><strong>Casting Against the Studio&#39;s Instincts</strong>MGM doubted William Powell (too old and buttoned-down)and Myrna Loy (too typecast as a femme fatale) for the leads; director W.S. Van Dyke pushed for them anyway after seeing their chemistry in Manhattan Melodrama.</p><p>Louis B. Mayer only loaned Van Dyke three weeks of Myrna Loy&#39;s time before Stamboul Quest — he badly underestimated how fast Van Dyke could shoot.</p><p>   Powell was about 42 and Loy about 29 during filming, close to Nick and Nora&#39;s book ages of 45 and 26.</p><p>    Porter Hall, who played MacCaulay, was making his firstcredited film appearance.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Van Dyke&#39;s Need for Speed</strong>Given three weeks, Van Dyke shot the picture in around12 days on a budget of about $231,000; it went on to gross roughly $1.4 million.</p><p>Van Dyke skipped retakes when he liked a first take,believing actors &quot;lose their fire&quot; through repetition — Powell and Loy often had to nail new material cold.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Nick, Nora, and Asta</strong>Asta was played by a trained dog actor named Skippy,who worked for a promised squeaky mouse and a biscuit and wasn&#39;t allowed to interact with the cast between takes.</p><p>By Myrna Loy&#39;s own account, Skippy bit her at somepoint during filming.</p><p>The Christmas-tree ornament-shooting gag started as Powell fooling around with a prop air rifle between takes; Van Dyke worked it into the finished film.</p><p>Loy performed