The Thin Man - "A Case of Scotch"

The Thin Man (1934)

H: This movie has just the right amount of drinking and back-and-forth cattiness between husband and wife. I like that in the 1930s, the leading actor and actress didn't have to be young and attractive, they just had to have presence.

K: It reminded me of His Girl Friday (1940) because it has interesting dialogue but equally interesting story that isn't centered around the couple but something centered around something completely different that requires both members of the couple to resolve it.

H: The couple isn't even in the movie until halfway through. We get introduced to "The Thin Man" - the scientist on the brink of some discovery - and his low-life girlfriend, his golddigger wife, his creepy but sly son, his loyal daughter, and his "supportive" lawyer. The movie for me really starts with the introduction of the couple, however, because they're by far the most interesting to me, although I do enjoy the mystery surrounding the murder.

K: Those characters are the kind of characters that could solve any crime and you'd be happy to watch, because the dialogue is so witty. Both characters are realistic.

There is another important character to this couple, which is the dog. Let's just give him credit too. He steals the scenes that he's in. No one else can do that except for this dog...or maybe a baby. But it adds a certain 1930s charm.

H: Well, you and I are certified experts on the 1930s aren't we? If I could have arguments like those two, I'd never want to get along. One thing I like about detective movies is the interplay between the detective, who acts as a one man vigilante concerned with justice and maybe a little monetary reward, and the police, who are the official, legitimate if ineffective public arm of the law. Just as Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1946), he's accused of getting in the way of the investigation but ultimately the police can't sort things out without him. What is it about the thin blue line that leads to incompetence?

K: Most detective movies need the police for to be, not bad at their jobs, but so constrained by rules that they can't do their jobs completely. As in Chinatown (1974), the police have to rely on a renegade, someone willing to break the law, the crack the case. In this movie, the detective breaks into a warehouse. The police ask him what he was doing and he says walking his dog.

What this movie does that makes it different from a typical detective mystery, is he brings all the suspects together for a meal at the end, almost like Clue (1985). It seems more like a game than an actual crime. Someone did die and there is gravity in the situation, but it's handled in a very comedic way and I think the reveal is funnier, seeing all the suspects interact with each other in a big climax than it is to say "It was this guy, arrest him."

H: We do get to know the victim of this crime a little better than in "Clue" and we like him and feel bad for him and his daughter when he's bumped off. I didn't know who the killer was till it was revealed, so kudos.

K: Do you think there was enough evidence to figure it out on your own? I don't. They're all suspects.

H: I just knew it probably wasn't me.