The Thin Man Review, Book and Movie
I was introduced to the movie The Thin Man by the Cheeky One herself, Cosmo (then) Brown (now Prof. Cosmo B. Mott). I enjoyed the movie and all the sequels. A bump of curiosity led me to find the book — The Thin Man — in my local library.
Written by Dashiell Hammett and published in 1934, The Thin Man is a definite horse of a different colour from the movie: written first person and in a style that is far "slicker" than any I am used to. I started the book and then put it down after a chapter or two. A few days later I decided to give it another chance and determined to read it through, no matter how it was written.
Once I got used to the "slickness" of the style, I found myself enjoying the book. I was glad to find that a lot of the plot was the same with the book and the movie. (Yes, I'm a book purist; don't ask me my opinion of the HP movies!) At the same time, the book is lacking in a certain charm that the movie has.
The man Nick Charles, in the book, is a rough character who has changed his life style because of marrying into a different society but remains a (possible) diamond in the rough. Any polishings, or shapings, of that diamond are not readily apparent and evidently the person, Nick, himself does not feel any polishing is needed.
I feel that the movie version of The Thin Man is much to be preferred to the book. It is, quite simply, charming. The stars of the movie, William Powell (as Nick Charles) and Myrna Loy (as Nora Charles), bring a certain élan and style to the story. Powell's Nick Charles knows he was a diamond in the rough, and he has taken steps to reshape and polish himself while retaining many of the attributes of the "Nick Charles" of the book. He has brought a gentle strength to the character. Loy's Nora Charles is beautiful yet tough, with a graciousness that shows why a man like Nick Charles would be attracted to her in the first place. (Her character is much the same in book and movie.)
As for the story itself — I'm not going to talk about that! It's a mystery, and hopefully you will be seeing the movie and/or reading the book. Suffice it to say that it has a very good plot and the mystery is solved in a highly satisfactory manner.