1936 sequelRating: 16/20 (Jen: 15/20)
Plot: Nick and Nora return from their honeymoon, the retired private dick swearing that he's finished solving cases for good. But not so fast, Nick! Nora's cousin's hubby's been missing for weeks, and her family wants Nick to find him. The couple have no problem doing that, but the case gets a bit more difficult and dangerous when somebody murders him. Oh, snap! Nick has to discover the identity of the real murderer in order to save his cousin-in-law from the electric chair.
As with the first in the series, the banter between the couple is more interesting that any of the Dashiell Hammett mystery. It inspired the wife and I to entertain ourselves by pretending to be Nick and Nora. We glued a bunch of fur to our eleven-month-old and taught her how to bark. Then, we imitated the snappy dialogue of Loy and Powell. I played Nora.
Me/Nora: Let's go solve a mystery, Darling.
Wife/Nick: You drink to much.
Me/Nora: (Weeps uncontrollably and becomes unresponsive)
Baby/Asta: Woof!
It wasn't quite as good. And this one, although entertaining from start to eventual finish, is not quite as good as its predecessor. It tosses in Jimmy Stewart in an interesting role and an assortment of oddballs to populate Nick and Nora's house for a funny surprise party. The murder mystery and its subsequent solving is dopey and convoluted, but I think that's part of the appeal with these things. We'll get to the others in the series soon.
Note: It's hard to get glued fur off baby skin. Find an alternative.
This one is goofier than the original, more forced, and is less witty. I will say that I absolutely loved every scene with the butler, who stole the show. Jimmy is miscast, but he is still Jimmy. A 15, which includes a 3 point butler-bonus.
ReplyDelete"Jimmy is miscast" didn't cross my thoughts...why do you think that?
ReplyDeleteI meant to penalize this a point because the stuff with the dog bugged me in this one. I liked Asta in the first one, but all the Asta subplottage just made this already too-long movie even longer. But I also liked the butler, so I guess it would get the point back anyway.
Have you seen the other ones?
Nope. This is as far as my "Thin Man" expertise goes. Jimmy as a ...?! No way.
ReplyDelete