The Blog
This blog will be all about film reviews. I'm going to be watching a lot of movies, writing reviews, and hopefully not spoiling any movies you plan to watch.
W. S. Van Dyke The mystery comedy The Thin Man is a clever little murder mystery full of fun moments and a brilliant detective. It is interactive enough for the viewer to take part in but just distant enough that it must be watched to the very end to discover the killer, The plot revolves around the disappearance of Clyde Wynant and the murder of his love interest and secretary Julia Wolf. Nick Charles, a retired investigator, is forced out of retirement and looks into the case. After one suspect runs away and is shot, the police believe that Clyde is behind the murders and the investigators pursue him. However Nick is not convinced and goes to Clyde’s abandoned workshop to look for clues and discovers a body. Nick invites all the chief suspects to a dinner party and starts laying out his thinking as to who is the killer. He reveals that the body is Clyde’s and that he has been dead for months, ruling him out of being the murderer. Clyde is just about to reveal the killer when Clyde’s lawyer tries to shoot him, giving away that he is the murderer. The film tries to walk a fine line between giving clues that the audience can follow and leaving enough out so that the viewer must stay and watch the full movie. The movie leaves little details that the audience can pick up on. The largest of these clues is the shrapnel in Clyde’s leg. This is what allows Nick to realize that the body is that of Clyde and that the murderer could not have been Clyde. However, at the dining room scene when the murderer is revealed, he uses information the audience could not have known. This means that while the audience could have made guesses as to who the killer was, it would have been impossible to really know. This is the only real detracting part of the film. It is always nice to be able to piece together a puzzle yourself or be surprised that you missed a clue. However The Thin Man provides precious few details other than process of elimination. Apart from the issue of the film lacking any real clues to find out who the murderer is, The Thin Man is a well thought out movie with plenty of alcohol, comedy, and mystery.
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June 2018
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