Editing Shadow of the Thin Man

{{short description|1941 film by W. S. Van Dyke}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Shadow of the Thin Man
| image          = Shadow of the Thin Man.jpg
| alt            = Image of the film poster showing Myrna Loy and William Powell
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[W. S. Van Dyke]]
| producer       = [[Hunt Stromberg]]
| based_on       = [[Nick and Nora Charles|Characters]] by [[Dashiell Hammett]] 
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Harry Kurnitz]]
* [[Irving Brecher]]
}}
| story          = Harry Kurnitz
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[William Powell]]
* [[Myrna Loy]]
* [[Donna Reed]]
}}
| music          = [[David Snell (composer)|David Snell]]
| cinematography = [[William Daniels (cinematographer)|William H. Daniels]]
| editing        = [[Robert J. Kern]]
| studio         = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| distributor    = [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment|Loew's Inc.]]
| released       = {{Film date|1941|11|21|US}}
| runtime        = 97 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $821,000
| gross          = $2,301,000
}}
'''''Shadow of the Thin Man''''' is a 1941 American [[murder mystery]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[W. S. Van Dyke]] and starring [[William Powell]] and [[Myrna Loy]] as [[Nick and Nora Charles]]. It was produced and released by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] as the fourth in the series of six [[The Thin Man (film series)|''The Thin Man'' films]]. In this film their son Nick Jr. (Dickie Hall) is old enough to figure in the comic subplot. Other cast members include [[Donna Reed]] and [[Barry Nelson (actor)|Barry Nelson]]. This was one of three films in which [[Stella Adler]] appeared.

==Plot==
Nick and Nora Charles are looking forward to a relaxing day at a racetrack, but when a jockey accused of throwing a race is found shot to death, Police Lieutenant Abrams requests Nick's help. The trail leads to a gambling syndicate that operates out of a wrestling arena, a murdered reporter, and a pretty secretary whose boyfriend has been framed. Along the way, Nick and Nora must contend with a wild wrestling match, a dizzying day at a merry-go-round (accompanied by Nick, Jr.), and a table-clearing restaurant brawl.

==Cast==
* [[William Powell]] as Nick Charles
* [[Myrna Loy]] as Nora Charles
* [[Barry Nelson (actor)|Barry Nelson]] as Paul Clarke
* [[Louise Beavers]] as Stella
* [[Donna Reed]] as Molly
* [[Sam Levene]] as Lieutenant Abrams
* [[Alan Baxter (actor)|Alan Baxter]] as "Whitey" Barrow
* [[Henry O'Neill]] as Major Jason I. Sculley
* [[Stella Adler]] as Claire Porter 
* [[Loring Smith]] as "Link" Stephens
* [[Joseph Anthony]] as Fred Macy
* [[Will Wright (actor)|Will Wright]] as Maguire - Nervous Ticket Seller (uncredited)
* [[Sid Melton]] as "Fingers" (uncredited)<ref name="Lamparski1985">{{cite book|last=Lamparski|first=Richard|title=Whatever became of ... ?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSf9D0nofCYC|volume=9|year=1985|publisher=Crown|isbn=978-0-517-55541-5|page=116}}</ref>
* [[Adeline De Walt Reynolds]] as Barrow's landlady (uncredited)
* [[Tor Johnson]] as Jack the Ripper - wrestler (uncredited)<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures: Film Beginnings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZkrAQAAMAAJ|year=1941|publisher=R. R. Bowker.|page=2137|isbn = 9780520215214}}</ref>
* [[Frankie Burke]] as Jockey at the races (uncredited)
* Joe Oakie as Spider Webb (uncredited)
* Lou Lubin as Rainbow Benny
* Richard Hall as Nick Jr.<ref>{{cite book |author=Staff writer |year=1944 |title=Who's Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |url=https://archive.org/stream/whoswhoatmetrogo00metr_1#page/71 |publisher=Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |location=Culver City, CA |page=71 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

==Production==
[[Frances Goodrich]] and [[Albert Hackett]], the husband and wife team who wrote the first three ''Thin Man'' scripts, refused to write another one. Goodrich said: "They press you awfully hard there…when they started talking about another Thin Man, we started throwing up and crying into our typewriters. We had the nervous breakdown together, [so] we said, "let's get out of here [and] we quit".<ref>Bryant, Roger. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=RHn-VBnYaTgC William Powell: The Life and Films]''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2006. {{ISBN|0-7864-2602-0}}<!-- https://thatwilliampowellsite.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/william-powell-the-life-and-films-roger-bryant --></ref>

The film was based on a story by Harry Kurnitz, not Dashiell Hammett, as the previous films had been, with the script written by Harry Kurnitz and Irving Brecher.

After difficulties with the previous films, author [[Dashiell Hammett]] was uninvolved in the production of ''Shadow'' or the two subsequent films in the series.<ref name="Mooney2014">{{cite book|last=Mooney|first=William H.|title=Dashiell Hammett and the Movies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOWaBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|date=3 November 2014|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-6254-4|page=51}}</ref>

On 22 June 1941,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Finacom |first1=Steve |title=Berkeley, A Look Back: Hollywood comes to Albany racetrack in 1941 |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/22/berkeley-a-look-back-hollywood-comes-to-albany-racetrack-in-1941/ |access-date=31 January 2022 |work=[[The Mercury News]] |date=22 June 2016}}</ref> MGM filmed exteriors for ''Shadow of the Thin Man'' in [[Berkeley, California]], with [[Golden Gate Fields]] racetrack, which first opened on 1 February the same year,<ref>{{cite web |title=Golden Gate Fields |url=https://www.racecoursedirectory.co.uk/2016/06/go-to-golden-gate-fields-racecourse-in.html |website=Racecourse Directory |access-date=30 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Golden Gate Fields |url=https://www.offtrackbetting.com/racetracks/GG/golden_gate_fields.html |website=OFF TRACK BETTING |access-date=30 January 2022}}</ref> as ''Greenway Park''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Seal |first1=John |title=Made in Berkeley: Shadow of the Thin Man |url=https://www.berkeleyside.org/2010/11/30/locally-grown-produce-shadow-of-the-thin-man |access-date=30 January 2022 |work=[[Berkeleyside]] |date=30 November 2010}}</ref> On the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]], Nick and Nora Charles get "pulled over" for speeding on the upper deck of the bridge.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reliving the Glory Days of the Bay Bridge Through Hollywood Movies |url=https://www.kqed.org/news/138692/reliving-the-glory-days-of-the-bay-bridge-through-hollywood-movies |website=[[KQED Inc.]] |date=11 June 2014 |access-date=31 January 2022 |language=en-us}}</ref>

==Box office==
''Shadow of the Thin Man'' was eagerly welcomed, coming two years after the previous outing and hitting theaters just two weeks before the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. It would be three years before Loy would make another film (''[[The Thin Man Goes Home]]'' in 1945) as she left Hollywood for New York, where she volunteered for the war effort with the Red Cross, as an assistant to the director of military and naval welfare.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Belinda O. |title=Shadow of the Thin Man |url=https://classicforareason.com/2020/05/25/shadow-of-the-thin-man/ |website=Classic for a Reason |access-date=31 January 2022 |language=en |date=25 May 2020}}</ref>

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,453,000 in the US and Canada and $848,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $769,000.<ref name="Mannix">"The Eddie Mannix Ledger". ''Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study'' (Los Angeles).</ref>

==Nick and Nora Charles film series==
This film was the fourth of six based on the characters of Nick and Nora Charles:
* ''[[The Thin Man (film)|The Thin Man]]'' (1934)
* ''[[After the Thin Man]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Another Thin Man]]'' (1939)
* ''Shadow of the Thin Man'' (1941)
* ''[[The Thin Man Goes Home]]'' (1944)
* ''[[Song of the Thin Man]]'' (1947)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Shadow of the Thin Man (film)}}
* {{IMDb title|0034172}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/shadow-of-the-thin-man-am15032 ''Shadow of the Thin Man'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title|940}}
* {{AFI film|26917}}

{{Dashiell Hammett}}
{{The Thin Man}}
{{W. S. Van Dyke}}

[[Category:1941 films]]
[[Category:1941 comedy films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1940s comedy mystery films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American comedy mystery films]]
[[Category:American crime comedy films]]
[[Category:American detective films]]
[[Category:American films about gambling]]
[[Category:American horse racing films]]
[[Category:American sequel films]]
[[Category:Films directed by W. S. Van Dyke]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Harry Kurnitz]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Irving Brecher]]
[[Category:Films scored by David L. Snell]]
[[Category:Films set in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:The Thin Man films]]
[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language comedy mystery films]]