Another Thin Man

7.5/10. Watched this Monday evening on DVD.

What’s not to like? Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles return in a sequel based on one of the author's Continental Op stories, with the regular stars, screenwriters and director all in place. Okay, there are too many babies and not nearly enough drinking. But this is a solid third entry in one of Hollywood’s most entertaining series. Buy the box set now.

Another Thin Man was the fourth movie from director W.S. Van Dyke released in 1939. Of course, this level of output wasn’t unusual for the era. Back then making movies was a regular job, not something you did for ten weeks a year with months off in between; and in the 30s, Van Dyke was credited with directing thirty movies. What’s amazing is how good so many of them are, and two of his other 1939 efforts are good examples.

In January of that year, there was Stand Up and Fight, in which Robert Taylor discovers that escaped slaves are paying for safe passage to the North only to be resold to new owners in the South. This unusual but convincing Western ranks as one of my favorite movies of the 30s (and I’m convinced that its climactic fistfight inspired the one in John Carpenter's They Live).

Four months later, the Ben Hecht-scripted It's a Wonderful World came out, which like the Thin Man movies strikes a balance between crime film and romantic screwball comedy. James Stewart and Claudette Colbert play off each other beautifully in their only on-screen pairing. She's the comedic foil to his tough-talking detective, and their romance is handled realistically and with patience.

Neither Stand Up and Fight nor It's a Wonderful World is available on home video. I was lucky enough to catch them on Turner Classic Movies. If they show up on your TV, be sure not to miss them.