The Thin Man (1934), dir. W. S. Van Dyke. Streaming at home, Saturday, November 26.

Holy shit do people drink in this movie. They are total drunks in The Thin Man, a popular film adapted from what is arguably Dashiell Hammett’s weakest novel. I enjoy this film, because there’s a tremendous chemistry between William Powell’s Nick Charles and Myrna Loy’s gorgeous Nora, and of course that fox terrier, Asta. They’re fun. The mystery, utterly predictable and concluding, Agatha Christie-like, with all suspects gathered around a dinner table, holds your attention, perhaps due to the short run time. The direction is routine, a camera plonked down in one room, then another, not a composed shot of any beauty or fascination in the whole thing. There’s a rogues’ gallery of underworld pals of Nick’s that are amusing, if a bit belabored. As usual, the young attractive woman (Maureen O’Sullivan, a mediocre actress, mother of Mia Farrow) and her young attractive man are a pair of dullards, but you get that in a lot of comedies from this time.

But the drinking. Ha, ha! I’ve seen this movie before, years ago, and knew that the drinking was hilarious and a significant part of the story, but sweet Jesus, on this viewing I noticed that it’s chronic. And disturbing. Seriously, Nick Charles forgoes breakfast a couple of times so that he can drink. And the drink he chooses is enormous, too big for midnight much less first thing in the day. This is a lightweight comedy, and it’s not going to get genuinely heavy, in part because it’s meant to be funny, but honestly, in part because, aside from Nick and Nora, everyone is a genuine asshole, people you’re never going to care about. The thin man of the title is the one who’s murdered, making Maureen O’Sullivan, playing his daughter, cry, but he’s been nothing but a cad, so, well, good riddance.

Oh, man, the boozing. That much drinking would kill people in short order, and then there’s the abuses by the cops in this film… woof, it’s hard to watch. At one point, a cop punched a suspect square in the face and I thought Janice was going to leap out of her seat, she was so shocked. This might be the best movie to show to anyone who wants to believe the 1930s were better than the present day.