Now to return to my haphazard coverage of the Thin Man series of classic films, starring Myrna Loy and William Powell. The two are a treat together, and the more I watch them, the more I want to know about their lives. For example, during World War II, Loy paused her acting career to work for the Red Cross, assisting the director for military and naval welfare. That is a selfless act if this Catholic ever saw one. As for Powell, his charitable work was not as high profile, but he did give up his acting career rather early in order to pursue a quieter life, becoming involved in his community. In short, they did not lead quite as sordid an existence as some of their counterparts in Hollywood, and that is worth something. I am not sure you get any of this from today’s entry, Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), but it is a worthy footnote to bear in mind as you continue reading.

Whatever else Myrna Loy and William Powell were doing with their lives away from the screen, Shadow of the Thin Man finds their cinematic counterparts trying to enjoy the considerably less selfless pleasures of horse racing, wrestling, and, in Nick Charles’s (William Powell) case, avoiding detective work whenever possible. Nick and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) are now living in San Francisco with their young son, Nicky Jr. (Richard Hall), and their dog, Asta (Skippy), who is still doing his part to ensure that the Charles household never becomes too respectable. One afternoon, Nick and Nora go to the racetrack, where Lieutenant Abrams (Sam Levene), an old police friend of Nick’s, tells them that jockey Joe Golez has been found shot dead in the shower room after apparently throwing a race the previous day. Rumors suggest that racketeers “Link” Stephens (Loring Smith) and Fred Macy (Joseph Anthony) may have been behind the fixed race, but Nick insists that he is retired and wants no part of the investigation. That evening, Major Jason I. Sculley (Henry O’Neill), who is investigating corruption in gambling, and newspaper reporter Paul Clarke (Barry Nelson) visit Nick and ask for his help. Nick again declines, preferring to take Nora to a wrestling match, which naturally puts him in the vicinity of another crime. At the arena, rival reporter “Whitey” Barrow (Alan Baxter) pressures Claire Porter (Stella Adler), Link’s girlfriend, into surrendering a diamond bracelet. Whitey is also involved with Link and Fred, demanding money in exchange for keeping damaging information out of the newspapers, while bookmaker “Rainbow” Benny Loomis (Lou Lubin) complains that Whitey owes him thousands of dollars. Paul, meanwhile, is conducting his own investigation with the help of his fiancée, Molly Ford (Donna Reed), who is secretly working as Link’s secretary. Using Molly’s key, Paul searches Link’s office and finds a notebook containing evidence of the gambling operation. Whitey catches him, takes the notebook, and knocks Paul unconscious, only to be shot moments later by an unseen killer. A watchman sees Benny leaving the area, while the unconscious Paul becomes the obvious suspect when police arrive. Nora urges Nick to help, and he begins examining the evidence, including a seemingly innocent laundry list that turns out to be a coded record of illegal bets. Nick then returns to the racetrack with Asta and discovers the gun that killed Golez lodged in a shower drain. From the evidence, he concludes that the jockey had considered suicide, changed his mind, and accidentally shot himself while trying to hide the weapon. Rather than announce this, Nick persuades Lieutenant Abrams to tell reporters that Golez and Whitey were murdered by the same person and that Paul is innocent, hoping the false story will frighten the real killer into making a mistake. Nick next questions Claire, whose hostility makes him suspicious, and later searches Whitey’s apartment, where Asta helps locate Claire’s diamond bracelet. Claire arrives and admits that Whitey had been blackmailing her over her criminal past and that she gave him the bracelet because of the money he owed Benny. Paul and Molly are eventually released, and Nick and Nora take them to dinner, where they encounter an increasingly frightened Benny wearing a bulletproof vest. Benny flees after Nick reveals that the watchman saw him near Whitey’s murder. Lieutenant Abrams subsequently learns that Whitey had been blackmailing Claire, threatening to expose her past to Link. Major Sculley then leads Nick, Paul, and Lieutenant Abrams to Benny’s apartment, where they find the bookmaker hanging dead beside the partially burned gambling ledger. The death is meant to look like suicide, but Nick notices injuries proving that Benny was strangled and then hanged, while his bulletproof vest has been removed. By now, Nick has enough pieces to set one of his familiar traps. He gathers the suspects at police headquarters and reveals that Benny, fearing for his life, had secretly changed apartments only hours before his murder. Major Sculley had claimed not to have seen Benny recently, yet he somehow knew exactly which apartment to take the police to when Benny was found dead. Nick identifies Major Sculley as Whitey’s murderer and a secret partner in the gambling racket. Whitey knew too much about Major Sculley’s connection to Link and Fred, so Major Sculley killed him and later murdered Benny in an attempt to frame him. Cornered, Major Sculley grabs Nick’s gun, but Nora throws herself at him and the others subdue him. Nick then reveals that the weapon was unloaded, explaining that he has carried empty guns since Nicky became old enough to get into things, a surprisingly responsible bit of parenting from a man who otherwise seems determined to raise his son in an atmosphere of cocktails, murder investigations, and Asta. With another case solved, Nick rewards Nora with Claire’s recovered diamond bracelet, and the Charleses return to their eventful married life.

Let us hope that not all marriages are like what we see in Shadow of the Thin Man, and that is my Catholic sensibilities talking. Still, I should not be so harsh. What I am reacting to are the misadventures that the Charles family seems to get into all the time, which are not entirely of their own doing. At the same time, the amount of drinking they indulge in is worrisome. Catholicism hardly frowns on alcohol, and you might be surprised by how many spirits (no pun intended) were invented on Church grounds. Next time you are celebrating with some bubbly, know that you can thank Benedictine monks for giving us champagne, although the one most credited for its development, Dom Pierre Pérignon, actually tried to get rid of the distinctive bubbles. I dwell on that subject only because you see liquor in Nick’s hands whenever he has the opportunity, and being a lush is frowned upon by the Church no matter its history with beers and wines. The person who impresses this Catholic the most is Nora, although her skills as a mother might leave a little to be desired. Then again, there is nothing wrong with mom and dad having a night out, say at a wrestling match. Things really were different back then, but I digress. It is her willingness to be there for her husband that is more ideal. Further, it is not in the stereotypical way that people think a Christian wife should behave. Nick sees Nora as an equal, or as much as a man could in 1941. At the very least, he does not ignore her suggestions for the case, and she is spared from being scolded when she shows up at crime scenes. Finally, he honors her for her willingness to risk her life to save his. That is the essence of a Christian marriage: to honor one another, not to look at one another unequally in any way.

One way you could honor these two fine actors is by watching Shadow of the Thin Man, or any of the others in the series. They are interesting whodunit films while also being funny. That might not sound like a winning cinematic recipe, but they just work.