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Song of the Thin Man was the sixth and last
outing for Nick and Nora Charles. A bandleader on a gambling ship is murdered
and once again Nick is talked into entering the investigation. The suspects
include a gambler, a musician who's in a mental hospital, an irate father, a musician's
agent, and the ship's owner. Gloria Grahame appears as a nightclub singer, Keenan
Wynn as a "hep cat" musician, and Jayne Meadows as a sincere young woman who's
in over her head.
Times had changed in the thirteen
years since The Thin Man, and the 30's-style frothy comedy was no longer
in style. The verve and snap that were the Charles' trademarks didn't
lend itself to the dark post-war genre of movie-making. Also, Powell at
55 and Loy at 42 seemed a bit too mature for a carefree caper through mayhem,
mental illness, and murder. In other words, it was time to pack it in,
and thus, Song of the Thin Man became the swan song for The Thin
Man series.
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