Artist The Thin Man

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The Thin Man

Dashiell Hammett only spent one novel on functional-alcoholic, socialite snoops Nick and Nora Charles, but starting with 1934’s The Thin Man, Hollywood banged out six whole films in their honor. That’s in large part due to the addictive chemistry between stars William Powell and Myrna Loy. The two made eight non-Thin Man films together (including Libeled Lady and The Great Ziegfield) but were never afforded quite the material of Hammett’s original whodunit, in which the two solve a murder while volleying quips, drinking like fishes, and painting the most optimistic portrait of marriage in film history. By episode three, the pair were saddled with an infant and soon cut out the hooch, but here—and in the arguably superior first sequel—the cocktail is mixed just right.

Updated 04/20/2011