Last Friday, I had a friend over to celebrate the twenty-third anniversary of Orson Welles' death, and, like always, we began to discuss movies, in particular the order of my collection. I explained it to him in as simple terms as I know how (chronological but grouped sporadically by director, writer or series) and used the Thin Man series as an example. He offhandedly commented that the only worthwhile Thin Man was the first one, a commonly held opinion which I have to take some time to sound off on.
There are two qualities of mine that lend themselves to enjoying the entirety of The Thin Man series. The first is my love of Dashiell Hammett, and so the first two Thin Mans may be preferable (little known fact: After the Thin Man was based on the Continental Op story The Farewell Murder), but that doesn't negate the quality of the others still inspired by his source material. The second aspect of my personality is my love of the drink, the social one or the antisocial one, the latter providing a majority of the entertainment within the series.
The director of the first four Thin Man films, W.S. Dyke, was a man of immense versatility, able to craft high quality works in a broad spectrum of genres, as well as a man of reliability, creating the first Thin Man in just two weeks on a less-than-average budget. The film's focus was never the murders nor the detective work, it was about the personalities, the spectacular William Powell and Myrna Loy playing off each other as only they could. With the focus off the plot, the five sequels' settings and situations have a habit of blending together if seen consecutively, but it is this universal feel that lends the series an everlasting worth that cannot be diminished.
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