Adding a baby into a successful series is usually a shark-jump. You might think that would especially be the case when the series is about a jet-setting couple comprised of a drunken detective and his hot, angelically understanding wife, but you’d be underestimating two things.
First, never sell short the power of rich people to get other folks to raise their kids. It works on Days of Our Lives, and there’s no reason it can’t work for Nick and Nora Charles. I always loved how you could watch a soap opera for three months and not realize that one of the main characters had kids until the nanny escorted the little darlings into the room for a check-in. Likewise, the Thin Man series is about Nick’s swigging vodka and solving crimes, not spooning baby food and changing diapers. No one wants to see that; least of all Nick.
Of course, this being a mystery series, the nanny has a secret past. And it may just be connected to the person who’s threatening the life of the grumpy, old colonel who manages Nora’s money. Since the Colonel doesn’t want the police involved (rich people never want the police involved, making it convenient for the writers), he asks Nick to help.
Second, don’t underestimate the chemistry. Nick and Nora have loads of it, and by God, so do they and their kid. He may only get trotted out occasionally, but when he does, William Powell and Myrna Loy make you believe that they love that squishy baby. There’s genuine, unironic fondness when Nick kisses his son or when all three family members crash on the bed for a snooze. And that makes Nick’s concern over his family’s safety feel very real when it’s threatened.
In many ways, Another Thin Man is the darkest of the series so far. This third installment is still very, very funny — especially Nick’s battle with the Colonel over whether or not Nick’s going to be sober — but the stakes are higher with family involved. For the first time, Nick becomes personally invested in a case instead of just seeing it as a fun mental exercise, and that makes Another Thin Man extremely interesting to watch. —Michael May