One of my passions in life, other than spreading the word of how great MJ is, is my love of classic films. And once again, I'd like to talk about one of my favorite film series that I've ever seen:
THE THIN MAN SERIES!
The Thin Man Series, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles is based on a series of detective books by the same name written by author Dashielle Hammett.
The film series spawned six films between 1934 and 1947. Although I have seen all six of the films, I prefer the first four and actually own the TCM set pictured above.
It was kind of a mistake really, how I found this particular series.
One of the things I like to do is go on Wikipedia and look up different actors and actresses I like to learn about them and one day I was looking up Jean Harlow.
She always fascinated me, because she died in 1937, at the age of 26, from renal failure. (And I'm 26 with renal failure.)
As I was reading about her, I saw that at the time of her death, she had been engaged to William Powell--Nick Charles--and he had paid for her funeral. She's actually buried in the same hall as Michael Jackson.
I had heard his name before because I beleive the next day TCM was doing a birthday tribute to him and showing all the Thin Man films.
So, with Jean in my head and wanting to see the man she was supposed to marry, I sat in to watch The Thin Man.
It is one of the best cinematic moves I ever made.
I watched perhaps the first three movies, before I realized, that this was a good series and that the rapport between William and Myrna was special. They traded all kinds of witty comments and the mysteries were always entertaining. And I had never been that deep into mysteries. I only had a few Agatha Christie novels under my belt.
I do remember though, when I first saw William Powell, I didn't like him. He had a large nose and was so silly.And in the earlier films, he's drinking like a fish. His character is actually mixing a cocktail in the first film when he's introduced. I have since grown to like him, and have seen many of his other films outside the series.
Myrna Loy on the other hand, I knew from another film she had done a few years prior to this called "The Thirteen Women" a thriller based on the book by Tiffany Thayers (who is actually a man, and NO, I'm not named after him.) in which Myrna, because before these films she was marked as a vamp played a eurasian femme fatale killing off other women who snubbed her. (The film also featured Peg Entwistle, the woman famous for leaping ot her death from the Hollywood sign)
Don't even look like the same chick, right?
I liked Myrna in the Thin Man though because she made me think of how I'd like to be with my own husband, sparring buddies who always zing one another.
In the first film, Nick reffered to Nora as a "lanky brunette with a wicked jaw." (even though Myrna was a redhead) And we all know I'm a smart-ass, smart-mouth.
Myrna is one of my favorite actresses right up there with the likes of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. I just favor how she always dressed so well and was so classy. I remember seeing her once, when she was in her 80s, and she was just as pretty as an elder as she was in her 20s.
My favorite film from the series is the second installment, After the Thin Man, where Nick and Nora try to figure out who killed Nora's cousin Selma's philandering husband Robert. I especially like this movie because my fave actor, Jimmy Stewart plays a supporting role.
He was absolutely bad ass and played a brilliant role--he was only 28 years old here. And YES, that is a gun in his hand.
If you haven't seen these films, give them a try. They are awesome and I watch them all the time time. You won't be disappointed!
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