Like many great Hollywood films, it was not viewed as a masterpiece during its creation. It was a strictly B budget movie that MGM had little faith in. The studio did not think the emphasis of comedy over mystery would work and they were unsure about having William Powell and Myrna Loy as the leads. MGM was certainly wrong as the movie became an incredible hit spawning five popular sequels and being nominated for four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay).
This movie was in many ways the brain-child of director W.S. Van Dyke. Van Dyke was not only a fan of detective novels, but he had also written them himself. Learning that MGM had the rights to Dashiell Hammett's (also the author of The Maltese Falcon) novel, The Thin Man, Van Dyke was excited to make a film based off this story. Van Dyke also wanted to make a movie that could star William Powell and Myrna Loy as a team and saw this as the perfect story for the two of them. Van Dyke had just directed the two in Manhattan Melodrama (1934) and was not only wowed by their chemistry on screen but off screen as well.
However just as important to this movie as the director and stars were husband and wife screen writers Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. Van Dyke instructed them saying that he felt the film would work best if the banter between husband and wife Nick and Nora Charles was at the forefront. This was a stoke of brilliance. The two writers incorporated their own marriages into the script and there have been few onscreen marriages as fun to watch as Nick and Nora Charles. So much of this has to do with the dialogue the two share. When people talk about old movies having such clever dialogue that you don't see today, this is the type of film the are referring to. Not only does it have a real sophisticated wit to it, but it is also laugh out loud funny. This is certainly a movie I quote quite a bit. Of course just as important as the writing is the fantastic chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy. Various historians and critics have referred to these two as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers without the dancing. This is a perfect description. The two talented actors create a perfect dance in their exchanges to each other. They know exactly when to give to the other and take from each other. They move together with perfect grace and precision, creating a beautiful art all their own. This is a screen team that epitomizes movie magic at its best.
A huge star was made with this film, that was Nick and Nora's dog, Asta. This Terrier soon captured the hearts of movie goers and the film's sequels would use a lot more slapstick involving this dog. Similarly many comedies after The Thin Man would have similar looking dogs in their casts. Over the course of the series Asta would be played by multiple dogs, though the credits would always list the character as being played by Asta. In the first movie the character is played by a dog named Skippy. This dog was hardly friends with Myrna Loy and she would later refer to their relationship as "hardly idyllic." Still their is no doubt that the dog does bring a certain charm to this movie and in the sequels Asta would often steal the show.
MGM in a moment of humility (well for them anyways) made fun of its self for not having faith in The Thin Man in an advertisement for the movie Hide-out (1934) from The Motion Picture Herald.
MGM was of course quick to toot its own horn when the film became a hit as you can see in the below advertisement in Variety.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources UsedThe Essentials: 52 Must See Movies and Why They Matter by Jeremy Arnold
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2737/The-Thin-Man/articles.html
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