The Thin Man (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

I have, of course, seen the movie umpty times and it is one of my all-time favorites. I am now reading the book, and I am pleasantly surprised.

First, the writing is first rate. Rather spare, with a minimum of description. Much of the dialog is reproduced in the movie, although sometimes in different places - my favorite bit, from Nunheim’s wife (or girlfriend?) that starts out “I don’t like crooks…” is exactly from the book, and the casting of that character is nigh perfect.

I’m not sure why Hammett decided to exercise his considerable talent in the detective mode; I guess he believed in writing what he knew. But whatever the milieu, this ain’t no genre fiction. Not a new opinion, but this is literature of high quality.

What’s different in the movie? Mimi is a much darker and more dangerous character in the book, and Dorothy (Wynant’s daughter played by Maureen O’Sullivan in the movie) is a borderline alcoholic, possibly driven by her ugly relationship with her mother. The brother is presented in the movie as more creepy than in the book, where he is just very intellectual and unemotional. The scene at the beginning of the movie between Wynant and his secretary does not appear in the book.

Casting of the main parts? Myrna Loy is perfect (no surprise there) although she is never described in the book except to say that she is 26 at the time. The only thing I can think of against William Powell in the role of Nick Charles is that he is supposed to be taller; he’s also supposed to be about 40 and of Greek extraction, and I think he passes on both of those points.

Oh, Asta in the book is a girl dog.

I’m only about 2/3 of the way through, so Nick hasn’t discovered Wynant’s body yet and the big dinner scene at the end hasn’t happened yet (assuming it does, that seems kind of a theatrical stunt that might not work in a book).

Nick’s detective style seems rather similar to Superintendent Maigret - no pre-conceived ideas, just asking as many questions as he can think of and following the evidence wherever it leads until something falls into place.

Finally, I am enjoying reading this book a lot, but I kind of wish I could have read it without the knowledge I got from seeing the movie so many times.

2

I envy you your first ever reading of this book. It is a wonderful experience. You are so right. It is definitely a step above most other detective fiction and this comes from a man who loves good detective fiction. I can just imagine Hammett and Hellman wandering through the the book as Nick and Nora.

Enjoy!

3

Spoiler for the book:There is a suggestion in the book of an incestuous relationship between the brother and the mother. He also asks Nick a lot of creepy questions about what it is like to be stabbed, what cocaine is like, and doing experiments on people. He reminded me of Leopold and Loeb.
Regards,
Shodan

4

I love the movies…and have never read the books. Move over there on the sofa; I’ll join you!

(What struck me most about the movies was how damn much alcohol gets swozzled!)

5

That’s definitely in the book. They come home drunk pretty much every night at 3 or 4am, and get up at noon.

Shodan, I don’t disagree about the things he is interested in, but the reason he is interested doesn’t seem (to me) to be anything but curiosity about things that most of us find icky or disturbing for emotional reasons. Maybe he wants to be a doctor. As for that relationship, I haven’t seen anything like that yet.

6

Damn your eyes. Now I need to find my copy and read it again.

7

I have now finished the book, and I was right about the dinner scene being written for the movie, nothing like that happens in the book.

As much a chestnut as that plot device is (“The murderer is someone in this room!”) it still made a more satisfying ending than in the book. In the book, the police find the body in the cement, and when he hears about it the light suddenly goes on for Nick, and he figures out what really happened (which is the same thing he figures out in the movie). But it comes so suddenly and so out of the blue for the reader, that Nick has to spend the last four pages explaining it all to Nora, whose final comment, and the last line in the book, is “That may be, but it’s all pretty unsatisfactory.”

So as good as the book was to read, it seems like Hammett didn’t really know how to end it, and he knew that his ending was a little tacked on.