Pun Salad

As promised, I've put a few William Powell/Myrna Loy movies into the Netflix queue. This is one of their classics. I had to pretend it wasn't based on a book written by an unrepentant Commie, Dashiell Hammett.

Powell and Loy play the legendary Nick and Nora Charles; he's an ex-cop, she's an heiress, and they're pretty happy to live in luxurious drunkenness on her fortune.

The "Thin Man" of the title is not Nick; it's the eccentric inventor Clyde Wynant, who's gone missing. Unfortunately, when Wynant's ex-"secretary" is murdered, he becomes the most likely suspect. Wynant's daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan!) implores Nick to investigate to find out what happened to her dad and who really did in the secretary.

Powell and Loy have a rare chemistry, and it's easy to see how this pairing turned into five more "Thin Man" sequels and many other collaborations.