Return of the Thin Man: Two never-before-published novellas featuring Nick… (edition 2012)

Dashiell Hammett is often referred to as one of the ‘Big Three’ when it comes to pulp fiction along with Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. He is known for his hard-boiled novels turned film noir classics including The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. Return of the Thin man is a collection of two previously unreleased novellas featuring Nick & Nora Charles from The Thin Man.

While “After the Thin Man” and “Another Thin Man” have been promoted as two never before published novellas, these are basically glorified screen plays by the pulp legend. The cynical ex-detective is back along with his very cleaver wife for some more drinking, flirting and crimes. But you really need to have read or seen The Thin Man before reading this because they are sequels that relay heavily on the character development that has already taken place.

The main problem is there are no stories here; nothing to demonstrate the power of Hammett’s pulp styles. These are just scripts for cashing in on the success of The Thin Man film adaptation. I think they would have worked a lot better if they were made into movies in the 1930’s. It reminds me of the recent movie release of Taken 2; all the plot and character development was in its predecessor, it is just cashing in on the success by trying to continue the story.

As a pulp fan I was looking forward to reading this and I really wanted to love it, but I was very disappointed. This is a gimmick release, not recommended for people new to Dashiell Hammett and Nick & Nora Charles. But if you loved The Thin Man there is a slight pleasure in seeing what Hammett had planned for these characters. The Thin Man was never a favourite of mine, I do really like Nora but for someone interested in trying the author I would recommend The Maltese Falcon or my personal favourite, Red Harvest.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2012/11/04/book-review-return-of-the-thin-man/ ( )

Hmmm. This might have worked better for me in book form instead of audio. But I may just be too picky; it's happened before with audiobooks.

William Powell and Myrna Loy are somewhat ingrained onto my eardrums as the "right" voices for Nick and Nora; this put the actors playing them at a disadvantage. I appreciated the full cast approach, although some seemed too over-the-top and were distracting.

As to be expected, the stories were entertaining and witty. The interactions between Nora's family and Nick in the first story were particularly amusing. ( )

Dashiell Hammett's screenplays for the two films, After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man. Witty, charming, and you can easily see the movies in your head, well worth the read. ( )

I received The Return of the Thin Man as an Early Reviewer Book in audio book form. The Return of the Thin Man is a newly released book that contains two stories and a sketch. The first, After the Thin Man, takes place immediately following The Thin Man and the second, Another Thin Man, takes place a few years later. Both were written by Dashiell Hammett as screen plays, sequels to the widely popular 1934 movie starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. The sketch is an 8 page summary of another Thin Man movie idea. By then, both Hammett and the screen writers were tired of the series and wanted to end it.
The book includes a lengthy description of the creation of the Thin Man series, Hammett’s life, and the relationship Hammett had with the producer of the movies and the movie company. I found the history very interesting and it served to make the stories more enjoyable.
The two stories contain the same intricate plots that Hammett is famous for, but his style of wording is lost in the loose screen play format. The audio version uses various actors complete with accents and so it sounds like a radio program with narration.
I enjoyed listening to the book very much. I loved the witty interplay between Nick and Nora so much that I borrowed the whole set of movies from the local library so that I could see Hammett’s characterizations played out by the well cast couple. ( )

This newly released book includes some never before published Thin Man stories by Dashiel Hammet. The book also includes introductions to the book and the stories that provides some rather intriguing insight into the production of the Thin Man series of movies. It should be noted that the stories in Return of the Thin Man are actually the "Screen Stories" that were used to write the screenplays for the second and third Thin Man movies produced by MGM. As Screen Stories, the writing contains the witty dialog and the complex plot setup that Dashiel Hammet is known for but the overall writing is less structured and interesting. Rather that being written with the expectation that these stories would be read as novels, the writing is structured to provide details that will be helpful in translating the story to the screen. We still get elements of internal monologue as well as some good sensory description but a lot of the writing felt rather lightweight as compared with Hammett's other works.

The first story, "After the Thin Man", takes place immediately following the first book/film. Nick and Nora are returning to California following their vacation in New York and the mystery they solved involving the Wynants. They return home to a surprise party during which a mystery man is murdered on their doorstep. At the same time, Nick is asked to "very discretely" help find a missing husband for one of Nora's relations. Naturally as time goes on, these two mysteries intertwine. The police try to get Nick to help them while at the same time they seem to feel like he's a nusaince. There is a lot of the same wit and humorous banter between Nick and Nora. The humor is taken to another level by the introduction of Nora's family, most of whom don't like Nick because he's not a socialite and has no discretion. Like the first Thin Man story, this mystery is full of multiple layers of complexity but in the end comes to a satisfying and natural resolution.

The second story in the book, "Another Thin Man" takes place a year or two after the previous story. In this story, Nick and Nora are back in New York City. This time they have another member of the family with them, their new son Nick Jr. Early on, some of Nick's old thug/criminal associates run across them and decide they want to throw a birthday party for Nick Jr. This plot element sits in the background for a while but shows up again as the setting for the climax. In this mystery, Nick and Nora have been invited to visit Colonel MacFay, a man who had previously worked with Nora's father and still has business dealings with the businesses that Nick helps oversee. It's quickly evident that MacFay had alternate motives for inviting the Charleses at this time. It turns out that MacFay has been receiving death threats from an old business partner. Nick casually investigates but seems to decide there's no real threat until MacFay turns up murdered. The District Attorney helps head up the investigation along with his local police force who Nick doesn't know. There are many times that Nick seems to be one of the primary suspects or, if not a suspect there seems to be at least some intent to discredit him. Once again, the bodies, suspects and plot complexities continue to pile up until we have a dramatic conclusion during Nick Jr's birthday party.

There is a third story included in this book as well. Simply titled "Sequel to the Thin Man", this 8 page story is apparently a hasty work pumped out by Hammett after pressure from the movie studio. This short story has some interesting plot points and brief moments of humor but it largely felt "phoned in" and forgettable.

Overall I really enjoyed these screen stories. Almost as interesting as the stories was the commentary from the editor about the production of these stories and the interactions between Hammett, the movie studio and the screenplay writers. Hammett was at the end of his writing career and seemed to be less interested in continuing the saga of Nick and Nora Charles. Compelled by contractual obligations, he did a good job of maintaining the level of intelligent humor and mystery. There were plenty of less pleasant interactions between Hammett and the studios over the pressured censorship to "tone down" his writing by removing some of the alcohol, innuendo and violence. By the end of the third story, the other writers were also tired of the series and tried to end it with the revelation that Nora was pregnant. Instead, the success of the series just required them to write the third story with the inclusion of a baby.

While the writing wasn't as tight or vivid as Hammett's actual novels, the stories here are a lot of fun. I probably won't read these again and again but I'm definitely interested to watch the movies that came as a result of these screen stories. The mystery and plot are just as complex in the screen stories as in the novels so the general story arc is still a fun read. Even though I sometimes felt like I was reading a screenplay rather than a novel, I still had fun with this book and I'm glad these stories were published if only to give additional insight into Hammett's repertoire.

***
3 out of 5 stars ( )