To me, this movie is perfection.

Memorable, crazy movie

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Finally, the movie everyone (except me) hates: Song of the Thin Man (1947). For this one, Nat Perrin was assigned as both producer and screenwriter (in collaboration with Steve Fisher), whilst the directorial reins were handed to veteran Eddie Buzzell. The writers have taken care to restore Nick's liking (though not compulsion) for alcohol, but they made little change to the bland domesticity of Nora. Admittedly, she isn't quite the dumb housewife here, more the not-so-bright socialite. Her antics aren't funny though. In one particular boneheaded play, she almost gets herself killed! Loy's performance is adequate, but by no means sparkling. Maybe she was miffed that she was handed no witty lines to speak of. Maybe she was just tired. She'd already co-starred with Powell in thirteen films. Aside from Myrna Loy's inoffensively decorative Nora, the main item that irritates most fans is the jazz soundtrack. I thought it terrific. In fact it's my number one reason for welcoming this entry. Sultry Gloria Grahame sings up a storm with "You're Not So Easy To Forget", whilst Keenan Wynn (as an enthusiastic muso) and Don Taylor (as a psychotic reed man) give the most convincingly charismatic performances of their lives. As for Powell, the script not only serves him astringently well, but he still seems right at home tossing off one-liners in the same polished, throwaway, suavely witty form. No doubt he could have continued persuasively playing Nick Charles for the rest of his career. - Which he did with only minor variations.

I completely disagree with some prior posters who thought this the worst in the series. First of all, it's one of the best mysteries with any number of possible candidates. Secondly, it has a really strong supporting cast led by K. Wynn who is terrific in the role of jazz inside man. Jayne Meadows and Ralph Morgan are also strong supporting actors. Third, it really showcases jazz, perhaps inadvertently and in a negative way however (as out of touch, out of the mainstream with a different language etc.), and has some great numbers (including the theme song, "You're Not so Easy to Forget" which I think the director was using as a nod to this being the last in the series of Thin Man movies and to William Powell. The director obviously makes his disapproving commentary on jazz in a subtle way: by focusing the camera on the bust of Beethoven just after a jazz scene! But he does integrate the music well into the plot since much of the plot takes place on a gambling boat. The denouement of the mystery is also probably influential on other mystery/criminal series to follow (like Perry Mason) in that the entire cast of suspects is collected together, as in an Agatha Christie or a Rex Stout story. Fourth, the script is very, very witty and you have to pay close attention to the words (like the reference to Somerset Maugham with the "it couldn't be his razor", a reference to Maugham's, The Razor's Edge. Or how about the time William Powell is "eying" a ladies earrings but his sight is a bit focused elsewhere and Nora reminds him something like, "earrings are higher than that"! But I did think we saw too much of Dean Stockwell and the film would have better off with him in a reduced role (sorry to his fan club, but I'm no fan). I thought I saw the Wizard of Oz in this movie and it turns out that it is his (almost lookalike) brother! Lastly, Asta has a big and important role in this movie, fittingly so, since it is the last in the series. In short, great acting, great script, and great harmony between Powell (who really could act, especially in comedy) and M. Loy. Superb.

Song of the Thin Man is a sad-sweet experience, something like meeting a good friend you haven't seen in years and realizing how much affection you still have for him... but also how much you both have aged. It's been 13 years since The Thin Man appeared in 1934. We have to stop and remember that Nick Charles wasn't the thin man back then; that particular thin man was just one of the many murder victims Nick and Nora came across in their six movies. We remember the sophistication and insouciance of this affectionate and clever couple. They were never at a loss for a quick come-back or to shake a cold, gin martini. Even Nick's modus operandi to bring all the suspects together at the conclusion and pick apart the case until he has the murderer squirming never quite got stale. Alas, with Song of the Thin Man we have the MGM factory squeezing out one more film to try to wring a profit from it, this time attempting to make it "contemporary" by setting the story in the post-WWII social world of after-hours jazz clubs, bebop musicians and hep cat dialogue. Nick and Nora never looked uncomfortable anywhere their adventures took them in the past. They look at times now as out of place as salesmen from Peru, Indiana, at a Linda and Cole Porter party. Gone is the sophisticated world of white sofas and polished black floors, of naughty Porter lyrics and earnestly sophisticated Gershwin tunes. Martinis seem oddly old fashioned now (and so do Old Fashioneds) as Nick drinks high balls and Nora sips sherry. And instead of clever repartee, Song of the Thin Man gives us the kind of dialogue only studio journeymen can write. Says one character, "I must have blown my top, kicking Buddy over for a road company Casanova like you!" The solution depends on the kind of half-baked, melodramatic psychology popular at the time. To make it even more tedious, there are no characters except Nick and Nora to care about. The movie is peopled with crooks, opportunists, gold- diggers, scat-talking musicians and the unattractive rich. The acting is so variable that it doesn't take long to realize we're watching the kind of movie that MGM did not waste much effort on. Why spend time on it? Two names: William Powell and Myrna Loy. Even though 13 years have elapsed, even though, at 55, Powell is a little fuller around the face (Loy at 42 doesn't seem to have changed a bit) and even though WWII altered decisively the world of films, they remain one of the most refreshing, attractive and delightful movie pairs in screen history. They raise the movie, if at least not to their level, to a level of enduring affection for their style, their warmth, their intelligence and, that word again, their insouciance. So three stars is too much for the movie but five stars is too little for them.

It was inevitable that "The Thin Man" series would run out of steam eventually and this last entry is probably why both Powell and Loy never made another one. The background for this mystery is a gambling boat with jazz musicians giving the film a very dated look because of all the jive talk, circa 1940s.And as usual, there are more suspects than there are murders, with Asta and Mrs. Charles trying to help Nick solve the crime. MGM spared no expense in giving the film a glossy, polished look and a sparkling supporting cast--PATRICIA MORISON, LEON AMES, GLORIA GRAHAME, KEENAN WYNN, DEAN STOCKWELL (then 11) and PHILIP REED.The problem is the usual flaw in these Nick and Nora mysteries--the viewer never gets enough clues to solve the crime along with the two sleuths. You're just along for the ride as the two deal with a host of unpleasant characters, among whom is a murderer who invariably slips up in time for Nick to solve the crime.Summing up: Good chemistry between Loy and Powell is still there, but they get little help from a tiresome script.