Classic Movies - Legendary Couple: William Powell and Myrna Loy

Our month of “Screen Couples” continues this week with another legendary duo of the silver screen. We will first share the couple’s films together on today’s post, the male actor’s “solo” performances on Wednesday, and the female actor’s “solo” performances on Friday. Today, let’s talk Legendary Classic Movie Couple, William Powell and Myrna Loy!

This terrific twosome appeared in fourteen films together, a list of which will be shown at the end of this post. Of all their classic films, they are best known and loved as the married sleuthing couple, Nick and Nora Charles of “The Thin Man” series of movies. It is that series that is in the spotlight today. Tribute to the "Thin Man" movies. As the ultra-sophisticated, martini-drinking, murder-solving couple, Powell and Loy appeared in six “Thin Man” pictures beginning in 1934 with The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. The “thin man” of the title actually referred to the murder victim, but because of Powell’s slender build, audiences thought the title referred to him and from then on, it did. In the first film, Nick, a former detective, is called upon to solve a murder. At the urging of his new bride, Nora (a wealthy socialite who is rather bored by a life of glamour and endless cocktail parties), he takes the case. As is usual in these films, the murder is solved when Nick gathers all of his suspects in one place (this time at a dinner party) and eliminates each suspect, one by one, until he exposes the killer. Along the way to solving the murder, you can expect lots of witty repartee between Nick and Nora, more than a few martinis sipped, a parade of exquisitely chic costumes, a diverse cast of characters, and assorted tricks from the cleverest of little dogs, Asta, who often digs up a clue or two to help his owners unravel the mystery.

The other five “Thin Man” movies are: After the Thin Man (1936), often considered better than the original and co-stars young James Stewart; Another Thin Man (1939) which came three years later after William Powell had been seriously ill; Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), perhaps a little weaker in plot than the others, but still fun to watch; The Thin Man Goes Home (1944), a particular favorite of ours because of the hilarious dance floor sequence with Nora doing the Jitterbug as Nick watches in amazement; and Song of the Thin Man (1947), the final film of the series. Powell and Loy were getting older, so it was probably time to pull the plug on “The Thin Man”, but it had been a good run while it lasted.

As promised above, here is a list of all fourteen films in which William Powell and Myrna Loy appeared together: Manhattan Melodrama (1934); The Thin Man (1934); Evelyn Prentice (1934); The Great Ziegfeld (1936); Libeled Lady (1936); After the Thin Man (1936); Double Wedding (1937); Another Thin Man (1939); I Love You Again (1940); Love Crazy (1941); Shadow of the Thin Man (1941); The Thin Man Goes Home (1944); Song of the Thin Man (1947; and The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947) in which Myrna Loy only appears briefly in an unaccredited cameo role.

We must also make mention of the fact that The Great Ziegfeld won the Best Picture Oscar of 1936. If you’ve ever seen it, you understand why. We couldn’t believe the fantastic sets MGM built for that movie. They were enormous and surely couldn’t have fit on a real Broadway stage. After all that trouble, we fail to understand why it wasn’t filmed in color. It would have been even more magnificent, but perhaps a little too expensive. Powell (as legendary showman Florenz Ziegfeld) and Loy (as his second wife, Billie Burke) were wonderful in that film and a fabulous team in all their movie appearances together, but they were each pretty great in films without the other. Check out our next post for the Classic Movies of William Powell.

**Trivia Question for Today: Manhattan Melodrama, with Powell and Loy, also starred Clark Gable, but do you know what “infamous” occurrence that picture will always be associated with? The answer will appear in our next post. Read “Let’s Talk Classic Movies” every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: Bobs Watson is the amazing child actor who was dragged by runaway horses in Dodge City, with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. It always seemed to us that Bobs was able to “cry at the drop of a hat”. He demonstrated that ability in other film favorites such as In Old Chicago, Boys Town, and On Borrowed Time.