Another Thin Man is the third installment in this successful detective series. Nick and Nora Charles are back along with Asta and with the addition of baby Nicky. When Nora's father's old business partner Colonel MacFay summons Nick and Nora for a quiet little weekend of 'business' in the countryside out on Long Island, you just know it will turn out to be anything but. They soon find themselves smack in the middle of a murder investigation that eventually follows them back into the city.

This movie is slightly darker in tone than the first two Thin Man movies, but it has a typically complex plot. This is the only other movie in the series, after the first one, that is actually based on a story by Dashiell Hammett.

The chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy is what makes these movies work. They not only looked great together, but also seemed to behave like an actual married couple. Average American couples could relate to them at the same time that they envied their wealthy and exciting lives. And boy did they put away the liquor. In nearly every scene Nick has a cocktail in one hand. Here's a typically witty exchange between husband and wife.

Nora: "I got rid of all those reporters."

Nick: "What did you tell them?"

Nora: "We're out of scotch."

Nick: "What a gruesome idea."

These movies are great escapist entertainment. What's more, that's all they aspire to be. Many of today's filmmakers could learn a thing or two from these old movies. W.S. Van Dyke (One Take Woody) shows that it doesn't necessarily take a huge budget and a lengthy shoot to create a good movie. But then again he had William Powell and Myrna Loy working for him, something that no director today can claim.

Thank God for the eternity of celluloid. We have these shimmering silver baubles from long ago to watch over and over, whenever the mood strikes.

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