Tea at Trianon: 'The Thin Man' Revisited

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, March 14, 2022

'The Thin Man' Revisited

From CrimeReads:

When elegant Nora Charles, trailing her dog Asta, trips and sends herself and her bundle of Christmas gifts sprawling to the speakeasy floor in a perfect stroke of comedic timing, The Thin Man shifts from a movie with all the hallmarks of a hard-boiled detective drama to something a bit more frothy and fun. Murder is still at the heart of the story. But with the addition of the glamourous leading lady, a cute wire-haired terrier, witty banter between Nora and her retired-detective husband Nick, and cocktails… lots of cocktails… the 1934 film becomes, dare I say it, almost cozy.

I was struck during a recent re-watching of the classic film by how much it blends elements of both the traditional private eye-focused detective story with the cozy mysteries of today. In fact, I wondered if the film, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1934 novel of the same name, might serve as a sort of gateway to convince fans of noir-esque style mysteries to take an occasional detour into the lighter, friendlier world of cozy mysteries.

Hammett’s novel, the last published by the man dubbed by The New York Times as “the dean of the ‘hard-boiled’ school of detective fiction,” was a departure of sorts from his earlier works, such as The Maltese Falcon and The Continental Op. Those novels clearly fit into a certain mold, featuring hard-drinking and world-weary private investigators, such as Sam Spade, whose moral fiber was woven from only a slightly higher thread count than the criminals he pursued. But with The Thin Man, Hammett was said to have been influenced by his relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman, who is believed to have been the inspiration for the character of Nora Charles.

Nick Charles is a former private eye with ties to the same low-level gangsters and underworld crime bosses as a typical noir detective. But he’s retired now, and enjoying life with his socialite wife. The couple spend their days drinking copious cocktails and flitting and flirting their way across Manhattan hotels, speakeasies, and the apartments of the upper crust. While Nick hasn’t lost any of his tough guy skills—he knocks his wife out of harm’s way and overpowers a late-night visitor with a gun—he’s happier to leave that world in his past. It’s only through Nora’s insistence that Nick ends up investigating the disappearance of absentminded inventor Clyde Wynant and the subsequent murder of his former secretary and lover, Julia Wolf. (Read more.)