The Thin Man
Although I have always enjoyed the Myrna Loy-William Powell movie adaptions, this was my first reading of Dashiell Hammett's "The Thin Man."
After recently reviewing the noir icons Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, I find this yarn to be rather thin- thin characters, and a very thin narrative stretched even thinner by the tedious breakfast-to-bedtime cocktail party. Hammett's shallow characters seem unable to begin a conversation without first ordering a drink. Mercifully, the plot line rises from the dead in the final chapters. Maybe it was finally sobering up?
Hammett was not particularly interested in the nuances of the underclass that consumed Chandler and Cain. Those portraits that he does offer up lack the social impact of his competitors. His caricatures of the American overclass seem painfully off key. Binding the thin characters to the thin plot line, is Hammett's threadbare narrative. He is not in the same class with the better educated Chandler and Cain.
No one is disputing the noir ranking of Hammett's masterpiece, "The Maltese Falcon," but after reading "The Thin Man," I feel he was a one trick pony with a literary reputation greatly enhanced by Hollywood and his relationship with Lillian Hellman who was always adored by the influential American critics.
I am usually generous, but when Hammett runs this poorly in the company of Chandler and Cain, he only deserves one star. I added a bonus star for the lollipop curve of the plot line in the final pages.
After recently reviewing the noir icons Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, I find this yarn to be rather thin- thin characters, and a very thin narrative stretched even thinner by the tedious breakfast-to-bedtime cocktail party. Hammett's shallow characters seem unable to begin a conversation without first ordering a drink. Mercifully, the plot line rises from the dead in the final chapters. Maybe it was finally sobering up?
Hammett was not particularly interested in the nuances of the underclass that consumed Chandler and Cain. Those portraits that he does offer up lack the social impact of his competitors. His caricatures of the American overclass seem painfully off key. Binding the thin characters to the thin plot line, is Hammett's threadbare narrative. He is not in the same class with the better educated Chandler and Cain.
No one is disputing the noir ranking of Hammett's masterpiece, "The Maltese Falcon," but after reading "The Thin Man," I feel he was a one trick pony with a literary reputation greatly enhanced by Hollywood and his relationship with Lillian Hellman who was always adored by the influential American critics.
I am usually generous, but when Hammett runs this poorly in the company of Chandler and Cain, he only deserves one star. I added a bonus star for the lollipop curve of the plot line in the final pages.
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