I apologize for having the same obvious review title as several others, but I just couldn't help myself. This is only the least of the Thin Man movies if you have seen all of the others, especially the energetic precode that started it all. If this was the only Thin Man film you ever saw, you'd think it a superior mystery of its era with great leads.

It is 1947, Nick is obviously in middle age, Nora is on the edge of it, and our dynamic detective duo of the 30's and the war years (they made one film during WWII) are in a brave new postwar world that they do not quite fit into, nor do they understand. Their son is about ten and is getting old enough to defy them, and two young friends, socialite Janet Thayar and her newly wed musician husband Phil Brant come to them for help. They need help because the night before, aboard a shipboard nightclub, band leader Tommy Drake has been murdered, and because Brant and Drake were seen arguing, of course the police jump to conclusions and assume Phil did it.

Now as usual there are many suspects, some that are obvious and some that are not so obvious. However, to solve the crime, Nick has to investigate a world completely foreign to him - that of postwar jazz and the jive talking of the inhabitants of that world that sound like a foreign language to him. Nick hasn't lost a step in his investigation abilities, he's just having some trouble with the changing times.

I don't know if this was meant to be the last of the Thin Man films, or it just happened to be, but it was a perfect ending. Nick and Nora are moving into middle age, it is time for a new generation to take over, symbolized by the newlywed Brants, and the Charles' are ready to wander off into the sunset and deal with their son's upcoming teen years. A perfect ending to a perfect series.

My favorite scene has nothing to do with the crime. It is when the Charles' son has tried to duck out on piano practice and go play ball against their direct orders. Nora says a spanking is in order and hands this task over to Nick who hesitates as he thinks back on his son's birth, the good times, and then one memory of his son being a brat hits him and he is able to complete the task. In this one way Nick and Nora were very postwar - they winced at corporal punishment. This was probably the reason the baby boomers were entitled hippies in their teens and 20s, the most prudish bunch of old people since the pilgrims in middle age, and want the government to keep their hands off of their Medicare now that they are old. But I digress.

At any rate, adieu Nick and Nora, no sleuthing team before or after you were ever your equal in charm, teamwork, insight or just plain fun.

It's 1947 and after five entries into the "Thin Man" series, starting in 1934, it's time for a sixth and last one. This may not be the best, but it has a lovely cast consisting of William Powell and Myrna Loy, of course, as well as Keenan Wynn, Leon Ames, Gloria Grahame, Don Taylor, Patricia Morison, Jayne Meadows, Dean Stockwell as little Nicky, and Asta Jr.

Nora is trying for a higher class of acquaintances in the hopes that Nicky will get to know people besides thieves. At a society dance, the band leader, Tommy Drake (Philip Reed),is killed. The police go after Phil Brant, whom they suspect. The next day, Janet Thayer (Meadows) and Brant (Bruce Cowling),with whom she has just eloped, come to ask for Nick and Nora's help. The police arrive just then, and because Nick believes that Brant's life is in danger, turns him over to the police for his own safety.

Ass Nick and Nora look into the case, they find out that there are many suspects in Drake's death as he wasn't very popular. Janet's father (Ralph Morgan) couldn't stand him, he owed money to a loan shark (William Bishop),and the clarinetist (Don Taylor) and Drake had an onstage fight. Drake suspected him of having an affair with his girlfriend (Grahame) who sings with the band.

In an attempt to be hep, Nick attempts to use musician language, and it's funny to hear it coming from him, and Nora tells the institutionalized clarinet player that she's a "canary." Though they were always wonderful together, Powell and Loy just don't have the zip of earlier films; they are, after all, older. Powell is 55, Loy is 42 and lovely, but their routine is tired. The mystery is okay; Dean Stockwell is funny as the incorrigible Nicky, and Asta Jr. has some funny bits.

You'll enjoy this as long as you don't compare it to the first few. "The Thin Man" started a host of imitators as well as a TV show and Broadway musical. Powell and Loy brought humor and class to the detective genre. This isn't really a fitting end to such an important series.

This is not quite a great movie,perhaps; but of all the "Thin Man" series'entries that starred capable William Powell and mature and lovely Myrna Loy, arguably this is the best mystery of all. It is also unfortunately true that having saddled the fun-loving Charleses, Nick and Nora, with Little Nicky, the same error committed in the Tarzan series, this series' executives discovered the young fellow, admirably played by Dean Stockwell, was crimping the thirties' breezy and boozy style of their very stylish duo. So this was the final entry of a long-lasting and frequently delightful set of entries. The storyline for this one is particularly strong, as are the dialogue and characters, in my judgment. Steve Fisher and Nat Perrin wrote the strong screenplay with additional dialogue by James O'Hanlon and Harry Crane. The story was by Stanley Roberts. The main narrative concerns musicians and socialites, and how badly they mix in this 'case'. The corpse is an obnoxious bandleader, who is killed while leading his aggregation aboard a gambling ship that operates outside the 'three-mile limit". Nick Charles, retired New York detective refuses to become involved here; then he is shot at, involved in the case up to his ears, menaced, lied to, frustrated by police, instructed in bee bop music, and finally left alone and also aided by his wife long enough to solve the murder and clear the innocent. In this excellent cast along with Powell and Loy are Keenan Wynn as a likable musician nicknamed "Clinker", Don Taylor as a lovesick musician with mental problems, Leon Ames and Patricia Morison as dynamic and mismatched couple, Jayne Meadows and William Bishop, Gloria Grahame, Ralph Morgan, Warner Anderson, Connie Gilchrist, Marie Windsor. Bess Flowers who is somewhat inadequate both as a singer and an actress is also featured. The best scenes in this directorial effort by Edward Buzzell are Nick's evading of police surveillance to row out and search the gambling ship with his dog Asta after the murder, the early shipboard scenes, the visits Nick and later Nora and Nick make to various locales to question people and the final showdown scene. In this one, Patricia Morison wears a stunning black evening gown, and is given something important to do in the events at last--as she shoots the man who was the murderer of the heel bandleader that she really loved, and not just another plausible suspect... This is a very attractive MGM film to boot. The sets by Edwin Willis, art direction by Cedric Gibbons and Randall Duell, Sydney Guilaroff's hairstyles and Irene's gowns are major assets to a creation of the the "look" of a good 1940s mystery entry. Exceptional for its characters, and for its band, its wealthy folk, and its shady gambling circles' setting.