Time, Gentlemen, Please !

I've always said to my children, both now fully grown and fine young adults ,"One day I'll write a book about good decisions I made when drunk. It'll be the shortest book in history consisting of blank pages."

To this day I've got to restrain myself from going anywhere Amazon UK when I've had two or more beers. The shopping cart is too easy to fill when judgement strays. Some time in the near future,however, I am going to buy a boxed set of the "Thin Man" films and I'll be sober when I do. Nick and Norah Charles (pictured above as played by William Powell and Myrna Loy) were created by Dashiel Hammett in the novel "The Thin Man".

It's a book filled with snappy patter that stands up well today. Sadly, it's also Hammett's last novel. Published in 1934 it's set during the Prohibition era (which only ended the previous year). Booze, naturally, plays a big part in the backdrop but it was the hinted at "open marriage" between Nick and Norah that led to some editors calling it "amoral" and refusing to serialise it. Regardless, it was Hammett's most commercially successful work. The movie followed hot on its heels and went on to spawn 5 sequels between 1939 and 1947. A radio series also ran for 9 years with a TV spinoff in the late 1950s that ran for 72 episodes over two years.


There's an interesting review of the first film (on the Film School Rejects website) that actually makes a case for it being one of the earliest examples of a "modern film". I think that this has a lot to do with Hammett's ear for dialogue. The 1941 classic "The Maltese Falcon" was the third adaptation of the original novel for the big screen. Legend has it that Howard Hawks advised John Huston to simply "film the book". It's probably the greatest directorial debut of all time (with the exception of "Citizen Kane"). I had the pleasure of seeing it as a young man shortly after reading the book. The dialogue is lifted verbatim and the film is all the better for it.


Growing up in the 60s I didn't realise until much later that DC comics' characters Ralph (the "Elongated Man") Dibny and his wife Sue were based on Nick and Norah. I suppose the idea of a stretchable detective / superhero being named after the hero of the "Thin Man" was the literary equivalent of a knowing wink from series creator John Broome.


By the time David Niven and Maggie Smith were playing "Dick and Dora Charleston" in Neil Simon's affectionate send-up of the classic mystery "Murder By Death" (1976) I had read the original and picked up on the jokes straight away.


As for the films, their very success may have played a part in ending Hammett's career as a novelist. As royalties rolled in and "easier" Hollywood jobs were offered it would have been hard to keep motivated. More about Hammett anon.


The most amazing thing about how Nick functions as a detective and manages to trade quips with Norah is that he does so while afloat on an ocean of booze. At the moment I'm studying languages with the Open University. On the evenings when I do manage to make time for study I have a strict "No Alcohol!" policy. (The same goes for blogging time, believe it or not). After 2 pints of beer I've got trouble fitting my house keys into the door let alone fitting the German accusative case into a sentence.


Deduction and witty repartee just don't go with booze. Still, that's the great thing about detective stories. We suspend our disbelief. We believe that Inspector Morse can thrive on cryptic crosswords and real ale and that the more obscure Nick Noble, created by the great Anthony Boucher, can still solve intricate mysteries through a fog of alcohol. Sadly, I now enjoy crime fiction best when I settle down to read with a nice cup of tea.