After the Thin Man

After the Thin Man (1936) is a detective comedy you can watch online on iFILM, produced by MGM and directed by W.S. Van Dyke — the follow-up to the smash-hit The Thin Man, with William Powell and Myrna Loy back as Nick and Nora Charles. James Stewart appears in an early role.

Nick and Nora return to San Francisco for New Year's and immediately get pulled into a missing-husband case by Nora's imperious aunt. The missing man turns out to be connected to a seedy nightclub, a singer, and at least two people with good reasons to want him gone. Nick, martini in hand, unravels it with the practiced ease of a man who'd rather be sleeping.

The Powell-Loy pairing is the whole reason these films work, and Van Dyke understood that — the mystery is clever but the banter is the point. Nora keeps pace with Nick on every beat, which was unusual enough in 1936 to be genuinely refreshing and holds up. Stream After the Thin Man (1936) online on iFILM.