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THE THIN MAN Murder, Mirth and Marriage At The Movies Part 2
By Rich Drees |
Following the success of The Thin Man, MGM was understandably eager to begin work on a sequel. Despite some misgivings about author Dashiell Hammett's drinking, the Metro Goldwyn Mayer brass were keen to have him involved in the project and quickly summoned him to Hollywood at the end of October 1934.
On November 2nd, Hammett sent a letter to long time companion Lillian Hellman admitting that he had been out to 5 am doing “a little town roaming” and had begun work on the sequel at 10 that morning. This letter was probably a harbinger of Hammett’s work habits to come.
In another letter to Hellman, dated November 5th, Hammett admitted that he was ashamed of
himself, that he had been drinking heavily and hadn’t been to the studio in
almost a week. Even though he hadn’t been a participant in the production of The
Thin Man, he was certainly reaping the benefits of the film’s popularity. “I’m
still surprised at the fuss The Thin Man made out here,” he wrote.
“People bring the Joan Crawfords and the Gables over to me instead of the usual
vice-versa. Hot-cha!”
In order to give Hammett a hand in his writing, and to obstensiously keep an eye on him, the studio assigned him a secretary- Mildred Lewis LeVaux. Still, Hammett was slow to get to work. He would often just lie about in bed or work on crossword puzzles with LeVaux. On occasion, he would have prostitutes sent over from Madame Lee Francis’. Stromberg would call often to check his progress, but Hammett would dodge his calls.
On January 8, 1935, Hammett submitted a thirty-four page treatment to producer Hunt Stromberg. The storyline contained some elements from an aborted first draft of The Thin Man from 1930, although the treatment didn’t even decide on a murderer. It also did not incorporate all the surviving cast members from the first film as originally planned. Despite the fact that the synopsis would require revisions, there was enough material to convince MGM to offer a new contract, as Hammett’s old one was to expire on March 9, 1935.
Hammett finally signed the new contract with the studio on June 19th, calling for him to serve as an assistant to Stromberg, doctoring scripts for $1,000 a week or writing complete treatments for $1,750 a week. Such a lucrative deal from MGM was surprising, considering Hammett was becoming more and more unreliable. Stromberg even acknowledged this in a memo; “If Hammett ever sobers up and becomes fit to work, we would then have exclusive call on his services.” Nevertheless, the contract stayed in effect for three years, except for short periods when he was temporarily fired for drunkenness.
Hammett’s final synopsis was handed over to the Hacketts, who fleshed it out into a first draft script. This was then handed back to Hammett who wrote a one hundred and fifteen page outline, incorporating some revisions to the script, finishing it on September 17.
After The Thin Man opens almost directly on the heels of The Thin Man,
with Nick and Nora's train arriving in San Francisco. (There's no mention of
Dorothy and Tommy from the first film. We're to assume that they're on their way
to a life of marital bliss.)
At the platform they are greeted by a gang of reporters who want to know all about the couple's adventure in New York City. (Look for a repeat of the dog walking gag from the first picture in this scene.) Finally arriving at their house, the Charles find a welcome home party in full swing, attended by people they don't know. Still, a house full of strangers is favorable to Nick rather than accepting a dinner invitation from Nora's stuffy Aunt Katherine (Jessie Ralph). However, Nora insists that Nick accompany her to dinner as she has received a phone call from her cousin Selma (Elissa Landi) who is in some unspecified trouble. Soon Nick and Nora find themselves deep in a mystery involving Selma, her no account husband Robert (Alan Marshall), night club co-owners' Dancer (Joseph Calleia) and Lum Kee (William Law), showgirl Polly (Dorothy McNaulty) and the stuffy blue bloods in Nora's family.
During the writing of the final outline, Stromberg and Hammett kept disagreeing
on certain story points. Stromberg insisted that Nora announce her pregnancy at
the end of the film. He also felt that the killer’s role should be softened to
accommodate young James Stewart, whom the studio was considering for the role.
Ultimately, Stromberg would win both these arguments.
The Hackett's had a much more drastic idea than just making Nora pregnant. They wanted to kill Nick and Nora off at the end of the picture as a way of getting out making a third film. “We wanted to kill both of them at the end... But Hunt wouldn't let us,” wrote Goodrich to the couple's agent Leah Salisbury.
Another change from Hammett’s outline is the elimination of the murder of Pedro Dominges, the gardener, from the start of the film. Instead, it becomes an off screen event with Nick finding Pedro’s body in the basement of Polly’s apartment building later in the film.
Hammett’s own conclusion for the film was a bit more implausible that what played out on the screen. In his version, David grabs Nora and dangles her out the window during the final confrontation scene. Lum Kee manages to sneak away and climb up the pipe ladder from below, grabbing Nora and keeping David from dropping her. As David tries to reach over the window sill to beat Lum Kee, Nick snatches one of the police officer’s guns and shoots David, who falls 60 feet to the rocks below. It’s a fairly bloodthirsty act and not much in keeping with Powell’s portrayal.
Hammett, used to only writing one draft of a manuscript, was disappointed with the changes wrought upon his story. As he remarked in an interview with The Daily Princetonian (Princeton University, New Jersey) on November 11, 1936, “They say they’re going to call it After The Thin Man. Heaven knows why. Before Hollywood started monkeying around with the plot it was something like The Thin Man, but its own mother wouldn’t recognize it now.”
Van Dyke summed up the struggle to get a polished script in the following manner:
It was not an easy task for them (the Hacketts) to grope back through three years of time to catch the same characteristic idioms voiced by Bill and Myrna in the first story. Too, Bill and Myrna had grown three years older than the original Nick and Nora and had alienated themselves from those characterizations, so it was necessary for them to step back three years.
After the Hacketts completed another pass through the script incorporating both Hammett’s and Stromberg’s changes, they were ready to start shooting with Van Dyke once again directing.