Reviews (14)

Hollywood's first great sequel!
"After the Thin Man" is the second of five sequels in "The Thin Man" series. It was released in 1936, two years after the original movie, and literally takes up where the first one left off - aboard the Sunset Limited headed from New York to California.

Having had their Christmas holidays in New York interrupted by a murder mystery [much to Nick Charles' dismay and wife Nora's delight], the couple is looking forward to a quiet New Year's Eve at home. This is not to be. Their house, it seems, has a huge cocktail party going on in it. And - you guessed it - there's another mystery brewing. Nora's cousin's husband has gone missing, and scandal threatens her stuffy, socialite family. Nick could care less. He has no use for his holier-than-thou in-laws. Nora is concerned - and not a little thrilled at the prospect of another adventure.

William Powell and Myna Loy are, as always, Nick and Nora. They are one of the great screen couples of all time. Their relationship is often hysterically funny, sometimes touching, and more than a little complicated. A very young James Stewart has a meaty supporting role. The star quality is easy to see. Selma Landis is in top form as the neurotic cousin who is under the thumb of her frightfully domineering mother.

"After the Thin Man" [great sequel title!] is only slightly less entertaining than its predecessor and is certainly superior to most of the comedies of today. That superiority is due to great screen writing, true star power and a genuine zest for life that rarely is seen today - at least in the movies.

By the way, there IS no thin man!

A Worthy Sequel
Although it lacks the sharp edge of the original, AFTER THE THIN MAN is a worth sequel to THE THIN MAN, with the famous William Powell and Myrna Loy chemistry as intoxicating as one of Nick Charles' famous cocktails.

The sequel finds Nick and Nora Charles newly returned to their home in San Francisco in the wake of Nick's successful handling of "the thin man" case--only to find Norah's formidable aunt Katherine determined to keep the family name out the papers re cousin Selma's wayward husband, who has been missing for several days. Nick is accordingly summoned to track him down as discreetly as possible. But where Nick and Norah go, both murder and publicity is sure to follow.

AFTER THE THIN MAN boasts a cast equal to the original, most notably a young James Stewart as cousin Selma's former love, Jessie Ralph as Aunt Katherine, and a truly delightful Penny Singleton as Polly, the hard-knocks cabaret singer who leads wealthy husbands astray. The story is a bit convoluted, but the complications never get in the way of the film's witty dialogue, and while many may find the killer a bit obvious it doesn't prevent the film from being a great deal of fun. Recommended.

Best of the 6 THIN MAN movies!!!
The very first THIN MAN movie was so popular due to love bickering relationship between Nick and Nora. It was no doubt a treat to see a married couple pick at each other and all the while the love they shared for each other was evident to all. The murder mystery almost takes second place to the bickering between Nick and Nora. Not so in AFTER THE THIN MAN.

AFTER THE THIN MAN devotes the bulk of the story to the murder mystery. Nick, who is still supposedly retired from detective work, gets lured into another case. A relative of Nora's needs Nick to prove her innocent. The case seems iron clad and Lieutenant Abrams, portrayed by Sam Levene is sure who the killer is. Only Nick seems to be able to sift through all the circumstantial evidence and get to the real evidence. Nora dogs his every step as she attempts to convince her family Nick is a good man even if he wears a "blue" collar.

James Stewart, prior to becoming famous, does well as the rejected love interest of the accused murderer. He will do anything to help her...or will he? Penny Singleton, prior to her role as Blondie Bumstead in the BLONDIE movies and her providing her voice as Jan Jetson on the JETSONS, has an interesting role as 1930's sexy street sassy blonde. As she would tell you, she's not illiterate because her parents were married at city hall.

So, while the original THIN MAN was fresh and new AFTER THE THIN MAN has all the dents and dings banged out of the script. It is a much better and much more interesting film. It is my favorite of the six THIN MAN films.

The DVD edition of this film is long overdue.

MORE BRILLIANCE FROM NICK AND NORA
The second in the series of Thin Man films and the second best one, just a notch below the first. The story begins just days after the first movie. Nick and Nora have returned to their very luxurious home in California from New York.

They arrive home to find a house full of (uninvited) guests who are there to welcome the couple back home. They attend a Dinner party at Nora's very uptight socialite Aunt. Hilarious watching Nick interact with these old, wealthy step-relatives.

Soon, though, Nora's cousin Selma is accused of murdering her estranged husband and Nick and Nora have to step in to investigate.

This time the Charles celebrate New Years Eve with plenty of drinks at the night club of a small-time hood named Dancer. Nick is joined by a table full of his less than savory past friends who tell Nora "I don't like Dames who get mouthy afte a couple of snorts!"

Sam Levine is very funny making his first of two appearances as Lt. Abrahms. A young Jimmy Stewart is also along as the unrequited love of Selma.

As with the first, the drinks flow freely, particularly in the night club scenes where Nick finds himself the object of affection of a drunken young lady, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend.

Fantastic banter between the two stars as usual. Their chemistry was second to none. Asta is along too.

This was also, I think one of the better mysteries of all the Thin Man movies. Where is the DVD????

Still Meaningful After All These Years
Great periscope view of the thirties. Everybody wears a mustach (except the women). Humor still valid. And cocktail- drinking? sheesh! Humor still valid. Good acting. And where does one find a marriage like this? Wonderful. Take me back (altho I wasn't even a gleam yet). ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Count Your Blessings
The First sound version of " The Count of Monte Cristo" scores well because of its veteran cast.

Donat is fine in the title role in a Muni type performance. Imprisoned with the Abby( O.P. Heggie ) Dantes gets a big start in life and thus persues his revenge on Baron Danglers et all.

Louis Calhern , an under appreciated actor and Sidney Blackmer are fine in thier roles as antagonist and there is a certain 30,s sweep to the narrative that makes it a bit hokey but well done.

CP

Count of Monte Cristo VHS ~ Robert Donat
Accidentally left bad feedback. Would like to change it.
Please help.

Old Sometimes Better
Several years ago I owned a copy of the 1934 version of the Count of Monte Cristo. I appreciated the fact that the older movie stayed closer to the author's original story line, carefully woven in. Some of the acting is a little corny, overdone a bit (similar to silent films), but that is easily forgiven. Our copy was damaged and we no longer have it to watch again, but I was reminded of it when we rented the new version. The new version is OK, but I found myself enjoying the older version better. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Cecil B. DeMille's pre-Hays Code Roman costume drama manages to mix fast-and-loose historical facts with melodrama and titillation. Fredric March plays Marcus Superbus, a Roman soldier and womanizer who jeopardizes his position in Nero's storm troopers by developing a crush on a beautiful Christian girl, Mercia (Elissa Landi). With the Christians keeping their faith far underground, Superbus walks a tightrope between his obligations to the state and his love for Mercia until she and her family are rounded up and hauled off to the arena. The Sign of the Cross is not without its problems; by modern standards, it often seems slow and stagy, and its moralistic message comes across as blunt and heavy-handed. DeMille, however, shrewdly knew how to keep an audience's attention in ways that would have been impossible in subsequent years. Consider Claudette Colbert as the alluring, evil Poppaea, lolling in a bath of asses' milk with her breasts almost completely exposed. Or there's the scene where Marcus tries to get Mercia to loosen up a bit; his idea of a fun time is to take her to an orgy where she's groped by a lesbian during an erotic dance. Then there's Charles Laughton as the decadent Nero, his fey manner abetted by an oiled-up boy-toy at his side in nearly every scene. The climactic scenes at the arena are still violent today, with Christians being gnawed by lions, gladiators knocking each other's brains out, and an Amazon spearing a Pygmy and carrying him around like a kebab! The Sign of the Cross was heavily cut for rerelease in later years but is now available again in its uncut form. --Jerry Renshaw ... Read more

Reviews (11)

a really good bad movie
totally ludicrous but highly enjoyable. supposedly this movie has a christian message but after watching it you wonder why in the heck anyone would want to become a christian because the bad guys seem to be having fun. the martyrs only have a few depressing hymns to keep themselves going. but that elissa landi is darn good looking. Unfortunately she cannot compare to claudette colbert in a milk bath. this is a fascinating scene you should watch many times. this is the kind of garbage that got demille roasted endlessly by critics, but the bald old tryant could do some wonderful things on film even though he wasn't a master of sublty. the big roman coliseum segment at the end is a smash. as junk goes, this is at the very top. highly recommended. also an excellent example of a pre-code movie getting away with murder.

A FASCINATING FILM.
Shot in shimmering soft focus by Karl Strauss, this is a beaufiful film to watch. Its detail is ferocious in such scenes as when we see a grotesque face orgasmically spouting milk into the Empress Poppaea's pool, or the lesbian occupant inviting a handmaiden to strip and join her. The arena scenes are very well shot, form the first line-up of gladiators, the Emperor accompanied by a naked male slave, to the horror of dismemberment, the tragic banality of Christian self-sacrifice.......... Jesse Lasky's last major achievement befor being ousted from Paramount was to bring back to the fold his old partner, Cecil B. DeMille, whose productions elsewhere since 1925 (with the exception of KING OF KINGS (Pathe, 1927) were decididly below par. The prodigal's return was approved by Adolph Zukor with the proviso that C.B. must not spend more than $650,000 on the remake (it was first filmed in 1914) of THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. Wilson Barrett's play was perfect material for DeMille, floridly depicting the pure love of a Roman virgin (Elissa Landi, in one of her rarely seen film roles available on video) for Marcus Superbus (Fredric March) who is lusted after by the wicked Poppeia (Claudette Colbert) the wife of Nero (Charles Laughton). Spirit triumphs over flesh, once the latter fills plenty of footage, and the hero joins the heroine and other Christians in an arena full of lions, etc. DeMille dips the seductive Colbert into asses' milk for his biggest bathtub scene, and allowed Laughton (murmuring "delicious debauchery!" to overact gloriously. The film was completed in eight weeks (inside the budget) and was a sensational, erotic and financial success.

the roar of the lions, the smell of the crowd
Bizarre and lavish, this 1932 epic is an entertaining curiosity piece. It starts in "Rome...the third night of the Great Fire, 64 A.D.", with Charles Laughton as a flabby, insane Nero, playing a harp and taking delight in the conflagration, with his hatred for Christians the basis for the plot.
It meshes together the faith and determination of a few brave souls with the debauchery of the times and mankind's fascination with the misfortunes of others, culminating in the remarkably well filmed Colosseum scene.
From Claudette Colbert, who plays Poppaea, Nero's wife, bathing in milk (and it was real milk, which started to sour and stink on the second of many days of filming), to the crocodiles on the march, there are depictions of every kind of excess and sensual liberty.

The costuming is skimpy, even to Frederic March's laughable micro-mini outfits, and the dialogue is often silly with some of the hammiest performances on film, but DeMille's talent for orchestrating crowd scenes, and the good/evil theme of the film make for outrageous and sometimes thought-provoking viewing. It's about depravity, courage, and the triumph (if only spiritually) of the underdog, and well worth seeing for the arena sequence alone.
Based on Wilson Barrett's popular 1895 play, the cinematography by Karl Struss (who in his long career also did the '58 cult favorite "The Fly") is brilliant, with many cross images using light/shade and doors. Total running time is 125 minutes.

SELLER IS A THIEF !
BEWARE ! seller is a THIEF . I bought a vhs from seller . finally emailed after seven days . And sd his computer was down . sd he would check on my order and never emailed me back . kept emailing seller . Never had a response . Take my advise before buying from seller or you will be next .

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die
...

I found this to be the general attitude of the Roman people, if this movie is at all historically accurate, and I believe it is. A very pitiful, empty, tragic existence. To hate other people so much just because they love and serve God, and to be so deadened in spirit that you don't mind killing en masse.

Well... I watched it last night because it has been years since I've seen a DeMille movie and I wanted to see what it was like. While I will not dismiss DeMille as a director, I think I will dismiss this movie from consideration for my collection. For one thing, the characters weren't very developed. They got somewhat lost in a sea of extras and Roman spectacles and I couldn't really get into their shoes and understand or feel much for them. Yes, it was sad when Mercia had to go face the lions, but by the time it happened, I'd been sickened by so many disgusting spectacles in the Coliseum that I didn't really think I could deal with any more tragedy. I would say that the only character that moved me deeply was the innocent laughing little Christian girl whose mother died. She was so oblivious to what was really happening, and when the kind old man took her up to the lions with him, he told her they were going to see Mother. Very touching.

The main characters....

Charles Laughton was perfect for Nero. You don't want to feel anything good about Nero, and Laughton makes it easy to despise him - the neurotic weirdo with Rome at the mercy of his cruel insanity. He was so disgusting all the way through the movie, and he is last seen calmly eating grapes while human beings are slaughtering and being slaughtered below him.

Claudette Colbert as Poppaea was very strange and I never understood her a bit except that she had designs on Fredric March. Her clothes were slinky and her hair style was weird, and I didn't really like her at all. I did like her pet leopard, though.

Fredric March aka "Marcus Superbus" was okay in his role except for a few minor things. The curled hair was very unbecoming, the outfits he had to walk around in were equally so. They seemed to get worse and worse as the movie wore on, too. And once again the character was undeveloped except for the understanding that he was a womaniser and a roué. (That is an old term meaning cad.)

And there was Mercia, and I can't really say much about her either because her character didn't seem deep enough to jump into. She seemed to be a loving girl devoted to purity and virtue and God, and in the prison it was good to see her ministering to the needs of her fellow prisoners.

Then there was all the risquée display of women... Claudette bathing in her donkey milk bath (gross to begin with) was obviously topless. Then there was the weirdo at Marcus' party who sang "Naked Moon" or whatever it was called and danced around Mercia quite erotically. And in the Coliseum, there were a couple of women being executed who wore nothing but garlands of flowers wrapped around themselves. I just found it weird that a lot of this stuff got past the censors, and I didn't really think it was necessary.

And speaking of the Coliseum, that whole scene was revolting for the simple reason that I don't like to watch people mass murdering each other for the amusement of a degenerated society. It was so disturbing to see the entire audience revelling in the bloodiness of the spectacle.

I won't say that everything in the movie was bad. The motif of the Cross appeared traced in the sand, constructed from branches or twigs, in shadows on the floor from windows... That was very artistic. Mercia once stood against a door as if she was hanging on a cross.

Despite all the negatives and mediocres of this movie there was one element of it that I don't think anyone should ignore. I've known about the martyrdom of Christians in Rome for years, but never really given deep thought to how frightening and terrible it would be. But it is the only cause really worth dying for, and I hope that I would be willing to face lions or fire or whatever else, if I would ever be called to die that way.

So that sums up my opinion of the film. It did leave an impression on me - mostly negative though it may be. Watch it if you want, but I can't highly recommend it, and definitely not for children. ... Read more