Blu-ray Review The Thin Man Goes Home Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

A lesser if still pleasingly entertaining entry in The Thin Man series, Richard Thorpe’s The Thin Man Goes Home adds the fifth of six entries on Blu-ray to the celebrated, classic mystery series.



The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)



Released: 01 Jan 1945
Rated: Approved
Runtime: 100 min




Director: Richard Thorpe
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery



Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson
Writer(s): Robert Riskin, Dwight Taylor, Harry Kurnitz



Plot: Nick and Nora Charles visit Nicks parents in Nick's hometown of Sycamore Springs. The town is a very peaceful and law-abiding one but Nick soon has a murder case on his hands.



IMDB rating: 7.4
MetaScore: N/A





Disc Information



Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Warner Archive...

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[Will Krupp]

Nora struggling with an uncooperative lawn chair (a funny bit with a hilarious payoff)

"I wouldn't want you to get all sweaty and DIE..."

 

[Keith Cobby]

Thanks for the review, it is my favourite of the series and the first I have ordered.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Thanks for the review, Matt. I either need to order this one soon, or put it on my Christmas wish list. I still have not picked up Shadow of the Thin Man yet, either.

 

[Nelson Au]

My pre-order for this is coming today. I’m not an expert on The Thin Man series, I have been collecting each title as Warner Archive is releasing them, looks like after this title, there is one more to complete the series; Song of the Thin Man.

 

[Will Krupp]

This is the third week in a row that Amazon got Warner Archive releases to me on day one. Maybe the drought is dissipating? Can't wait to sit down with it!

 

[Matt Hough]

This is the third week in a row that Amazon got Warner Archive releases to me on day one. Maybe the drought is dissipating? Can't wait to sit down with it!

Let us know what you think please!

 

[Will Krupp]

Let us know what you think please!

Well, I'll TRY but you KNOW my natural shyness makes me loathe to give an opinion on anything!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

This is the third week in a row that Amazon got Warner Archive releases to me on day one. Maybe the drought is dissipating? Can't wait to sit down with it!

Mine arrived today from Amazon, as well.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Do you think that WB will ever just do a Thin Man box set in BLD? Just seems right....one and done, LOL!!!

 

[Astairefan]

Do you think that WB will ever just do a Thin Man box set in BLD? Just seems right....one and done, LOL!!!

I'd say the most likely answer is "Don't count on it" for at least three reasons:

1) We're talking about a six film series here, and WAC has yet to release anything more than a 4-film set on BD. Also, they have been working with a maximum MSRP of about $50 for all their releases for a few years now (technically, it was a few bucks less than that, but it's close enough). With the MSRP generally amounting to $10 per disc on these sets, that just makes it highly unattractive to them. Now, could they do two three-film sets? That seems more likely, except for my next two reasons.

2) This might just be coincidence, but so far, it seems like all their box sets of previously released titles (like the Bogie/Bacall set, the Noirs, the Horror, the Hitchcocks, etc.) have come out when the industry is having some issues, like the replication plant closing in 2018 (when we got the Bogie/Bacall set and the Batman animated movie double-feature) or the pandemic closing everybody down for a few months in 2020. I think those sets were released then because the transfers were done (which is where they ran into trouble in 2020, with all the film labs and storage facilities closed down) and the discs were already replicated (which probably helped in 2018). Right now, the industry is facing a similar issue to what EVERYBODY is facing: that of supply chain issues. However, this makes a box set LESS likely, as those materials include the disc cases, so I wouldn't count on anything more soon.

3) The last, and equally big problem here, is that three of the films in this series were from the 1930s. Now, that's big, as most indications, in between RAH and some of the WAC podcasts, seem to indicate that a lot of the 1930s films that WAC has released (not necessarily exclusive to this series) have been EXPENSIVE restorations. And when I say "expensive," I'm not kidding, as we had nearly FOUR years (mid-2015-mid-2019) where none of the Warner-owned films from that decade came out. Not from WHV, not from WAC, not from Criterion and not from Shout. That speaks to the idea that these are not as popular as we would like to think (and, you will notice, they are STILL avoiding films from the 1920s on Blu-ray), and I would be very surprised if these (or any other 30s films) were released in any multi-film sets.

And I certainly don't see WAC releasing a box set alongside the last film, either. I think we are at a point in the physical media game where it isn't worthwhile to restore/remaster films for box sets (I know Kino's Insider has indicated that they are unwilling to do that for a set, and it seems like most of the other labels seem to be operating that way as well). In short, if you want these, I would *suggest* buying the individual releases, or face the possibility of never getting them (since, as I have said, I think a box set is EXTREMELY unlikely).

 

[Robert Crawford]

Do you think that WB will ever just do a Thin Man box set in BLD? Just seems right....one and done, LOL!!!

I don't see them releasing it either because of diminishing returns profitability-wise.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Whether or not there is a box, I could see them offering a deal on buying all 6 together.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Whether or not there is a box, I could see them offering a deal on buying all 6 together.

Who is “them”?

 

[B-ROLL]

Who is “them”?

You know who Them is

!

 

[Will Krupp]

Since I organize my collections (DVD and blu-ray) chronologically by release date, box sets annoy me since, unless it's a particularly beautiful box (like Warner's Fred and Ginger DVD set) I always take them apart to fit them into that system anyway. On a purely selfish level, I'm perfectly happy with single releases, especially with the more or less consistent one a month average we've seen with THE THIN MAN.

This one looks great, by the way. When the elements are good and it's done right, there's something about blu-ray that really makes love to these mid-40's film stocks. Very very happy with this.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Who is “them”?

WB

 

[Robert Crawford]

WB

WB doesn't have any retail operations like beforehand when they could offer such deals. That doesn't mean that Amazon couldn't have some kind of sale.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Okay, I received my preorder of "Song of the Thin Man" early before it's January 18th release date. Other than "Alias Nick and Nora" DVD that has documentaries on William Powell and Myrna Loy are there any other reasons why I can't delete the rest of that 08-02-05 The Complete Thin Man Collection" DVD Boxset from my DVD Profiler and disc collection?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Okay, I received my preorder of "Song of the Thin Man" early before it's January 18th release date. Other than "Alias Nick and Nora" DVD that has documentaries on William Powell and Myrna Loy are there any other reasons why I can't delete the rest of that 08-02-05 The Complete Thin Man Collection" DVD Boxset from my DVD Profiler and disc collection?

I don't see why not. My wife sold my entire DVD set for a nice chunk of change (over $40, if I recall). I couldn't see any reason to keep the set. I do still need to buy this last film on BD, but that will happen soon.