Nick Charles (Powell) and his wealthy wife Nora (Loy) seem to care more for witty repartee and tippling at odd hours than they do for honest-to-god sleuthing, but a worried daughter named Dorothy (played by O'Sullivan, Mia Farrow's real-life mom) convinces the effervescent newlyweds to join the hunt for her missing scientist father. The investigation which follows (between cocktails) keeps the viewer guessing right up to its suspenseful conclusion.

Director W.S. Van Dyke's filming of Dashiell Hammett's saucy detective novel features the second inspired teaming of Oscar-nominated Powell and Loy (after 1934's "Manhattan Melodrama," infamous as the film that gangster John Dillinger saw right before he was shot outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre). The two stars are note-perfect as the high-living detective couple. This film's enormous success spawned five sequels over twelve years. A deft mix of comedy and mystery, with a heady dose of glamour thrown in, "The Thin Man" remains top-flight entertainment.