(1944, b/w) From 1934 through 1947 MGM produced six movies, starring William Powell (1892-1984) and Myrna Loy (1905-1993) as the charming, wisecracking, sophisticated couple Nick and Nora Charles, based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Though he's handsomely compensated for his crime-solving, her inheritance provides them with the means for living well and happily partying. Though all of the titles contain "the thin man," this is misleading since "the thin man" does not refer to Nick Charles but to a character who appeared only in the original picture played by Edward Ellis.

Also co-starring in each of the films was Asta (the role performed by several dogs with the original's actual name being Skippy), the Charleses' wire-haired terrier. In this next-to-last episode of the series, directed by Richard Thorpe with screenplay by Robert Riskin and Dwight Taylor from an original story by Riskin and Harry Kurnitz, the famous detective attempts to escape from the demands on his sleuthing services in the crime-infested city by relaxing with his folks in his peaceful hometown.

Having left Junior at home in New York City, where he's attending kindergarten, but taking Asta along, Nick and Nora ride a crowded train (mostly in the baggage car) to visit with his parents, Dr Benjamin Charles (Harry Davenport) and his wife (Lucile Watson), in Sycamore Springs. Imbibing cider to reform his drinking habit (of which among other things his father disapproves, including his occupation of being a "policeman," instead of following into the medical profession), Nick nevertheless finds himself on a few occasions unfairly accused of being drunk.

To Dr Charles, Nora speaks up in defense of her husband's genius, providing a long-winded account of his bringing Stinky Davis to justice, which only embarrasses Nick further. Next, wanting to raise him in his father's eyes, she initiates a rumor about the "local boy who made good" being on a case in Sycamore Springs. When a pair of local lowlifes, Edgar and Helena Draque, read about Nick's presence, they assume he's onto them.

After Nora buys a painting of a windmill from Crumps Art Shop for Nick's birthday, which it turns out almost everybody else wants, a man shows up on Dr Charles's doorstep and drops dead from a bullet wound (but no sound of a gunshot) in the back. Nick begins his investigation at Tom's motor court, in the room of the victim, Peter Berton, where he finds a Cubana Perfecto cigar wrapper and an artist's paints.

He interviews drama-queen Laurabelle (Gloria De Haven), daughter (with "a vivid imagination") of the town's banker Sam Ronson, who had been Peter's sweetheart, though another of her beaus, Tom Clayworth was jealous; and then accompanied by his former school chum Dr Bruce Clayworth (Lloyd Corrigan), Tom's father who extracted the bullet from the murdered man, Crazy Mary (Anne Revere).

The bankers attempt to intimidate Dr Charles into sending his son back to the city by intimating that his project for building a hospital could be undone with all the snooping about. Suspicious of Nick's friend Brogan (Edward Brophy), a traveling greeting-card salesman, often appearing in the bushes, Nora gets it into her head that he's the murderer, whom she stalks one night, leading up to the payoff at the finale.

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