The Miraculous Manu Memorial Movie Month, Mmmmm!

The Thin Man (1934)

I figured it was about time to leave the 1970s, and you know what those kids are crazy about these days? Screwball murder mysteries from the 1930s! Truth be told, I didn't know what to expect when sitting down to watch this one. It's not some stone-cold acclaimed classic, just something I've been meaning to get around to seeing. It's an oddball pick.

One thing these old-time black-and-white talkies had down pat was blocking, a holdover from silent films and theater. Take this scene for example:

The woman on the right wants to know what’s being said on the phone, and the woman on the right wants her not to know, if for no other reason than she’s annoying.

So she turns away from the camera, hiding now not only the news but her reaction to it from the audience, so our focus is pulled to the woman on the right and her intensity.

Now she’s hung up the phone and turned to profile, to continue to dodge questions. Later in the same scene we have this sequence:

Do you see it?

Peek-a-boo! Later still:

Mighty sly framing. We’d see a lot more of this type of thing in the 40s when deep focus was invented and became the new hip thing. Finally, this sequence takes place over a split-second. Now you see him:

Now you don’t:

Pretty slick.

I really don’t have much time for any more than this today, though, sorry.