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About This Film
Nick and Nora Charles return to San Francisco on New Year’s Eve hoping for rest after the events of The Thin Man, only to find their home full of revelers and Nora’s family already waiting with another problem. A missing husband, a nightclub, blackmail, and murder quickly replace the quiet holiday. The pleasure lies in William Powell and Myrna Loy’s effortless partnership: investigation and marriage feel like extensions of the same witty collaboration. New Year is not an incidental opening. Parties, drinking, late-night movement, and social obligations create the conditions in which the mystery begins, while the holiday’s expectation of fresh starts sits ironically beside old family complications.
Famous Quote
“Have you made any New Year's resolutions?”— Nick Charles (English)
Vibe
New Year —
Watch For
- Watch Powell and Loy’s timing; Nick and Nora investigate through conversational rhythm as much as clues.
- Notice the New Year party atmosphere as both comic overload and cover for movement between locations.
- Track James Stewart’s early dramatic role and how his character shifts in tone.
- Pay attention to San Francisco locations and references, which distinguish the sequel from the first film’s New York setting.
Production Notes
AFI states explicitly that the story opens on New Year’s Eve as Nick and Nora return to San Francisco. The sequel was produced by MGM with W. S. Van Dyke again directing, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett writing from Dashiell Hammett material, and portions filmed on location in San Francisco. AFI notes that the base of Coit Tower doubled as the exterior of the Charles home. The film also gives a young James Stewart a major supporting role before his star breakthrough.
Trivia
- The film was released on December 25, 1936.
- AFI gives versions running 107 or 112 minutes.
- W. S. Van Dyke returned to direct William Powell and Myrna Loy.
- The story begins on New Year’s Eve in San Francisco.
- James Stewart appears in an important early role.
Legacy
After the Thin Man confirmed that Nick and Nora Charles could sustain a series and helped define the sophisticated married-detective dynamic that influenced later mystery comedy. Its New Year setting enhances the franchise’s association with cocktails, social gatherings, and elegant disorder. The movie also preserves a glamorous Depression-era fantasy of marriage in which affection and intelligence coexist without domestic blandness. Within Holiday Movie Night it provides one of the strongest classical-Hollywood New Year entries because the holiday is active from the first scene rather than attached only to a final countdown.