The AFI in Silver Spring is showing some of my favorite movies over the next three weeks — the Thin Man series starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Powell and Loy star as Nick and Nora Charles, a martini-swilling, wisecracking husband-and-wife team based on a Dashiell Hammett novel. Nick is a street-tough detective, respected by both the law he helps and the criminals he puts away. Nora is his debutante wife who wants nothing more than to be in on the excitement. (Nick consistantly tricks her into jail cells and taxi cabs to keep her away from the action; she responds by pouting, “Oh, Nicky!”) Asta is their scaredy-cat charmer of a pooch.

Gramma introduced me to this slapstick film noir series shortly after Grampa died when we had a weekly standing dinner and a video date. And ever since then I’ve been enamored. Gramma has good taste.

Loy and Powell made six movies over the course of 13 years. The series was so popular that it spawned a successful radio series, a three-season tv show, and a 1990 Broadway flop (starring Barry Bostwick and Joanna Gleason). As with most prolonged series, the first three or so (the scripts that Hammett wrote) are superior to the last three, but Loy and Powell’s chemistry carries them regardless.

If you haven’t seen this hilarious series of films, please rush out to your local video store or web retailer and pick up the original right away!