Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Lawbolisted Powerful

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

John T. Ryan OUTSTANDING FILM FARE from beginning to end, MANHATAN MELODRSMA represents the very zenith of the motion picture of its day. The mounting, the sets, the large cast and the story line all mesh very well into a collectively made work of art.AS SWE HAVE alluded to in the summary, this is chock full of what we may consider as being clichéd situations and plot twists. In that sense, it also may well be highly predictable. This is only true because it was introducing story lines that would be fed through the Hollywood Xerox machines for the next 20 years or so. After all, nothing succeeds like success and those in Tinsel Town never minded copying, borrowing or stealing from one another. In this manner, many types or genres were established.THE STORY SHOWCASES big city life among the working poor, the "blue collar" folks, the polyglot of ethnicities that were blended into what we know as Americans Growing up is demonstrated in two diverging paths, one straight the other the criminal. As is the case all too often n real life, the two paths may well move in very different directions; yet they begin perilously close together. IN ADDITION TOM the outstanding cast of Mr. Gable, Mr. Powell and Miss Loy, the bolstering of their performances by a large and very capable supporting cast and the previously mentioned origination of the genre, the polish that is evident is largely due to its being directed by W.S. Van Dyke. THE FILM HAS also had an everlasting mystique shrouding it because of the event of July 22, 1931. It seems that notorious bank robber, John Dillinger, wanted to see it very badly and went to see it with two others in Chicago that night at the Biograph Theatre. It was following the showing that Dillinger met his maker in a shoot out with the FBI and local Chicago cops. Because of this, the Biograph, with its "Cooled by Refrigeration" sign, remains open today as a tourist attraction on north Lincoln Avenue.WE WONDER JUST what sort of review Mr. Dillinger would have given the movie ?

lugonian MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1934), directed by W.S. Van Dyke, has the distinction of being the last movie seen by gangster, John Dillinger, before being gunned down outside Chicago's Biograph Theater by federal agents. For film historians, it's the first of thirteen movies to team William Powell and Myrna Loy. While not a history about Manhattan and the melodrama involving its police force fighting crime, the movie very much involves the lasting friendship between two men, as played by Clark Gable (excellent portrayal) and William Powell (in MGM debut). Interestingly both actors were Academy Award nominated as best actors that year of 1934, but for different performances: Gable for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Columbia) and Powell for his next assignment, THE THIN MAN, opposite Myrna Loy, yet this was their only melodrama on film together.The story opens with a prologue set on a riverboat, the U.S.S. General Slocum, Wednesday, June 15, 1904. Edward J. Gallagher, better known as "Blackie," (Mickey Rooney), is a fast-talking trickster with an urge for gambling and getting into fights, while his best pal, Jim (Jimmy Butler), a complete opposite, having a passion for reading and studying law. Also on board is Father Joe Patrick (Leo Carrillo), and Spud (Donald Haines), both becoming part in the lives of Blackie and Jim during their adulthood. Shortly after their character introduction, a boiling room explosion erupts, forcing passengers, one covered completely by fire, to jump overboard to safety. With both their parents killed in the blaze, fellow passenger, Poppa Rossen (George Sidney), who has lost his wife, takes in both Blackie and Jim to raise as his sons. After Mr. Rosen is killed during a demonstration riot in the New York streets, the orphaned boys fend for themselves (how this is accomplished is not fully explained). Move forward to 1920: Blackie (Clark Gable) is now a ruthless underworld leader and owner of a gambling house in Manhattan with Spud (Nat Pendleton) as one of the members of his mob, while Jim (William Powell), a graduate from Columbia University, working his way up from assistant district attorney to district attorney. Eleanor (Myrna Loy), Blackie's mistress, wants him to give up his life of gambling, but after meeting with Jim, falls for him and later becomes his wife. While helping Jim win his race for governor of New York, Blackie, responsible for the gangland killing of Mannie Arnold (Noel Madison), shoots Richard Snow (Thomas E. Jackson) in a washroom at Madison Square Garden for threatening to ruin Jim's political career. With Blackie's arrest and trial, Jim faces a difficult task as to whether to convict his very best friend or lose his respected title as governor.Other appearing in the cast include: Isabel Jewell (Annabelle, a dumb blonde comedy relief); Muriel Evans ("Tootsie" Malone); Frank Conroy, Edward Van Sloan and Samuel S. Hinds. Shirley Ross appears briefly in the Cotton Club sequence singing a Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune, "The Bad in Every Man," made famous years later under another title, "Blue Moon." A plot devise of boyhood pals growing up on opposite sides of the law may seem unoriginal considering many themes of this nature being played over the years, but depending on how its all played out and performed would give the distinction of success and failure. MANHATTAN MELODRAMA was definitely successful enough to win Arthur Caesar an Academy Award for his Best Original Screenplay. Of the other movies to borrow this basic theme format, the one most compared to MANHATTAN MELODRAMA happens to be ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (Warner Brothers, 1938) starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. While the versatile Cagney continued to play gangster tough guy-types for many years, MANHATTAN MELODRAMA became the last to have Gable leading a mob and carrying a gun. Unlike his unsympathetic character in NIGHT NURSE (Warner Brothers, 1931), Gable's Blackie is tough but not evil, having more good qualities than bad. With "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" being Gable's most famous line from GONE WITH THE WIND (Selznick-International, 1939), honorable mention should go to Gable's other quote for this film, "If I can't live the way I want, let me die when I want." With Gable given a classic character entrance eleven minutes into the film, and Powell ten minutes later, it's obvious MGM was also promoting Powell as well, especially with extreme close-up while deliberating in low-key manner at the trial. Myrna Loy's character plays with conviction as well, changing from woman of the world mistress to lady with class, as well as a welcome change of pace watching Leo Carrillo playing his role straight without the usual broken dialect for which he is famous.While MANHATTAN MELODRAMA did not have as many television broadcasts in the sixties and seventies as any James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart crime melodramas for Warner Brothers, with the only way of viewing it back then was attending a revival movie house, the film does deserve to be part of the classic crime films of the 1930s, while in fact it is. Available on video cassette and later the DVD format, MANHATTAN MELODRAMA can be seen and studied from time to time on Turner Classic Movies cable network where it has been broadcast since 1994. (***1/2)

SanteeFats Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy. How could it be a bad movie? Two kids that are best friends from a very young age that both become orphans when the river boat they are all on burns up. A priest who has lost his son in the same accident semi-adopts them. He raises them as his own until he is run over by the mounted police responding to a disturbance caused by rabble rousing Bolsheviks. The kids are now seen to go their divergent ways. Clark (Blackie) goes to the dark side and gets involved in gambling, betting, etc. Powell goes the other way and studies law. He becomes a lawyer, runs for DA and wins. Gable has sent his girlfriend (Myrna)to pay his respects. She is treated like a lady and likes it. She then leaves Clark and goes out on her own. When Blackie kills a mobster who owes him money, after the guy tries and draw a gun. Now things get interesting as Blackie and Jim Wade start going head to head. Wade goes after the criminals and of course he is an honest man and goes after Blackie too. At the wedding of Wade and Myrna, Blackie is suppose to be the best man but runs out. Probably to keep Wade's reputation clean. Nominated for governor he dismisses his senior assistant for cause. The assistant then re-opens the Manny Arnold murder case to embarrass Wade and cast doubts on his viability as a candidate. By this time Blackie has gone really bad and he murders the assistant. Blackie's crime is semi-witnessed by a not blind beggar sitting just outside the bathroom. So Blackie comes to trial. Jim goes to court and asks for the death penalty. He gets it but it sure isn't a happy occasion. Elected governor Wade has a chance to pardon Gable. He denies the pardon and Blackie is fried. Clark is very noble in the end and goes to his execution with panache. At the end Powell goes before the state legislature and resigns when he learns that Blackie killed a man to protect Wade from scandal.

ferbs54 A hugely popular film when first released in May 1934, "Manhattan Melodrama" is today historically important for three distinct reasons. It was the first picture to feature the by-now-common story line of two boyhood friends who grow up to become opponents in the realm of criminal justice. It saw the first pairing of William Powell and Myrna Loy, whose chemistry on screen here worked so well that they would ultimately be teamed 14 times together in films. And, of course, it was the last picture seen by the notorious bank robber John Dillinger, who, upon exiting Chicago's Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934, was killed during a gun battle with police and G-men. Today, almost 80 years since its release, the film still retains its impact and wonderful entertainment value, thanks largely to a terrific script and the megawatt star power of its three leads.In the film, we meet two young chums, Jim Wade and "Blackie" Gallegher (the latter played by 13-year-old, 14th billed Mickey Rooney). After the sinking of the General Slocum steamship on the East River on June 15, 1904, in which over 1,000 lives were lost, the boys are left orphans, soon taken in by a kindly Jewish man. When their benefactor is killed in a riot shortly thereafter, the boys are left to their own devices. Jim grows up to become the N.Y.C. D.A. and ultimately N.Y. state governor; the personification of moral rectitude, as played by William Powell. Blackie, on the other hand, as played by Clark Gable (here just a few months after the February 1934 release of "It Happened One Night"), grows up to become an underworld figure and professional gambler. Strangely enough, the two remain staunch friends, although trouble does loom when Blackie's moll, Eleanor Packer (yes, Myrna Loy), throws him over and marries Wade. And then things become even more problematic, when Blackie kills a man and D.A. Wade must prosecute the case and find the killer....Harking back to Dillinger, I must say that if you are ever given the choice as to what your last movie will be before being executed, you could do a lot worse than "Manhattan Melodrama." All three stars are given ample opportunities to shine here: Gable is extremely likable, his faithfulness to his old buddy never wavering; Powell gives two tremendous speeches, one in the courtroom as he urges for the death penalty for his old friend, the other in front of the State Assembly; and Loy is just as sexy and beautiful as can be. The film's script just sparkles (the picture won an Oscar for Best Original Story), and the events depicted move along briskly and with not a bit of flab. A quick check of the names behind the camera might convince potential viewers of what a class production "Manhattan Melodrama" is. The film was produced by the legendary showman David O. Selznick, cowritten by the famed Joseph L. Mankiewicz, lensed by one of Hollywood's foremost cinematographers, James Wong Howe, and features a tune, "The Bad In Every Man," by Rodgers & Hart. (Lorenz Hart would later rewrite the lyrics and turn it into the familiar standard "Blue Moon"!) Not to mention the crackerjack direction of W.S. Van Dyke, who would go on to helm four of the six "Thin Man" films starring Powell and Loy, and three films with Gable, including "San Francisco." Perfect entertainment package that the film is, it also offers the viewer a trip to Harlem's Cotton Club, a hockey game at Madison Square Garden AND a horse race at Belmont (during which the boys get out of Manhattan for a while, for an afternoon in Queens). Plus, we are also given some very amusing comedic relief, thanks to the antics of one of Blackie's henchmen, Spud (played by Nat Pendleton), and his dim-witted galpal Annabelle (Isabel Jewell). What most viewers will most appreciate, though, I feel, is the solid camaraderie that Blackie and Wade enjoy, although life has set them in opposition. Indeed, Blackie's love for Wade never flags, even while he is sitting on Death Row. And I'd like to think that as Dillinger felt the first bullet enter his body, he flashed back to Blackie's Death Row words: "Die the way you lived, all of a sudden. That's the way to go. Don't drag it out. Living like that doesn't mean a thing...."