Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

Manhattan Melodrama
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke
1934/USA
Cosmopolitan Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
First Viewing

James W. ‘Jim’ Wade: I’m going to clean out every rotten spot I can find in this city, and, Blackie, I don’t want to find you in any of them.

Blackie and Jim were childhood buddies. Both were rescued from a tragic steamship fire and then raised together by a man who was trampled to death at a political rally. Blackie (Clark Gable) grows up to be a gambler and tough while Jim (William Powell) grows up a lawyer and idealistic politico. Blackie’s main squeeze is Eleanor (Myrna Loy) but he eventually loses her to Jim who is the marrying kind. Jim becomes District Attorney and friendship and crime-fighting come into conflict.  I think we all know where this is going!

I thought the script really let down the actors, who were fine. There were just one too many coincidences and everybody was a tad too noble for me to bear. But what do I know? This won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1934.

This was the movie that bank robber John Dillinger had just seen before he was gunned down in front of Chicago’s Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934.

Trailer