Manhattan Melodrama

[mrsl]

I've seen this before but never really thought about it much, but I don't believe I ever saw it from start to finish as I did tonight. First off, Mickey Rooney was soooo darn cute, I love seeing him pop up no matter what movie until his teens, then with Andy Hardy he gets kind of off beat. This film about two orphans who grow up together, as usual one on each side of the law, takes a kind of unusual turn as even the 'bad' one still has a personal inbred integrity that he lives by no matter what the circumstances. To him, black is black and white is white and there is no grey in between to dull the picture. Clark Gable of course is Blackie (how often did he play a character named Blackie?) the gambler/gangster, and William Powell is the lawyer/DA/Governor. Both men do an admirable job on their characters and you pull for both of them which is strange, but the way the story is laid out, you can't really choose one over the other. Myrna does though, but this must have been one of her first talkies because through the whole movie she sounds like she is reading off her lines. Sentence after sentence is quoted with no rhythm, or emotion.

I couldn't help wondering if Dillinger's last thoughts were "I shoulda stayed home!"

Anne

[charliechaplinfan]

I liked this when I saw it, I thought William Powell and Clark Gable were really good casting. I prefered their pairing to Gable and Tracy pairings.

John Dillinger's only regrets must only have been about getting caught. I think it's a good way to pass a couple of hours. Didn't Dillinger have a particular liking for Gable?

[MissGoddess]

John Dillinger's only regrets must only have been about getting caught. I think it's a good way to pass a couple of hours. Didn't Dillinger have a particular liking for Gable?

Hi CCFan! I don't know about that, but I did hear he had a yen for Myrna.

Anne---this is one of my favorites from teh 1930s. I just love to sit back and see how much
Van Dyke is able to pack into this movie which moves so breathtakingly fast, yet it doesn't
necessarily feel "rushed". He was such a talented director, I consider it an enormous loss
that he left us so soon.

I love Myrna in this, I found her very toucing and emotional, but the more often I watch it,
the less I like the ending. I think Blackie's whole perspective is cool but I find the whole
Powell-as-crusading-governor thing a bit hard to swallow. Powells' best and more natural
scenes were when he was just talking to Gable or Myrna, not the courtroom histrionics.

And by the way, I really prefer the original lyrics "The Bad in Every Man" to what later
became "Blue Moon", ha!

[MissGoddess]

Wasn't Manhattan Melodrama one of Winston Churchill's favorite movies??? Or am I confusing it totally (as usual) with something else?

[moira finnie]

Wasn't Manhattan Melodrama one of Winston Churchill's favorite movies??? Or am I confusing it totally (as usual) with something else?

I'm not sure about the specific movie as one of Churchill's faves (he did, as I'm sure you know, adore That Hamilton Woman), but Winston and FDR shared several passions--one of them being admiration for Myrna Loy. Who can blame them? I think the sight of Myrna was probably pretty cheering after a hard day trying to save the world from its own self-destructive tendencies.

I only caught the last 15 minutes of this, but have seen it before. Loved the fatalistic Gable's jaunty insouciance all the way to the chair, and his remark to his pal the guv, William Powell stating that "if I can't live the way I want, then at least let me die the way I want."

You're right, Miss G.
Powell is a real stiff in the noble scenes. I kept thinking he was kidding and was about to point out the real murderer in the state legislature. We New Yorkers might feel like doing that too (pardon me for injecting that note of contemporary reality. That's so unlike me!)

Thanks for mentioning this one, Anne. I'll have to rent it again.

[mrsl]

RO said, in the intro that Dillinger went to see this movie because he was a fan of Myrna. He was shot as he left the theater, that's what I meant by that last bit about it being worth it.

I liked Gable and Tracy better in San Francisco myself.

Although I never met him, my first husband's grandfather, a real joker I understand, was known to say, when asked what he wanted for his birthday, or Christmas or whatever . . . "All I want is Myrna Loy with a big red bow tied around her neck".

Anne

[rudyfan]

I love the lighting and camera work in this film. I caught this last night for the first time in many years. I was surprised at how stiff Powell was, yes his character was a stiff, too. But Powell played him as rather constipated. The chemistry with Loy was there, however. This pre-dates The Thin Man, right?

Gable steals the picture, no question. I wonder how Gable's career would have turned out had he landed at WB rather than MGM?

[charliechaplinfan]

I think Clark Gable steals every film he's in. It's a while since I watched it. I looked up in Warren Harris's book on Gable about Dillinger, apparently news reports at the time said that Dillinger never missed one of Gable's movies he was such a fan, he would even come out of hiding for one. His date/betrayer wore a red dress as a signal that she was with Dillinger so the cops could shoot him.

Talking of Dillinger, isn't a film about to come out with Johnny Depp starring as Dillinger?

[ChiO]

Talking of Dillinger, isn't a film about to come out with Johnny Depp starring as Dillinger?

Yes, indeed. PUBLIC ENEMIES. It was filmed, in large part, in Chicago. Although the exteriors for the Biograph Theater were filmed at the Biograph (now a "live" theatre), the interiors for the Biograph were shot at our neighborhood Wed. matinee/weekend only revival theatre. During that filming, the makeup and costume area was in the parking lot of the grade school behind our house.

I was told to stay inside because the neighbors were confusing me with Johnny Depp.

[MissGoddess]

I was told to stay inside because the neighbors were confusing me with Johnny Depp.

I'm sure you are MUCH better looking, ChiO.

[knitwit45]

I was told to stay inside because the neighbors were confusing me with Johnny Depp.

um, we heard a wee bit different story....but we'll go with yours.......

[charliechaplinfan]

[ChiO]

Maybe it was Keith Richards as portrayed by Johnny Depp? And, no, it wasn't Ed Wood, Jr.