''Manhattan Melodrama'' is a 1934 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

crime film, produced by MGM,

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

by W. S. Van Dyke, and starring

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

, William Powell, and

Myrna Loy Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...

. The movie also provided one of

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

's earliest film roles. (Rooney played Gable's character as a child.) The film is based on a story by

Arthur Caesar Arthur Caesar (9 March 1892 – 20 June 1953) was a Romanian-American screenwriter and brother of the songwriter Irving Caesar. Caesar first started writing Hollywood films in 1924. Most of his films were in the B-movie category. He won an Academ ...

, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Story. It was also the first of

and William Powell's fourteen screen pairings. Notorious criminal

John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times an ...

attended a showing of the film at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

's Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934. After leaving the theater, he was shot to death by federal agents. Myrna Loy was among those who expressed distaste at the studio's willingness to exploit this event for the financial benefit of the film. Scenes from ''Manhattan Melodrama'', in addition to Dillinger's death, are depicted in the 2009 film '' Public Enemies'' starring

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...

as Dillinger.

Plot

On June 15, 1904, the steamboat ''

General Slocum The PS ''General Slocum''"PS" stands for "Paddle Steamer" was a sidewheel passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collision ...

'' catches fire and sinks in New York's East River. Two boys, Blackie Gallagher (

) and Jim Wade ( Jimmy Butler), are rescued by a priest, Father Joe ( Leo Carrillo), but are orphaned by the disaster. They are taken in by another survivor, Poppa Rosen (

George Sidney George Sidney (October 4, 1916May 5, 2002) was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics '' Bye Bye Birdie'' (1963) and ''Viva Las Vegas'' (1964). With an extensive backgr ...

), who lost his young son in the sinking. The boys live with Poppa Rosen for a short while; then Rosen, a Russian Jew, is trampled to death by a policeman's horse after he heckles

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

at a Communist rally and a melee breaks out. The boys remain close friends, though their lives diverge. Studious from the very beginning, Jim (played as an adult by William Powell) gets his law degree and eventually becomes the assistant district attorney. Blackie is a cheerful, happy-go-lucky kid who loves to throw dice and trick other kids out of their money. Played as an adult by

, he becomes the owner of a fancy, albeit illegal, casino. Though regularly "raided", the cops have been paid off and the casino resumes business immediately after they leave. Blackie's girlfriend Eleanor (

) loves him, but pleads with him in vain to marry her and give up his dangerous life. Jim is elected

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

. Blackie, always a supporter and admirer of Jim, knowing the latter's incorruptibility, arranges to meet him for a celebration, but something comes up, and he sends Eleanor to keep Jim company at the

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

until he can join them. Jim and Eleanor talk the night away. Afterward, she gives Blackie one last chance to marry her and settle down. When Blackie refuses, she leaves him. Months later, Jim and Eleanor meet by chance and start keeping company (she informs Jim that she has not seen Blackie for months). Meanwhile, Blackie, who acknowledges that he is a changed man (due to Eleanor's having left him), coldly kills Manny Arnold (

Noel Madison Noel Madison (born Noel Nathaniel Moscovitch; April 30, 1897 – January 6, 1975) was an American character actor in the 1930s and 1940s and appeared in 75 films, often as a gangster. Born in New York City, Madison was the son of actor Ma ...

) for not paying his gambling debts. Jim summons him to his office, where he tells him that he and Eleanor are going to get married. Blackie is sincerely happy for both of them. Jim also informs his friend that he is a suspect in the Arnold murder. However, there is no real evidence, so the crime goes unsolved. Jim invites him to be the best man at his wedding. Blackie initially accepts but later sends a telegram begging off. After returning from his honeymoon, Jim runs for governor of New York. Snow ( Thomas E. Jackson), who had been his chief assistant until Jim fired him for corruption, threatens to tell reporters that Jim covered up for Blackie in the Arnold case. Although untrue, this would cost Jim a close race for the governorship. By chance, Blackie and Eleanor meet at the horse track. Eleanor tells Blackie about Snow. Blackie shoots Snow dead in a washroom of

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

during a hockey game. A beggar who pretends to be blind sees him leave the scene of the crime. Jim has no choice but to prosecute Blackie. Blackie is convicted and

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. Jim wins the election, partly because the public sees that he is so honest he is prosecuting his own childhood friend. Eleanor tries to get him to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, revealing Blackie's motive for killing Snow, but that only makes things worse. When Jim remains steadfast, Eleanor leaves him. At the last moment, Jim hurries to

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

Prison and meets Blackie, together with Father Joe, who is now the prison's chaplain. Jim finally offers to commute the death sentence, but Blackie turns him down. (He admits to the murder of Manny Arnold.) Father Joe leads Blackie to the

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

while saying last rites. A few days later, Jim calls a special joint session of the New York Legislature. He reveals how the murder helped him win the election, and how at the end he compromised his principles and was willing to commute his friend's sentence. He then tenders his resignation. When he leaves, Eleanor is waiting for him. She tells him that she was wrong about him, and they leave together to start a new life.

Cast

Crowd at Biograph Theater after Dillinger death

as Edward J."Blackie" Gallagher * William Powell as Jim Wade *

as Eleanor Packer * Leo Carrillo as Father Joe * Nat Pendleton as Spud *

as Poppa Rosen * Isabel Jewell as Annabelle * Muriel Evans as Tootsie Malone * Thomas E. Jackson as Asst. Dist. Atty. Richard Snow *

Isabelle Keith Isabelle Keith (born Isobel Keep; May 27, 1898 – July 20, 1979) was an American actress. Keith was born Isobel Keep on May 27, 1898, in Nebraska. She initially was billed under her birth name, but she changed her professional name to Isabell ...

as Miss Adams, Jim's Secretary * Frank Conroy as Blackie's Lawyer *

as Manny Arnold * Jimmy Butler as Jim Wade as a Boy *

as Blackie as a Boy * Shirley Ross as Black

Singer * George Irving as Campaign Manager (uncredited) * Leonid Kinskey as Trotskyite (uncredited) *

Edward Van Sloan Edward Van Sloan (born Edward Paul Van Sloun; November 1, 1882 – March 6, 1964) was an American character actor best remembered for his roles in the Universal Studios horror films such as ''Dracula'' (1931), ''Frankenstein'' (1931), and '' T ...

as Yacht Capt. Swenson (uncredited) Cast notes *''Manhattan Melodrama'' was the only film that Clark Gable and William Powell made together, but both men were married to

Carole Lombard Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 2 ...

. Lombard was married to Powell when she made her only film with Clark Gable, '' No Man of Her Own''.

Reception

Filmed relatively quickly and with a modest budget, ''Manhattan Melodrama'' was expected to return a profit but not to capture the imagination of the public. The picture's smash hit success surprised the studio and made major stars of screen veterans

and William Powell in the first of their fourteen screen pairings, and also solidified the success of MGM's most popular male lead,

. The film has a Harlem nightclub scene featuring Shirley Ross in blackface singing a song called "The Bad in Every Man." After the film's release, the lyrics were rewritten by

Lorenz Hart Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon", " The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", " Bewitched, B ...

as the retitled "

Blue Moon A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: the third of four full moons in a season. The phrase in modern usage has nothing to do with the actual color of the Moon, although a visually blue Moon (the Moon ...

". On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 80% with an average rating of 7.04/10, based on 15 contemporary reviews. According to MGM records, the film earned $735,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $498,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $415,000.

Radio adaptation

''Manhattan Melodrama'' was presented on '' Lux Radio Theatre'' on September 9, 1940. William Powell, Myrna Loy and Don Ameche starred in the adaptation.

References

External links