Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

Manhattan Melodrama: Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, Jack Conway, George Cukor. With Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo. The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.

“u0026#39;Manhattan Melodramau0026#39; may not have the stylistic finish to it to make it a great message movie about contemporary 30s issues, but it does go a long way towards that end, and is never less than engaging.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClark Gable is the happy-go-lucky gangster Blackie who is being tried for murder by his boyhood best friend Jim, William Powell, a D.A. who has made it to governor of New York because of a murder done by Blackie, unbeknownst to Jim. On top of it all they both love the same woman, Myrna Loy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDespite its melodramatic but never overwrought style u0026#39;Manhattan Melodramau0026#39; has sufficient weight and substance to make itself heard 70 years after the fact. It cuts no convenient corners in the description of the governoru0026#39;s sad plight of having to decide whether his friend should live or die, and it paints a wonderful and believable picture of Loyu0026#39;s character who does what she deems best. Powell delivers a multi-layered performance that has to count amongst his best, and Gable is irrepressible and delightfully amoral as the bad guy weu0026#39;re all rooting for.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRecommended, but please donu0026#39;t judge it by the first 20 minutes which are rather slow-moving, but still entertaining.”