Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

Directed by

W. S. Van Dyke, George Cukor

Genre

drama film, crime film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 33m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 80 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two childhood friends from New York grow up on very different paths. One becomes a mobster and the other becomes a prosecutor. The story follows their bond as their opposing lifestyles force them into conflict.

classicpre-codedramaticcity-lifebittersweetglamorouscrime-focusedfriendship-driven

What happens

Manhattan Melodrama is a 1934 American pre-Code crime drama film, produced by MGM, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, that stars Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy. The movie also provided one of Mickey Rooney's earliest film roles. (Rooney played Gable's character as a child.) The film is based on a story by Arthur Caesar, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Story. It was also the first of Myrna Loy and William Powell's fourteen screen pairings. Notorious criminal John Dillinger attended a showing of the film at Chicago'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 as Dillinger. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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