Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke
(more)

Writers:

Oliver H.P. Garrett (screenplay) and
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

4 May 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Friendship | Murder | Governor | Orphan | Electric Chair

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Edward J. 'Blackie' Gallagher
William Powell	...	Jim Wade
Myrna Loy	...	Eleanor Packer
Leo Carrillo	...	Father Joe
Nat Pendleton	...	Spud
George Sidney	...	Poppa Rosen
Isabel Jewell	...	Annabelle
Muriel Evans	...	Tootsie Malone
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Asst. Dist. Atty. Richard Snow (as Thomas Jackson)
Isabelle Keith	...	Miss Adams (as Claudelle Kaye)
Frank Conroy	...	Blackie's Defense Attorney
Noel Madison	...	Manny Arnold
Jimmy Butler	...	Jim Wade as a Boy
Mickey Rooney	...	Blackie as a Boy
Shirley Ross	...	Singer in Cotton Club
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Oscar Apfel	...	Speaker of Assembly (uncredited)
William Arnold	...	Blackjack Dealer (uncredited)
William Augustin	...	Detective (uncredited)
William Bailey	...	Al Barnes - Croupier (uncredited)
Curtis Benton	...	Announcer (uncredited)
John Bleifer	...	Chauffeur (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone	...	Detective in Court (uncredited)
Wade Boteler	...	Prison Guard (uncredited)
Don Brodie	...	Reporter (uncredited)
G. Pat Collins	...	Killer in Prison (uncredited)
James Curtis	...	Party Leader (uncredited)
Vernon Dent	...	Otto (German dancer on steamship) (uncredited)
Charles Dunbar	...	Panhandler (uncredited)
James Eagles	...	Boy in Prison (uncredited)
Jay Eaton	...	Drunk (uncredited)
Harrison Greene	...	Eleanor's Dance Partner (uncredited)
Donald Haines	...	Spud as a Boy (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Assistant District Attorney (uncredited)
Eddie Hart	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Lew Harvey	...	Craps Dealer (uncredited)
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Warden of Sing Sing (uncredited)
George Irving	...	Jim's Campaign Manager (uncredited)
William Irving	...	German Note Holder (uncredited)
Jimmy James	...	Chemin de Fer Dealer (uncredited)
Cullen Johnson	...	Boy (uncredited)
Payne B. Johnson	...	Small Boy on Street (uncredited)
Jack Kenny	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Leonid Kinskey	...	Trotskyite Slapping Poppa Rosen (uncredited)
Leo Lance	...	Leon Trotsky (uncredited)
Jack 'Tiny' Lipson	...	Uncle Angus (uncredited)
Dixie Lotten	...	Irish Woman Talking with Poppa Rosen (uncredited)
John Marston	...	Mr. Coates - Gambler Losing Yacht (uncredited)
Ralph McCullough	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Sam McDaniel	...	Black Prisoner on Death Row (uncredited)
Larry McGrath	...	One of Blackie's Hoods (uncredited)
Tom McGuire	...	Policeman in Court (uncredited)
Alex Melesh	...	Master of Ceremonies (uncredited)
King Mojave	...	Croupier (uncredited)
Charles R. Moore	...	Black Man in Speakeasy (uncredited)
Pat Moriarity	...	Trotsky Heckler (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Bailiff (uncredited)
Leslie Preston	...	Jim's Dance Partner (uncredited)
Bert Russell	...	Blind Beggar (uncredited)
Harry Seymour	...	Piano Player in Casino (uncredited)
Lee Shumway	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Pepi Sinoff	...	Jewish Woman (uncredited)
Pete Smith	...	Racetrack Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Bert Sprotte	...	German Note Holder (uncredited)
William Stack	...	Judge (uncredited)
Landers Stevens	...	Inspector of Police (uncredited)
Stanley Taylor	...	Police Intern (uncredited)
Al Thompson	...	Street Spectator (uncredited)
Edward Van Sloan	...	Yacht Capt. Swenson (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon	...	Boat Passenger (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Assistant District Attorney (uncredited)
W.R. Walsh	...	Croupier (uncredited)

Directed by
W.S. Van Dyke
George Cukor		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Oliver H.P. Garrett		(screenplay) and
Joseph L. Mankiewicz		(screenplay)
Arthur Caesar		(story)

Produced by
David O. Selznick	....	producer

Original Music by
William Axt		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
James Wong Howe

Film Editing by
Ben Lewis

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lesley Selander	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Edwin B. Willis	....	associate art director
Joseph C. Wright	....	associate art director (as Joseph Wright)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Special Effects by
Slavko Vorkapich	....	special effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Dolly Tree	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
William Axt	....	synchronization (as Dr. William Axt)
W. Donn Hayes	....	supervising editor: musical sequences (uncredited)

Music Department
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Domenico Savino	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
G. Pat Collins	....	voice (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Cosmopolitan Productions (for)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1934) (USA) (theatrical) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1935) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1934) (France) (theatrical)
• TV3 (1988) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Turner Entertainment  package design (2007 release)
• Turner Entertainment  supplementary material (2007 release)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

93 min | USA:90 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 (cut) | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #3213-R, 16 March 1937 for re-release)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Cosmopolitan Productions

Trivia:

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. He had been set up by Anna Sage, the madam of a brothel, who knew Dillinger's girlfriend, Polly Hamilton. Sage was facing deportation and thought the tip might get her off. She told FBI agent Melvin Purvis that she would be wearing orange which appeared red, leading her to be dubbed "The Woman in Red". Dillinger was shot three times when he tried to escape, and Sage wound up being sent back to Romania.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Blackie picks up a magazine from the couch after Eleanor leaves him, it is a close up of a Ladies Home Journal from a leopard skin upholstered couch. In the wide shot, he is holding a Vogue and the couch is plainly upholstered, not leopard skin.

Quotes:

Edward J. 'Blackie' Gallagher:Die the way you lived, all of a sudden, that's the way to go. Don't drag it out.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bullets Over Hollywood (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

What's the Matter With Father

Cutting no corners

'Manhattan Melodrama' 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.

Clark 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.

Despite its melodramatic but never overwrought style 'Manhattan Melodrama' has sufficient weight and substance to make itself heard 70 years after the fact. It cuts no convenient corners in the description of the governor's sad plight of having to decide whether his friend should live or die, and it paints a wonderful and believable picture of Loy'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 we're all rooting for.

Recommended, but please don't judge it by the first 20 minutes which are rather slow-moving, but still entertaining.