Manhattan Melodrama

An attorney (William Powell) prosecutes a lifelong friend (Clark Gable) on the opposite side of the law for murder, unaware of the crime’s true motive.

Manhattan Melodrama doesn’t start well. True to its title there’s a young Mickey Rooney sobbing on screen in the wake of the General Slucum tragedy, then more sobbing at another tragedy. Finally, Clark Gable makes his appearance and the film picks up considerably.

The script is pretty ridiculous, as far as story goes, but the three leads, Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy pull it off.

Gable is his usual sly, charming self, and works perfectly as a gambler who secretly looks up to his childhood friend, played by William Powell, who’s equally well perfect as a moralistic attorney determined to do what’s right. Between them, Myrna Loy does a fabulous job of maximizing her character’s story of a girl growing up and wanting more from life, and her chemistry with Powell is dynamite. Their combined star power overcomes the story’s gaping plot holes and left field twists, but only barely.

For his part, director W.S. Van Dyke keeps things rolling along at a good clip (which also helps conceal the aforementioned plot holes) and makes the most of his talented cast, although it would be his next picture, The Thin Man, also with Powell and Loy, where he’d really strike gold.