Griff Lees
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Haven Kaycee
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
atlasmb
Myrna Loy, who was often paired with William Powell or Clark Gable, is paired with both in "Manhattan Melodrama". Gable plays Blackie--a gangster/casino owner with a sense of honor. Powell plays Jim--a childhood friend of Blackie, who, due to shared tragedies, becomes his spiritual brother, but finds success as a D.A. and politician.The film covers a lot of ground and the early scenes move at breakneck speed to bring the story to the adult lives of the main characters. Even then, the film feels like a condensed version of a film with more depth. Loy, as the love interest, holds her own and Powell is solid as the dutiful public servant, but Gable steals the show with his nuanced performance as anti-hero.The coincidences in this story stack up into a nifty pile of improbabilities, but it's a simple story at heart. Two "brothers" grow up on opposite sides of the law, but they still feel devotion to each other. Really, this is a love story. The most melodramatic parts are at the end of the film, when inescapable consequences allow for demonstrations of profound love.
DKosty123
After seeing this one for the first time, I wonder how the entire public missed a great film.Clark Gable played a killer named Blackie in this one. William Powell is excellent in this playing a District Attorney then elected New York Governor. Myrna Loy is the woman between both of them.After watching Powell and Loy in the Thin Man movies, this film is a guilty sin of pleasure watching them getting involved in a triangle with Clark Gable. This was MGM in a moment when the studio was delivering great films as the 1930's were full of hits by the studio.That might be the reason this one is over looked. After all, Gable would be Blackie again in a move about the San Francisco earth quake. But this Blackie has more of an edge. He is a ruthless killer with no remorse and yet a friend of the man to bring him to justice.Powell proves here he is more than a Thin Man.
Maddyclassicfilms
Manhattan Melodrama is directed by W.S Van Dyke, has a screenplay by Oliver H.P Garrett and Joseph L. Mankiewicz and stars William Powell, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy.William Powell gives one of his best performances in this as District Attorney Jim Wade. Wade won't allow his lifelong friendship with criminal Blackie Gallagher(Clark Gable)make him do anything wrong in regards to punishing him or any other criminal for their crime.Blackie also never wants Jim to do anything wrong or go against his principles. Jim's principles are pushed to the limit when Blackie faces a murder charge, can he let his friend face the ultimate punishment or not? Myrna Loy is very good as Eleanor the elegant woman loved by both men but destined to only end up with one of them. Gable is excellent as the tough bad guy with a good heart buried deep inside. In my opinion though this film is Powell's, he gives one of his best performances especially in the later scenes where he wrestles with his own conscience about Blackie's sentence.Over the years the film has become famous as well for being the film that John Dillinger had just finished watching when he was killed.
kols
The first is a smart, sophisticated, snappy romp with Cable, Loy and Powell lighting up the screen. Hell, turn off the sound and just watch the light. Then turn it back on to catch the dialog that matches it. Better than Mr. Lucky and that's saying a lot.Second movie is the courtroom/prison drama that plays a lot like Production Code Censoring. Mankiewicz manages to make it believable and even establish, or at least presage, standard Death Row bravado - which Gable is able to pull off with panache. Even so, the introduction, or imposition, of all of the stock elements of code morality, no matter how gamely handled by writer and cast, was not a plus.Saw Manhattan Melodrama first time as a kid and was mightily impressed. Even with the second part (though slightly confused by the sudden change in tone). It played for me then as individuals taking responsibility for their actions.Just saw it again on TMC and was struck by how well it aged. But the murder and the courtroom/prison drama didn't play anywhere closely as well as I remembered: it reeked of Code dictated morality that almost ruined my memory of it.Almost but not quite. Except for Powell's resignation speech that ends Manhattan (which should have fallen to the cutting-room floor), Cable, Loy and Powell save it in the best tradition of flawed, improbable endings that Hollywood is so eminently well-know for.If the conflict between friendship and duty had been allowed to play out more in tone with the first part, more naturally and with a touch of realism, who knows? Critics and public alike might still remember it as a Classic.Bottom line, despite the flaws of the second part, still one of the '30s must see, A-list films.
