Manhattan Melodrama, 1934

The Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story went to Arthur Caesar. This film celebrates the friendship of two boys who lose their parents and stay best friends into adulthood.

Blackie Gallagher can’t give up his easy-money gambling schemes and ends up losing his girl to Jim Wade, his best pal from childhood. Blackie’s admiration for Jim never falters because he knows Jim’s integrity will never fail. Jim rises to elected office and tries to see that government corruption is driven out. When Jim’s and Blackie’s occupations get in the way, how will they resolve their differences? How will they get back together?

Myrna Loy plays the woman both men fall in love with. Clark Gable is Blackie, and William Powell is Jim Wade. Mickey Rooney plays Blackie as a boy. I recognized, but had a little trouble naming the familiar face.

Great acting, great story, a little humor, but mostly great fun.

However, it was interesting to note the similarities between this movie and another Clark Gable film, San Francisco, which came two years later.

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