"She may be his wife, but she's engaged to me!"
Spencer Tracy is a stressed out newspaper man engaged to be married to
hot-headed Jean Harlow. On the morning of their latest wedding day (the marriage
keeps getting postponed due to newspaper crises), the newspaper prints a false
story about the wealthy Myrna Loy having an affair with a married man. She
threatens to sue the paper for $5m, so in an act of desperation the newspaper
hires suave ladies man William Powell to secretly marry Jean Harlow and
then seduce Myrna Loy so the newspaper can catch her in Powell's arms and
have the case dropped. That all sounds good in theory, but Fate throws a
monkey wrench in the works by having Powell fall in love with Loy while at the
same time Harlow falls in love with Powell!
The idea for the movie is brilliant, but when you throw in not one, not two, not
three but four of the greatest stars of
silver screen plus the amazing Walter
Connolly as Loy's protective father...then you have yourself a surefire
screwball classic! Quick pace that never slows down, wonderful chemistry
between the leads, funny lines, hilarious physical comedy, Loy and Harlow are
both beautiful. I've revisited this film many times over the years and I
still laugh each time. William Powell is especially great. His yodel when
he walks into to Loy's mansion is hysterical.
Five years later, in 1941, Jack Conway directed another Loy/Powell classic
LOVE CRAZY
which is almost as funny as LIBELED LADY. Both are highly recommended.
Showing posts with label Myrna Loy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Myrna Loy. Show all posts
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Friday, June 28, 2013
MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (1934)
With so much talent behind the camera (W.S. Van Dyke, Joseph L.
Mankiewicz and George Cukor) and on the screen (Myrna Loy, Clark Gable, William Powell, Nat
Pendleton, Mickey Rooney, etc.) I was really expecting more out of MANHATTAN
MELODRAMA, but unfortunately the entire thing is too melodramatic to be
taken seriously.
The story is your basic Cain and Abel hokum with two orphans growing up as brothers. One goes the straight and narrow to become a prominent political figure and the other the local kingpin of illegal gambling. Throw in the fact that they are both in love with the same woman and you got…well, nothing really. You would expect for there to be fireworks, but the script plays it safe from beginning to end and there’s never any tension or surprise moments.
Worth watching for fans of classic Hollywood, but everybody else would probably be bored.
Interesting trivia: John Dillinger was leaving the Biograph Theater in Chicago, Ill. when he was confronted by federal agents and then shot in the back. Here is a picture of the Biograph Theater with MANHATTAN MELODRAMA on the billboard:
The story is your basic Cain and Abel hokum with two orphans growing up as brothers. One goes the straight and narrow to become a prominent political figure and the other the local kingpin of illegal gambling. Throw in the fact that they are both in love with the same woman and you got…well, nothing really. You would expect for there to be fireworks, but the script plays it safe from beginning to end and there’s never any tension or surprise moments.
Worth watching for fans of classic Hollywood, but everybody else would probably be bored.
Interesting trivia: John Dillinger was leaving the Biograph Theater in Chicago, Ill. when he was confronted by federal agents and then shot in the back. Here is a picture of the Biograph Theater with MANHATTAN MELODRAMA on the billboard:
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