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:

WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER (1970)

"Now this here is a joint. J-o-i-n-t. Joint."

With a sin-promising title like WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER I was expecting some seductive at first, but then hot and sweaty topless/bottomless action. Instead WWTB is a pretty lightweight story about a stuffy movie producer/director who has an abusive, drugged out wife that's constantly giving him grief.  So, once he gets alone with the sexy babysitter she takes him out on the town to see what's really going down. You dig baby? First stop, they go to a hippie club where they talk and talk and talk to some ultracool hippies who teach him how to smoke weed...then Jim falls asleep.  How exciting.  The next day they make cheese omelets (...with green onions) and ride motorcycles, then finally we get to the beast with two backs...I think, it was so slow moving and poorly shot that I couldn't tell what was going on. But there is a shower scene.

It goes on and on like this until finally in the exciting conclusion, Jim and his new hippie friends beat up the drug dealers that kidnapped his junkie wife!!! Why? Let that mean bitch die, you got some babysitter bangin' to do!

WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER is a funny film if you're in the right state of mind but really, outside of a few unintentional laughs and some interesting early 70's fashions and cars, it's pretty slow.