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Manhattan Melodrama

Manhattan Melodrama

Crime · Drama · Romance · 1934

The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.

Movie details

Manhattan Melodrama

“RECKLESS with WOMEN...He pursued them ..."petted" them...promised them nothing and got away with everything!”

1934 Crime · Drama · Romance 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

5.4K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

81 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Manhattan Melodrama?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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All My Life

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It was a chance meeting started by one of Sol’s friends trying to chat up Jennifer. However, in the end, it was those two who hit it off. Sol enjoyed Jen’s smile, her effort, and how silly she could be. Jen enjoyed Sol’s cooking, his athleticism, and that he would join her in fun moments. As you can imagine, love bloomed, and things got serious. Jen’s investment in Sol led to her pushing him to follow his dreams and even move in to save money. Sol’s investment in Jen well, it led to him proposing. But what started as a liver tumor grew into full-on cancer, so with a diagnosis of 6 months to live, Sol and Jennifer try to make the best of it.

The Magic of Ordinary Days

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City Streets

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A mobster's daughter leads her boyfriend from the circus into bootlegging.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

W.S. Van Dyke

Written by

Oliver H.P. Garrett · Joseph L. Mankiewicz · Frank Dolan · Donald Ogden Stewart

Clark Gable

Clark Gable

Edward J. 'Blackie' Gallagher

William Powell

William Powell

Jim Wade

Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy

Eleanor Packer

Leo Carrillo

Leo Carrillo

Father Joe

Nat Pendleton

Nat Pendleton

Spud

George Sidney

George Sidney

Poppa Rosen

Isabel Jewell

Isabel Jewell

Annabelle

Court is in session

Put Manhattan Melodrama on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.