Absolutely Brilliant!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Even though there are elements in this film that will be familiar to those who enjoy crime dramas of the 1930s, not to mention some similarities with "San Francisco" (starring Gable), this film is a top notch production with superb acting and a very good script.Clark Gable here played...well...Clark Gable. A man who could take it. Even when it meant that his lifelong friend would be the prosecutor who would send him to the electric chair. Even though that friend, later the governor, would not commute his sentence as a matter of principle. I mentioned "San Francisco" (1936); in that film his character was also named Blackie; and there was a conflict between the somewhat bad Blackie there and another man (in that case Spencer Tracy instead of William Powell) and a sort of battle of wills as to what kind of woman she (Jeanette MacDonald instead of Myrna Loy) would become.This is one of William Powell's better roles...and he usually was wonderful! Here he plays a man of principle...even when that principle shakes him to his core. It's a very serious role, and he plays it with dignity. As much fun as he was in films such as "The Thin Man", this was a particular stellar role for him.And, this was his first pairing with Myrna Loy, and -- as usual -- Loy's performance is top notch.The only other performance here of particular note is that by a very young Mickey Rooney. Although hardly as polished as his later portrayals, one can see why he became a star.One thing that really caught my eye...or should I say ear...was a song with very strange lyrics that later was transformed into "Blue Moon" by Rogers and Lorenz Hart.I would guess that MGM didn't realize what a gem they had here. It was extremely popular at the box office. And, it has the distinction of being the film that John Dillinger saw and was subsequently shot to death by the FBI after leaving the theater.This is a superb film, and I'll give it a rare "8". And, I'm going to Amazon now to see if it is available on DVD.

This is a well-acted movie. Gable in particular is at his finest, as you can see most notably in his last scene, the prison cell, before he is led to the electric chair. The difference between his noble refusal to live imprisoned rather than to get it all over with as soon as possible and Powell's presentation of the governor as weak makes Gable look that much more charismatic.But what I found strange here was Myrna Loy's character's efforts to get her husband the governor to pardon Blackie. She knows that Blackie has killed a man - she doesn't seem to know that it was in self-defense. And yet she begs her husband to forget his scruples and pardon Blackie. That's hard to take, and would certainly make me suspect she is still in love with Blackie if I were in the governor's very uncomfortable shoes.The scene in the prison cell with Gable and Powell is wonderfully acted and beautifully photographed. The acting here is of a high level. But the moral issues in this movie are at best very problematic.

One of the most famous of early hamster films, not only for its all- star cast, but for its relation to the death of brutal gangster John Dillinger. Clark Gable may be the gangster here, but Dillinger apparently went to see this because of his affection for its leading lady, Myrna Loy. She's Gable's old girlfriend who ends up choosing to become the wife of his old pal, William Powell, who is a candidate for governor. It's a common story among gangster movies, boys gone both bad and good, and one's sadness at seeing the state of the others life. Gable was the headliner, the biggest male star of the time, and went home with the Oscar (for "It Happened One Night"), while Powell and Loy went onto become one of the great screen teams of all time. The three are awesome together, and it's easy to see why this is considered one of the all time classic dramas.There are elements of racism, sexism (towards men and women) and a few shocking elements of pre-code Hollywood that made that era so much fun. The Rodgers and Hart song, "Blue Moon", is heard here in another version, a song about how all men are bad and only out to break a woman's heart. Thanks for that memory, Shirley Ross. Nat Pendleton is the typical dumb, brutal thug, and Mickey Rooney plays Gable as a kid. In spite of a few eye rolling moments, though, it's practically perfect. Manhattan may continue to face melodrama more than 80 years later, but it was never done with such elegance as this is, through the eyes and camera lens of the fast moving W.S. Van Dyke.

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.