Manhattan Melodrama

Manhattan Melodrama, directed by W.S. Van Dyke, brings together Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy in a drama that marks the first of 14 films Powell and Loy would make together, including the Thin Man series. The film follows two orphans who grow up on opposite sides of the law, one becoming a prosecutor and the other a gangster, both falling for the same woman; Arthur Caesar won the Academy Award for Best Original Story for it. The film is best remembered for an event outside the theater itself: notorious bank robber John Dillinger watched it at Chicago's Biograph Theater on the evening of July 22, 1934, and was shot dead by federal agents as he left the screening. Who it's for: anyone curious about a 1930s drama remembered as much for the notorious bank robber shot dead after watching it as for its own Oscar winning story. Who it's not for: viewers bothered that the film is often discussed through a real world event rather than its own merits, though it stands on a strong cast in its own right.