classics: Manhattan Melodrama and Evelyn Prentice
Two more movies from my William powell and Myrna Loy set. These aren't Powell/Loy movies so much as movies where Powell and Loy play a married couple. Both movies also feature Powell as a workaholic lawyer.
Manhattan Melodrama is about Jim(Powell) and Blackie(Clark Gable) childhood friends who grow up to be a lawyer on the fast track to governor and a gambler and all around shady guy. Blackie's girlfriend, Eleanor(Loy), is tired of always coming in second place to his business, and about the time she realizes she'll never be more than his "best girl" even though she wants more permanence and stability she meets Jim and trades up to the nice, honest guy who prefers wives to best girls (a very wise move for her and one far more certain to bring her decades of happiness.) As is always the case, Blackie doesn't realize what he has until he loses it, but he wishes them the best and he and Jim continue with their lives, not allowing their differences in lifestyle to interfere with their friendship. Things come to a head, though, when Blackie silences a man (without Jim's knowledge) who threatens to create a scandal that could cost Jim his bid for governor, and Jim has to prosecute him. It has similar themes to Casablanca in that both Blackie and Jim(especially Blackie) have to choose between being selfish and being selfless...Blackie has to choose whether to protect himself and keep his deeds quiet and cost Jim his career, or to come forward and let the law take it's course and protect Jim, and Jim has to choose between his principles and his friendship with Blackie.
Evelyn Prentice features Powell and Loy and John and Evelyn Prentice, a workaholic attorney and his long suffering wife. While John loves Evelyn, and she him, he has little time for his family, leaving Evelyn susceptible to the wiles of a man named Kennard(too lazy to see who played him, good actor, though) who seduces and then blackmails rich married women. Evelyn gets her head back on straight pretty quickly, but not before he gets letters from her that could be read by those who don't know the truth as being evidence of an affair. In the ensueing confrontation, Evelyn believes she kills Kennard, and when a young woman is arrest for the crime, she asks John to defend the other woman.
Both movies were very good, but I preferred Manhattan Melodrama of the two.
Manhattan Melodrama is about Jim(Powell) and Blackie(Clark Gable) childhood friends who grow up to be a lawyer on the fast track to governor and a gambler and all around shady guy. Blackie's girlfriend, Eleanor(Loy), is tired of always coming in second place to his business, and about the time she realizes she'll never be more than his "best girl" even though she wants more permanence and stability she meets Jim and trades up to the nice, honest guy who prefers wives to best girls (a very wise move for her and one far more certain to bring her decades of happiness.) As is always the case, Blackie doesn't realize what he has until he loses it, but he wishes them the best and he and Jim continue with their lives, not allowing their differences in lifestyle to interfere with their friendship. Things come to a head, though, when Blackie silences a man (without Jim's knowledge) who threatens to create a scandal that could cost Jim his bid for governor, and Jim has to prosecute him. It has similar themes to Casablanca in that both Blackie and Jim(especially Blackie) have to choose between being selfish and being selfless...Blackie has to choose whether to protect himself and keep his deeds quiet and cost Jim his career, or to come forward and let the law take it's course and protect Jim, and Jim has to choose between his principles and his friendship with Blackie.
Evelyn Prentice features Powell and Loy and John and Evelyn Prentice, a workaholic attorney and his long suffering wife. While John loves Evelyn, and she him, he has little time for his family, leaving Evelyn susceptible to the wiles of a man named Kennard(too lazy to see who played him, good actor, though) who seduces and then blackmails rich married women. Evelyn gets her head back on straight pretty quickly, but not before he gets letters from her that could be read by those who don't know the truth as being evidence of an affair. In the ensueing confrontation, Evelyn believes she kills Kennard, and when a young woman is arrest for the crime, she asks John to defend the other woman.
Both movies were very good, but I preferred Manhattan Melodrama of the two.