Eugene and John Dillinger at the Movies
July 22, 1934: John Dillinger Picks the Wrong Movie
John Dillinger thought that he looked like Clark Gable…and who was going to tell him otherwise? So the notorious bankrobber was eager to see his twin’s latest film “Manhattan Melodrama.” Gable portrayed a suave, charming racketeer; he apparently saw his resemblance to John Dillinger. The film tells the story of Blackie Gallagher and Jim Wade, devoted friends since boyhood; one grows up to a lawyer and the other a criminal. If you can’t tell the professions apart, a lawyer might have better diction. The gangster Blackie even kills to protect his friend, and then Jim has to prosecute Blackie. But Blackie doesn’t mind going to “the chair” if it helps his friend become governor. And Blackie and Jim are in love with the same woman; but since she is Myrna Loy that is the one plausible part of the plot.
So, imagine seeing this film, then stepping out of the Biograph Theater and into a FBI shooting range. Wouldn’t it have been more merciful to have shot him before he saw the film? Better yet, the Feds could have taken him to a better movie. If the condemned get last meals, why not last films?
What else was playing in 1934? The best film of the year was “It Happened One Night”, a delightful comedy starring that Dillinger lookalike as well as Claudette Colbert. The usually wholesome Miss Colbert could also be seen in a sensuous milk bath luring men and kingdoms to destruction in “Cleopatra.” (It would be comparative to Sandra Bullock as the Temptress of the Nile.) If Dillinger preferred to leave life with a song and a dance, he would want to see Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in “The Gay Divorcee.” However, J. Edgar Hoover might have been touchy about that title.
Now, if Dillinger wanted to catch up on his reading, he could have gotten a little vicarious culture with “The Barretts of Wimpole Street.” Fredric March, as Robert Browning, courts and rescues Norma Shearer (Miss Elizabeth Barrett) from her bullying and vaguely incestuous father Charles Laughton. Mr. March was very cultured in 1934; he also was a Renaissance artist, lecher and gossip in “The Affairs of Cellini.” (Cuckolding Frank Morgan wouldn’t be difficult–but it never seems right.)
But one film might have saved Dillinger’s life: “Of Human Bondage.” Seated in the theater, and withering in terror before the shrill, demented monster on the screen, the FBI agents would have realized that Dillinger wasn’t half as dangerous as Bette Davis. They probably would have let him go with just a warning.
Readers (well, at least Hal and Leah) will wonder why I omitted the name of the costar of “Manhattan Melodrama.” I’ll tell you: I’m trying to protect the reputation of William Powell. The usually delightful Powell is actually quite boring in the film. Gable, after “the chair” couldn’t be more stiff than Powell is throughout the film.
In the film, Gable has a dumb lummox for a henchman, a role played by Nat Pendleton. Mr. Pendleton was genuinely muscular, a Silver medal winner for wrestling in the 1920 Olympics. However, “the dumb lummox” was the most educated member of the cast: a graduate of Columbia University.
At least Powell won Myrna Loy (repeatedly, in the Thin Man series). But here’s what I want to say:
Among the FBI men who claimed to have shot Dillinger (and I’m sure there was no shortage of them) was Max Chafetz, husband of my mother’s first cousin. At least he was at the scene, and how many other Jewish G-men were there, anyway? I’m also fairly sure that his son was Kitty Dukakis’ first husband (and reputedly not a very good one). The child of that marriage was brought up as Mike Dukakis’ son and has his name. Since my mother and her siblings all died more than three decades ago, I’ve lost touch with that branch of the family, so I can’t confirm any of this, but I have a decent memory for things I learned before 1980.
Leah,
William Powell did win the enchanting Miss Loy in this film as well, if only by default. That charming cad Gable wouldn’t make an honest woman of her but the rigor moral Powell would.
And thanks for the family gossip. Of course, I would really love to know of any tenuous connection to Meyer Lansky.
Eugene
I once saw Claudette Colbert live in New York. She played opposite Rex Harrison in “The Kingfisher.” It was an unforgettable evening.
Hal,
I know you usually charge by the word but tell us about the play. I presume that it was unforgettable in a wonderful way. Of course, if you had a lousy seat, Harrison was drunk and Miss Colbert kept spitting on you–that would be unforgettable, too.
Eugene
The play was a delightful romantic comedy. I saw it sometime in the late 1970s. Harrison and Colbert were endearing as an aging couple who had been lovers when they were young — but Colbert had abruptly married someone else, for reasons that become evident during the play. As the play opens, Colbert’s husband has died suddenly of a heart attack while playing golf, and Harrison asks her to stop by for lunch after the funeral. He’s hoping that he can rekindle the old passion. Colbert is skeptical about his sudden interest. Harrison: “Well, I thought Reggie was going to go on playing golf till Kingdom Come … and he did.” There is a movie version with Wendy Hiller playing Colbert’s role.