Le Roi du Junkyard

oldhollywood:

“[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer] put me right to work in Manhattan Melodrama, which precipated the demise of John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1. FBI agents shot him down outside the Biograph Theatre, in Chicago, after he’d seen the film. Supposedly a Myrna Loy fan, he broke cover to see me. Personally, I suspect the theme of the picture rather than my fatal charms attracted him, but I’ve always felt a little guilty about it, anyway. They filled him full of holes, poor soul.”-Myrna Loy, in her autobiography Being and Becoming

Myrna Loy was reportedly real-life gangster John Dillinger’s favorite actress and he crept out of hiding to see her latest picture, ManhattanMelodrama (1934). The FBI was tipped off to his presence and Dillinger was shot to death leaving the theater.

Manhattan Melodrama, Loy’s first film with Thin Man co-star William Powell, is definitely worth a watch - as far as “Last Movies Seen Before Getting Plugged by the Feds” go, Dillinger could’ve done a lot worse.