Will Krupp
Senior HTF Member
This one was ESPECIALLY fast though, even for the time. WS Van Dyke only had a brief window of time if he wanted to use Powell and Loy after MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (and he DID) because they were both due on other pictures (I want to say hers was STAMBOUL QUEST but I can't honestly remember.) They increased the breakneck speed of the production by actually having two setups on opposite sides of the soundstage ready to go at the same time. They'd finish one and turn the cameras around to start on the next, which was all set to go with no waiting.
On a side note, Myrna Loy tells the story of the "final roundup" at the dinner table in her autobiography. They were real oysters being served at the dinner BUT (and it's an important "but') they only had one set that they kept putting out and removing between takes. She tells how they started to putrefy under the lights and everybody was getting absolutely green from the smell. She never ate an oyster again. She also tells the story of William Powell recounting the facts of the case in that same scene. Between takes, she leaned over to him and whispered, "I don't know how you're managing this, I'm so confused by it all." He turned to her under his breath and said, "You're confused? I have no goddamn idea what I"m even saying!."
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