Washington Melodrama is a 1941 American drama film directed by S. Sylvan Simon and starring Frank Morgan, Ann Rutherford, and Kent Taylor.

Prominent Washington, D.C. industrialist turned philanthropist Calvin Claymore is the prime force behind a proposed Senate bill to feed the starving children of war-ravaged Europe.

One evening after a draining committee meeting, Claymore receives a doleful call from his wife informing him that rather than returning home she and his only child, daughter Laurie, will continue their extended globe-hopping several more months.

As the season comes to an end neither wants their friendship to wane with it, but Claymore receives a cable that his wife and daughter are returning imminently, so he pays a respectful farewell visit to Mary at her apartment.

Tucked inside a warm personal note he leaves behind are several thousand dollar bills, so she can enjoy "some of the nice things in life" she has dreamt aloud of.

Thorne's paper drums it into a frenzy, gripping the city - and its D.A.. Claymore confesses his summer dalliance to both his wife and daughter, convincing them of his innocence in Mary's death.

Seeing this, Thorne is finally willing to put both his political differences with Claymore and his zealous role as a newspaper crusader to the side, helping him hide the incriminating glove falsely tying him to the murder from the prosecutor.