The Mad Miss Manton

If I had a nickel for every screwball comedy I’ve watched where a young woman ends up investigating a murder, I’d have 10 cents. Which isn’t a lot, but it is odd that it’s happened twice. Between this and There’s Always A Woman, however, this is, in my opinion, the superior option.

Miss Manton has a lot going for it. It has a spectacular cast. Barabara Stanwyck plays opposite Henry Fonda in one of their three on-screen collaborations (The Lady Eve being their most famous). Fonda here is good, I mean no slight, but in many ways he is totally outclassed by Stanwyck. Stanwyck is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors of the studio age. I’ve seen her in seven or eight films and she has yet to disappoint in basically any of them, playing everything from dramatic in Double Indemnity to romantic in Remember the Night. Here she leans into her comedic chops, a la Ball of Fire or the aforementioned The Lady Eve, as the titular society girl who gets mixed up in a murder mystery and decides to take the investigation into her own hands.

Despite the potentially morbid subject matter, Miss Manton is able to maintain this delightfully frothy and lightweight tone. Many of the screwball tropes are in no way diminished by the film’s emphasis on mystery over romantic hijinks. For example, screwball comedies love to play with divisions of class and Miss Martin, the character, is a society girl while her opposite is a salt of the earth newspaper man. Screwball comedies also love a girl who won’t just behave normally, much to the chagrin of their eventual paramours, and Miss Martin’s prank pulling, crime investigating, boundary pushing ways certainly fit the bill, although Fonda’s Ames seems more smitten with her idiosyncrasies than most other male screwball leads.

Meeting the necessary screwball credentials is not the only way it maintains its charm, however. The dialogue is fun, too. What it doesn’t have in the way of witty repartee, it makes up for with snarky one liners and plenty of enjoyable interplay between characters. Manton, herself, often has just the right thing to say to bring out the humor of a situation, but she also often has part or all of a gaggle of fellow socialites in tow, each one with their own identity and capacity for perfectly timed quips.

Finally, the mystery itself is a good time. Although not the most complicated or twisty plot, the unraveling of the central murder is just as well constructed as the rest of the piece. There is enough of a revolving door of suspects and new revelations about motivations, potential motivations, means and methods that it keeps you wondering until the final reveal who might have done it. Now, the reveal itself is a little drawn out for my taste, but that is a relatively minor complaint for an otherwise extremely enjoyable film.

I fully recognize that this isn’t a movie for everyone but hot damn if it isn’t a movie for me in particular. Fast talking, wise cracking society women acting against type by hiking up their designer dresses and chasing down a murderer, all while aggravating unhelpful cops and vindictive newspaper men? Sign me up. Add to it that it’s well written, well acted, and a joy to watch? Why didn’t I discover this movie earlier?

Would Recommend: If you are interested in seeing a nearly singular twist on the screwball comedy formula.

Would Not Recommend: If the comedic madcap sensibilities of the late 1930s aren’t your cup of tea.