''Adventure in Manhattan'' (UK title: ''Manhattan Madness'') is a 1936 American

screwball A screwball is a baseball and fastpitch softball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher's arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action. The pitch is sometimes known ...

comedy thriller Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers. Criteria They often include a darker tone, relative to other genres, of humor. List of comedy thriller films * '' The Big Fix'' (1978) * ''Chara ...

film directed by

Edward Ludwig Edward Irving Ludwig (October 7, 1899 – August 20, 1982) was a Russian-born American film director and writer. He directed nearly 100 films between 1921 and 1963 (some under the names Edward I. Luddy and Charles Fuhr). Ludwig was also one ...

and starring

Jean Arthur Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Arthur had feature roles in three F ...

and

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

. The screenplay was written by

Sidney Buchman Sidney Robert Buchman (March 27, 1902 – August 23, 1975) was an American screenwriter and film producer who worked on about 40 films from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. He received four Oscar nominations and won once for Best Screenplay ...

, Harry Sauber,

Jack Kirkland Jack Kirkland (July 25, 1902 – February 22, 1969) was an American playwright, producer, director and screenwriter. Kirkland's greatest success was the play '' Tobacco Road'', adapted from the Erskine Caldwell novel. His other plays include ...

, and John Howard Lawson (uncredited adaptation). The story was written by

Joseph Krumgold Joseph Quincy Krumgold (April 9, 1908 – July 10, 1980) was an American writer of books and screenplays. He was the first person to win two annual Newbery Medals for the most distinguished new American children's book. Life Krumgold was born in ...

, suggested by the novel ''Purple and Fine Linen'' by

May Edginton May Edginton (originally Helen Marion Edginton, 20 December 1883 – 17 June 1957) was an English writer who had over 50 popular novels published in London. She also wrote plays, collaborating with Rudolf Besier on two of them.Virginia Blain, Pat ...

(spelled as Edington in the film). The supporting cast features

Reginald Owen John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs. Career The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...

and Thomas Mitchell, and the film was a

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

production.

Plot

Robbers steal the "Koor-Hal Ruby", killing four in the process, and elude the police. Newspaper managing editor Phil Bane sends for conceited crime writer/criminologist George Melville to write stories and boost his circulation. Melville claims the crime was masterminded by Andre Berlea, a man thought to have died four years before. He predicts to reporters that Berlea will next steal the Sunburst Diamond and kill the only witness, a butler, to the ruby theft. Seconds later, they receive news that a butler has been murdered. On his way to see Bane, Melville is about to give a female panhandler some money when he is distracted by a car accident. The woman takes the opportunity to steal his wallet. He follows her to a beauty salon. When she emerges, after a complete makeover, she begs him not to do anything until after 8 o'clock. Over dinner, she explains that she ran away from her cruel husband with another man, from whom she later separated. Her ex-husband is finally letting her see her daughter, who turned four that day, and she needed the money to make herself presentable. They drive to a fancy mansion. Mrs. Northrop faints when she is shown a coffin; Mr. Northrop explains that the child died two days before. However, all is not as it seems. It turns out to be an elaborate practical joke on Melville concocted by the reporters; one of them is writing a play, ''Fury's Road'', and Claire Peyton ("Mrs. Northrop") is the star. Mr. Northrop was played by the producer, Blackton Gregory. Minutes later, they learn that a famous painting has been stolen from next door. Gregory savors his latest acquisition in secret. When a henchman suggests getting rid of Melville, Gregory turns him down. Having found a worthy foe, he will not do something so crude. He goes to see Melville and hires him to help with the play. He asks why Melville is so sure that Berlea is alive. Melville explains that he believes that Berlea has a compulsion to own beautiful things. Before he "died", he tried to buy three such objects, but was turned down. Now two of them have been stolen. Melville predicts that the third, the Starburst Diamond, will be purloined on Saturday at 11 pm. Bane has faith in him and keeps his staff after hours and notifies the authorities, who set up a stakeout at the bank where the jewel is stored. When the deadline passes without anything happening, Bane fires Melville. Melville agrees to go to Gregory's retreat for a rest. Gregory's men have dug a tunnel between the theater where the play, set on the front lines of World War I, will be performed and the bank. At the premiere, when mock explosions and firing are set off in a battle scene, they blast their way into the vault. When Peyton discovers the theft, she fears for Melville's life. However, Melville has been one step ahead of his nemesis, and later that night captures Gregory/Berlea. Furious at being fooled, she makes her own prediction: "to make him suffer for the rest of his life" ... by marrying him.

Cast

as Claire Peyton *

as George Melville *

as Blackton Gregory * Thomas Mitchell as Phil Bane * Victor Kilian as Mark Gibbs *

John Gallaudet John Beury Gallaudet (August 23, 1903 – November 5, 1983) was an American film and television actor. Career Gallaudet was born in Philadelphia and attended Williams College. His Broadway credits included ''Good Men and True'' (1935), ''Lost ...

as McGuire *

Emmett Vogan Charles Emmett Vogan (September 27, 1893 – October 6, 1969) was an American actor with almost 500 film appearances from 1934 to 1954, making him, along with Bess Flowers, one of the most prolific film actors of all time. In 1913, Vogan ...

as Lorimer * George Cooper as Duncan * Herman Bing as Otto *

Robert Warwick Robert Warwick (born Robert Taylor Bien, October 9, 1878 – June 6, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor with over 200 film appearances. A matinee idol during the silent film era, he also prospered after the introduction ...

as Phillip

Reception

Frank Nugent described the film in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as "a lightweight and moderately diverting mystery tale which hurdles its absurdities with the greatest of ease and will be forgotten almost as soon as it fades from the screen." In a 2011 article,

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the '' Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a ...

called it "a tedious mystery comedy, which opens with an astonishingly tasteless practical joke involving a dead child".

Home media

The film is available on DVD as part of the Jean Arthur Comedy Collection, released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

References

External links

* * * * {{Edward Ludwig 1936 films 1930s crime comedy films 1930s crime thriller films American black-and-white films American crime thriller films Columbia Pictures films Films about journalists Films set in New York City Films with screenplays by Sidney Buchman American comedy thriller films 1936 comedy films 1930s American films