THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING (1935)
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Arthur Hohl, James Donlan, Arthur Byron, Wallace Ford, Donald Meek, Etienne Girardot, Edward Brophy, Paul Harvey
Writers: Jo Swerling & Robert Riskin (based on the story "Jail Breaker" by W.R. Burnett
Cinematography: Joseph H. August
Editor: Viola Lawrence
B&W, 1h 33m. 1.37:1 presentation
Released on: February 21, 1935 by Columbia Pictures.
My experience: John Ford: The Columbia Films Collection DVD box set
I've always loved me a good screwball comedy, and The Whole Town's Talking ranks up there with the best of the bunch. While there are no distinctly Fordian touches that stand out, Ford shows a deft touch with the screwball genre, and I'm just sorry he never truly returned to the format.
Edward G. Robinson, playing against type, portrays Arthur Ferguson Jones, a milquetoast office corporate drone working in an office overseen by the persnickety Seaver (Etienne Girardot), alongside wisecracking dame Wilhelmina Clark (Jean Arthur). It comes to the attention of people in the office that Jones looks an awful lot like the notorious Killer Mannion, whose picture has made the front page of the newspaper. The mix-up is further confounded by Hoyt (Donald Meek), a nosy type who calls the cops on Jones after seeing him and Miss Clark dining in a restaurant. The cops make a shambles of the whole situation, assuming Jones is Mannion without doing their due diligence, including using one of the gangster's professional nemeses, Slugs Martin (Edward Brophy), as a witness. Meanwhile the equally innocent Miss Clark has fun with the situation whilst being interrogated by Detectives Boyle (Arthur Hohl) and Howe (James Donlan). District Attorney Spencer (Arthur Byron) is ready to have Jones indicted for murder when it is announced that the real Mannion has just robbed a bank while they were putting all their eggs in Jones' basket.
Jones is released and becomes the new favourite of his boss, JG Carpenter (Paul Harvey), who sets him up writing a column for his friend Healy (Wallace Ford), who runs a newspaper. Things get interesting, however, when Jones returns home to find the real Mannion in his apartment. How will the timid office worker deal with the newest unreal situation in his rapidly changing life?
While visually nothing about The Whole Town's Talking stands out as a John Ford film, his mark is all over it, albeit in a comedic way. Ford never wastes an opportunity to poke fun at the hypocrisy and ineptitude of those in positions of authority, and the police get it good in this one. None of them are portrayed as corrupt per se (with the possible exception of the D.A.), but they all, in the best tradition of the screwball comedy, jump to conclusions regarding Jones without doing the slightest bit of research into either the man or the situation. The pace of the film is also handled deftly by Ford, at least until the third act when the action picks up and the comedy slows down.
Can I just say how much I loved the look of the film? I've always been extremely partial to the art deco designs of the early 1930s, and this movie has it in spades. There's something about the look and feel of a 1930s screwball comedy, from Nothing Sacred to The Awful Truth or Bringing Up Baby that just pleases me immensely, and this one is no different. It's beautifully shot and lit by longtime Ford cinematographer Joseph H. August, and technically, I had fun trying to figure out how the two characters played by Robinson were able to occupy the same space. Some rear projection was involved, as well as doubles, and it's a fun little game to play while watching the movie.
Robinson is fantastic in his dual role. He is cemented in our culture as a gangster, which is so far away from what he was in real life, so it's nice to see him play against type -- and against himself. He seems to really be having fun, and I as a viewer did as well. Jean Arthur takes on the first of the roles that made her a screwball megastar in the late 1930s and early 1940s; she's great in this, and will only get better from here. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Ex-Mrs. Bradford, Easy Living, You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Devil and Miss Jones, The Talk of the Town, and The More the Merrier were all films she made over the next eight years, after which she semi-retired from acting. It's too bad that she's not more well-known today, because she had incredible timing and delivery.
The film also includes a number of character actors playing bit parts, some with speaking roles, some in blink and you'll miss em parts. These actors include Ford stock company members J. Farrell MacDonald, Francis Ford, and other actors more closely related to the gangster genre, like Robert Emmett O'Connor, Joe Sawyer, Harry Tenbrook, and Lucille Ball as a bank employee herded into the basement.
The Whole Town's Talking is a wonderful way to pass a rainy hour and a half, full of gutbusting laughs and action. Highly recommended.
Eight demonic doppelgangers out of ten.
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