Classic Films in Focus: THE MAD MISS MANTON (1938)

Although it's not on the same level as their later collaboration, The Lady Eve (1941), The Mad Miss Manton is still an amusing outing for stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. It's a goofy mix of romantic comedy and murder mystery, with Stanwyck leading a pack of socialite sleuths and Fonda falling head over heels as a reporter who gets entangled in the titular Miss Manton's adventures. You won't find a lot of household names here beyond the two leads, but Leigh Jason directs a fairly large cast that includes Sam Levene, Stanley Ridges, Penny Singleton, and the always memorable Hattie McDaniel. Fans of Fonda's funny side will especially appreciate his silly antics in this picture, but Stanwyck's all-girl Scooby gang also proves delightful, even if they're a little too prone to fainting when they find a corpse.

Stanwyck stars as wealthy socialite Melsa Manton, who discovers a murdered man while walking her dogs late one night after her return from a costume party. Her reputation and costume make the cops doubt her report, especially when the corpse in question has disappeared, but Melsa enlists the help of her society girlfriends to search for clues. At the same time, Melsa enters a war with newspaper reporter Peter Ames (Henry Fonda) because of his printed tirades against her and her group, but Peter's ire turns to adoration once he meets Melsa in person, even as he continues to frustrate her schemes. With the suspects and corpses piling up, Melsa and Peter must help the beleaguered Lieutenant Brent (Sam Levene) catch the murderer before Melsa becomes the next victim.

The Mad Miss Manton is not a comic masterpiece, but it moves along briskly and lands enough laughs to be entertaining throughout. It can be hard to differentiate Melsa's gang of friends, who might have more individual development if there were just three or four of them instead of a crowded half dozen. On the plus side, the picture passes the Bechdel-Wallace Test with flying colors as the women scramble to find clues and track suspects. Hattie McDaniel has a much larger role than any of the other supporting women, and she makes the most of it even though she's playing another of her inevitable maid characters. The film does, at least, depict McDaniel's Hilda as a sensible, capable person in contrast to the giddy socialites around her. 

Although Stanwyck's Miss Manton is much saner than the title of the movie implies, she doesn't let anything stop her from pursuing the case, even the death threats the murderer makes to scare her off. She has a general's command over her group of friends, who complain about their lost meals and dates but always follow her orders. Fonda's newspaper reporter is by far the giddier of the pair; he is absolutely smitten from the moment he meets Melsa, which leads him into some truly silly situations. One highlight is the scene in which Peter fakes being on his deathbed in order to trick Melsa into revealing information she has uncovered about the murders. The chemistry Fonda and Stanwyck share here paves the way for the sparks that fly between them in The Lady Eve, and if you enjoy them together in that classic then The Mad Miss Manton is well worth your time.

Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda made one additional movie together, the 1941 romantic comedy You Belong to Me. For more of Stanwyck's comedy roles, see Ball of Fire (1941) and Christmas in Connecticut (1945). You'll find her solving another comic mystery in Lady of Burlesque (1943). For Fonda's lighter side try The Male Animal (1942), Rings on Her Fingers (1942), and The Magnificent Dope (1942), as well as later career roles in Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) and The Cheyenne Social Club (1970).

Classic Movie Tourist: The Margaret Mitchell House

The Atlanta area includes several places where devotees can get their Gone with the Wind fix: the Road to Tara Museum is in Jonesboro, and Marietta is home to the Gone with the Wind Museum. In the heart of the city, however, you'll find the Margaret Mitchell House, where the author lived for a number of years and where she wrote much of the novel after an auto accident left her housebound. The restored house is part of the Atlanta History Center, and for $13 ($10 for seniors and students), visitors can enjoy a guided tour of the apartment where Mitchell lived as well as several exhibits about her life, the novel, and the blockbuster film that premiered in Atlanta in 1939.

For most people, the book and the movie are inextricably entwined. It's fair to say that more people have seen the 1939 picture than have actually read Mitchell's lengthy saga. When Scarlett O'Hara appears in the cultural consciousness, she is inevitably played by Vivien Leigh, and Clark Gable fully occupies the role of the roguish Rhett Butler. The other major actors in the film have also become part of the GWTW legacy, including Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel, Leslie Howard, and even Butterfly McQueen. The exhibits at the Margaret Mitchell House reflect this aspect of the story's history; many of the displays focus on the film adaptation, which makes the museum a great destination for fans of the stars involved.

"The Making of a Film Legend" section features video about the picture's production history and a large portrait of Scarlett O'Hara that was seen in the movie. Another highlight of the exhibit is the actual door to Tara used in the film; visitors can stand in front of it and imagine themselves waving from the plantation mansion's steps. In the "Stars Fall on Atlanta" exhibit, there are photographs and keepsakes from the movie premiere, which Atlanta society turned into a huge series of parties with celebrity guests.

Of course, classic movie fans will want to browse the gift shop, where GWTW items of all sorts can be found. The shop also offers prints of production stills and promo photos depicting Gable and Leigh as well as posters for the film release. Hattie McDaniel magnets, Tara Christmas ornaments, and books about a variety of GWTW related subjects are also available. I was pleased to find Kendra Bean's new book, Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait, prominently displayed on the front table.

If you're headed to Atlanta any time in the near future, the Margaret Mitchell House is definitely worth a visit. It's located at 979 Crescent Avenue NE in Atlanta, not far from many of the city's other major tourist attractions. The museum is open 10 AM to 5:30 PM Monday through Saturday and noon to 5:30 PM on Sunday. House tours are included in admission and are offered regularly throughout the day.

Classic Films in Focus: SHOW BOAT (1936)

James Whale is best remembered today as the director of horror films like Frankenstein (1931), but he also made the 1936 adaptation of Show Boat, the successful Kern and Hammerstein musical based on Edna Ferber’s novel. It was neither the first nor the last big screen rendition of the story; Laura La Plante starred in a 1929 production, and a 1951 version featured Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, and Howard Keel. The 1936 adaptation is, however, generally considered the best and most faithful of the three, and it benefits tremendously from the contributions of many performers who had appeared in the original stage production, including Charles Winninger, Helen Morgan, and Paul Robeson. As the director, Whale carefully balances the serious and comic elements of the expansive plot, and the end result is a moving, engaging musical that every fan of the genre ought to see.

Irene Dunne stars as Magnolia Hawks, who grows up on her father’s show boat in the late 19th century. Cap’n Andy (Charles Winninger) and his formidable wife (Helen Westley) don’t agree on most issues, including their daughter’s friendship with singer Julie (Helen Morgan), and Mrs. Hawks disapproves even more when Magnolia falls in love with Gaylord Ravenal (Allan Jones), a handsome roving gambler. Magnolia endures ups and downs as she becomes a performer herself, while Julie suffers hardship and heartbreak after her racial identity is revealed by a jealous admirer.

The cast of the film is large, but nearly every actor makes the most of his or her role, and the majority of the stars had already played the same parts in earlier stage productions. Almost 38 years old when she made the picture, Irene Dunne is much too mature to play the teenaged Magnolia, but no actress could be the right age all the time in a story that spans some forty years in its characters’ lives. She gives the heroine some spunk to go along with her sentimental nature, and Dunne ultimately proves her ability to embody the many moods and moments of Magnolia’s experience. Allan Jones, with his clean cut, almost cherubic, good looks, makes a very tame version of a riverboat gambler, but of course he sings beautifully, especially in numbers like “Make Believe,” and we can see why Magnolia loves him. Charles Winninger has a great deal of fun as the perpetually upbeat Cap’n Andy, while Helen Morgan gives a subtle but heart-breaking performance as the selfless Julie. The showstopper of the picture is Paul Robeson performing his iconic rendition of “Ol’ Man River,” but Robeson also has some effective scenes with Hattie McDaniel, who plays his wife, Queenie.

The racial plot involving Julie and Steven (Donald Cook) is the most memorable element of the story, and it was certainly controversial in the 1930s, but really Show Boat is about romantic relationships and what makes them last or fall apart. We have a handful of couples to take as models or object lessons: Magnolia and Gaylord, Mr. and Mrs. Hawks, Julie and Steven, Frank and Elly, and Queenie and Joe. All have their problems, whether humorous or tragic, but the recurring theme of the song, “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” argues that people can’t choose who or whether they love, even if their partners bring them unhappiness. Julie can’t help loving Steve, even after he abandons her, and Magnolia never stops loving Gaylord, despite some twenty years of separation.

Show Boat is also memorable for its musical numbers, and Whale’s adaptation works hard to retain as many of the songs as possible, although some favorites like “Life Upon the Wicked Stage” get reduced to instrumental allusions rather than full performances. The minstrel songs, particularly one where Irene Dunne appears in blackface, contrast their outmoded racial imagery with the miscegenation plot’s strikingly progressive tone, but Paul Robeson’s performance overpowers all of that with its arresting subtlety and depth, especially during his signature number. Later black-listed for his left-wing politics, Robeson gives one of the first truly great film performances by an African-American actor; his “Ol’ Man River” sums up the mingled resignation, dignity, and suppressed anger of a people enduring generations of oppression. Few, if any, movie musicals can boast a song that even comes close to matching the emotional impact of that performance.

Sadly, Show Boat would be the final screen appearance of Helen Morgan, who died in 1941. Her life story became the basis for the 1957 biopic, The Helen Morgan Story. Irene Dunne is best remembered today for films like The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939), and I Remember Mama (1948). You can see and hear more of Allan Jones in A Night at the Opera (1935) and The Firefly (1937). Charles Winninger has memorable roles in Babes in Arms (1939), Destry Rides Again (1939), and State Fair (1945). While Paul Robeson's screen career ended in 1942 with just thirteen appearances, Hattie McDaniel went on to make history as the first African-American to win an Oscar for her performance in Gone with the Wind (1939); when she died in 1952, she had played nearly 100 film roles, many of them uncredited.

Warner Archive has provided the author with a free review copy of this film, with no promise or expectation of a positive review.

Classic Films in Focus: SARATOGA (1937)

Although the story itself is a romantic comedy, Saratoga (1937) wears a shroud of sadness peculiar to those films unknowingly made by doomed stars. Jean Harlow, only 26 years old and already a huge Hollywood success, died just before shooting of the picture could be completed, and the studio finished the production and released the movie largely because of her fans’ fervent desire to see her final screen appearance. The loss of its leading lady undermines the movie’s ending, but until then Saratoga is a solid comic outing, featuring a classier role for Harlow and a cast of familiar players that includes Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Pidgeon, Una Merkel, and even Hattie McDaniel.

Harlow stars as Carol Clayton, a child of the horse track crowd who is moving up in the world thanks to her engagement to wealthy Hartley Madison (Walter Pidgeon). When her father dies and leaves the deed to the stud farm as a marker with his bookie, Duke (Clark Gable), Carol insists on buying Duke out before she gets married. Duke sees Carol’s fiancé as a rich target, but his better nature also inclines him to help the Clayton farm and Carol’s crusty old grandfather (Lionel Barrymore).

The early parts of the film are the best, with Harlow looking fabulously put together in a series of fashionable little hats. She and Gable have a sharp, snappy chemistry that marks all of their pictures together, but in Saratoga they clash constantly, and Harlow’s character has a prickly, contrary personality that is markedly different from the brassy, boisterous girls she often played. The problems in the third act caused by Harlow’s death are nobody’s fault, but one can’t help watching the film with a morbid eye for signs of Harlow’s illness or absence. Later scenes do seem to suggest her collapsing health, and the stand-in shots that were necessary to complete the film are glaringly obvious, with "Carol" seen only from the back and her face obscured by hats and other tricks.

Gable flashes his usual charming, roguish grins as the rival for Carol’s affections, and it’s clear from the start that his Duke is a lot more fun than Walter Pidgeon’s rich but rather wooden business tycoon. Gable also has some very good scenes with Lionel Barrymore and Gone with the Wind (1939) costar Hattie McDaniel, who makes the most of yet another domestic role. A crowd of other character actors also helps to keep the story rolling, with Una Merkel enjoying a fine part as Duke’s friend, Fritzi, and Frank Morgan mangling his lines amusingly as Fritzi’s jealous husband, Mr. Kiffmeyer. Look for Margaret Hamilton and her unmistakable nose in one scene with Frank Morgan that will entertain fans of their later film, The Wizard of Oz (1939). Keep an eye out, too, for George Zucco as the patronizing doctor who tries to calm a tightly wound Carol.

For earlier pictures with Harlow and Gable, try Red Dust (1932), China Seas (1935), and Wife Vs. Secretary (1936). Jack Conway, who directed Saratoga, also directed Harlow in Red-Headed Woman (1932), The Girl from Missouri (1934), and Libeled Lady (1936). See more of Walter Pidgeon in How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), and Forbidden Planet (1956). Look for Una Merkel in several other Harlow films as well as 42nd Street (1933) and Destry Rides Again (1939). Prolific character actors Lionel Barrymore and Frank Morgan also turn up in additional Harlow pictures, but with more than 200 screen appearances for Barrymore and nearly 100 for Morgan, you’ll find both of them in plenty of classic films, often playing fatherly or grandfatherly roles to a variety of leading ladies, including Shirley Temple.