The Whole Town's Talking

I saw this movie a long time ago as a teenager during a Edward G. Robinson retrospective. It was the one that stuck in my mind, and I never forgot it. Now I have it on videotape and watch it regularly, it stands multiple viewing very well.

The Whole Town's Talking is one of those perfect little movies. Everything falls into place – the acting, the pace, the timing of the jokes, the dialog. Even the set design is fabulous, it was basically the big, bright office space in which the good guy Robinson plays „slaves" that was unforgettable to me. The movie boasts an assortment of caricature like characters like no other movie I know, beside Robinson I would like to mention Jean Arthur, of course, and the two funny little guys, Donald Meek and, even more memorable, Etienne Girardot as the pedantic office overseer who urges Robinson to get on with the Macintyre account.

In its social comment The Whole Town's Talking reminds me of the work of Preston Sturgess. Mentionable are the media hype about a famous gangster which is really over the top (it's up there with His Girl Friday in this aspect) and the incompetence of the police force which is unable to deal with the gangster and even less with the media and is presented as a helpless and clueless organization. So the movie still has some actuality.

Movie buffs who look at John Ford as an „auteur" may be disappointed. The Whole Town's Talking is very much a product of the studio system. But it amply shows what great things that system was able to accomplish at times!

Here Robinson plays the role of a mild-mannered bookkeeper, that of a body double in the person of a murderous gangster on the run - Killer Mannion, and he also effectively plays two other roles - that of the bookkeeper pretending to be the gangster, and the gangster pretending to be the bookkeeper. This could get very confusing, especially in the case of the latter two roles, but as the viewer you will be pretty sure you know who you're looking at by the circumstances. However, you'll still be bowled over by the subtlety of Robinson's performance - I know I was.

Jean Arthur plays Jones' (Robinson's) would-be girlfriend. She works in the same place as Jones, but longs for more than a hum-drum existence. When Jones tells her his hopes and dreams of being a writer and traveling to exotic places, she encourages him, and seems to see what he could be even if Jones doesn't quite see it yet. Arthur has what amounts to one of the funniest scenes in the movie, and there are many candidates. When the police first pick up and arrest Jones, believing him to be Mannion, they pick up Arthur too, thinking that she is his "gun moll". She has some fun with this and starts using gangster slang and mannerisms and confessing that Mannion committed every crime that the police ask her about.

One of my favorite supporting players of the 30's shows up here too - Ed Brophy, who was an assistant director over at MGM until Buster Keaton put him into a small but important role in "The Cameraman" in 1928. Once sound came in Brophy was perfect for playing supporting Runyonesque parts. Here Brophy plays an associate of Killer Mannion who is picked up by the police and makes a deal, promising to put the finger on Mannion. In return the police have to keep him safe in jail until Mannion is picked up. Brophy's character is brave whenever he thinks Manion has been captured and a blubbering coward whenever he realizes Mannion is still free.

Highly recommended as a great screwball comedy that shows the versatility of not only Edward G. Robinson, but of director John Ford.

Whole Town's Talking, The (1935)

*** (out of 4)

A timid, shy and all around weak store clerk (Edward G. Robinson) gets mistaken for a harden gangster (Robinson) but his new fame allows him to store writing a column in a newspaper about how gangster are weak without their guns. Soon the gangster shows up wanting more than just a little help. As a comedy this movie is a real masterpiece but as a drama, the final thirty-minutes or so really bring down a lot of the great moments. While watching this Columbia movie you can't help but wonder if this was originally meant to be directed by Frank Capra as it has his screenwriters and the small town story certainly seems like something you'd get from a Capra and not someone like Ford. To his credit, Ford does a great job with the comedy and really delivers one of the funniest movies of the 1930's. The problem happens in the third act when it really turns to too much of a gangster film and the laughs are pretty much forgotten. What holds both sides together is the terrific performance by Robinson. The way he plays the timid clerk is just downright hilarious and this includes a masterfully acted interrogation sequence where Robinson is nearly brought to tears because he's so scared. Seeing a tough guy like Robinson acting scared was just hilarious and one actually starts to feel sorry for the guy because it appears he's about to die. Robinson is also great in his second role as the gangster as he's as tough as ever and does manage to come off quite demanding and threatening. Jean Arthur is wonderful as well and adds many great comic scenes including her own interrogation where she keeps admitting to crimes that she has nothing to do with or even knows about. Arthur Hohl, Arthur Byron, Wallace Ford and Donald Meek round out the supporting cast. You can even see Joe Sawyer playing one of Robinson's goons. Again, I didn't care for the final act of the film as the comedy starts to not happen but that doesn't take away from everything at the start of the movie. Robinson has never gotten the credit he deserves as an actual actor, which is a real shame but this film allows for both sides of him to be highlighted and to great effect.

Enjoyed this 1935 Classic in which Edward G. Robinson plays a duel role as Arthur Ferguson, (Jonesy) and Killer Mannion. Arthur Ferguson is an ordinary law abiding citizen and is rather a very meek person. Unfortunately, Ferguson looks just like a gangster named Killer Mannion who is a harden criminal and they both seem to have the same facial appearance. Jean Arthur, (Wilhelmina Clark) gives a great supporting role along with a great cast of veteran actors. There is a split screen between Arthur Ferguson and Killer Mannion and Edward G. Robinson gives an outstanding performance in 1935 which was not seen very often in films during those days. Killer Mannion tries to murder Ferguson in a bank hold up but things get out of hand. There is plenty of drama and comedy. This is truly a great Classic Film. Enjoy

Edward G. Robinson has been stereotyped to the nth degree as

THE "gangster" (even in Bugs Bunny cartoons!), so it's quite a surprise to see him in the role of a mild, meek clerk (who just happens to be a dead ringer for a gangster!).

The split-screen scenes (where he plays both parts) are excellent & "seamless", and the comedy is heightened by the utterly ridiculous lengths the police go to to catch the gangster!

In one scene, he (as the clerk) is eating lunch in a restaurant, is "spotted" as being the gangster, and within a matter of MINUTES the restaurant is surrounded by HUNDREDS of policeman, riot squads, & machine guns -- all to get the (wrong!) person!

A refreshing comedy; you've got to see this film, if only for Robinson's acting!