The Mad Miss Manton

1938

1 hr. 20 min.

Comedy

List

84%

44 Reviews

Tomatometer

63%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Meddling heiress Melsa Manton (Barbara Stanwyck) heads a group of society girls known as the "Park Avenue Pranksters," who inadvertently become involved in a murder when they find a corpse and a stolen brooch in an empty house. After the body goes missing, a snide newspaper article on irresponsible socialites by editor Peter Ames (Henry Fonda) infuriates Melsa, who threatens libel. Despite Peter's involvement, Melsa begins her own investigation, only to turn up the brooch and another body.

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Steve D

Not really memorable but fun thanks to the cast.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/18/23

Full Review

kevin w

Superhero films inspire the modern audience but back in the day, like the late 1930s, no adventure cooked better than a juicy murder mystery. Even more better: if there was a romance brewing between the boy and girl detectives. In this one brainy socialite Babs Stanwyck (with a incomprehensible posse of like 8 giggling socialite girlfriends - her police department in silks!) stumbles onto a murder plot, dragging newspaper editor and goofball puppy dog type Henry Fonda along for the ride. A nice crowd of contract character parts fill in the bill where charisma and snappy dialogue are more important than any old body lying around and getting moldy with a hole in it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Tom M

Some very funny moments. Stanwyck and Fonda are great. Good supporting cast.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/15/20

Full Review

joe m

Enjoyable and witty, while being also silly and vacuous, "The Mad Miss Manton" throws a NYC society dame played by Stanwyck and a newspaper editor played by Fonda together in assisting a bumbling police force in solving an upper class double murder. A lot of snappy dialogue and various hijinks with the police and Stanwyck's posse of junior league bubbleheaded friends easily gloss over the numerous plot holes in the film. Not quite of the same caliber of the better screwball comedies, yet the two leads and their costars make for an amusing film worth catching.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Witty banter, glamorous stars, and a nod toward film noir. A fun classic that doesn't disappoint.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

What a delightful murder mystery comedy, Barbara Stanwyck is amazing as always, she and Henry Fonda make a great teaming. Very entertaining, great pace and well produced. Snappy well written screenplay.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

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Leigh Jason

Director

Barbara Stanwyck

Melsa Manton

Henry Fonda

Peter Ames

Sam Levene

Lieutenant Brent

Frances Mercer

Helen Frayne

Stanley Ridges

Edward Norris

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Frank S. Nugent

New York Times

The producers have done rather well on all counts.

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

Dorothy M'Aulay

Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com

A mad and merry comedy.

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

Philip K. Scheuer

Los Angeles Times

The Mad Miss Manton is a comedy belonging to that late un- lamented school of folderol which had, one supposes, already been given a decent burial. But R.-K.-O. presents it as though it were something brand new.

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

Herbert Cohn

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A throwback to the school of zany comedies, which had almost played itself out in the first six or seven months of the year, The Mad Miss Manton is an assemblage of madcap antics, confused mystery killings and deliciously bright, sophisticated lines.

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

Jay Carmody

Washington Star

Director Leigh Jason has kept his farce moving at a suitable farce tempo and contrives to get the fullest value from the various episodes -- tense, funny and somewhere between -- with which the script endowed him.

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

James T. Hamada

The Nippu Jiji (Honolulu)

It’s a mystery comedy constructed along the same line as The Thin Man and is distinguished by excellence in direction, acting, photography and dialogue.

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

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Synopsis

Meddling heiress Melsa Manton (Barbara Stanwyck) heads a group of society girls known as the "Park Avenue Pranksters," who inadvertently become involved in a murder when they find a corpse and a stolen brooch in an empty house. After the body goes missing, a snide newspaper article on irresponsible socialites by editor Peter Ames (Henry Fonda) infuriates Melsa, who threatens libel. Despite Peter's involvement, Melsa begins her own investigation, only to turn up the brooch and another body.

Director: Leigh Jason
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Jul 21, 2009

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