The Whole Town’s Talking
Directed by John Ford
Written by Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin from a story by W.R. Burnett
1935/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb Page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Arthur Ferguson Jones: My name isn’t Jones it’s Mannion. I mean it isn’t Jannion it’s Mones. Oh, I don’t know. It’s Jones! Jones, that’s what it is!
I can’t believe I waited to see one of Edward G. Robinson’s very best performances for so long. And the rest of the movie is wonderful as well.
Robinson plays Arthur Ferguson Jones, a meek, humble clerk at an accounting firm. In his off time, he writes love poetry to his secret crush, sassy co-worker Wilhelmina Clark (Jean Arthur). He has not been late to work once in the entire eight years he has worked for the firm.
One fateful morning his alarm clock fails him. Thus begins a very bad day. Public Enemy No. 1 “Killer” Mannion (also Robinson) escapes from jail after taking the lives of a couple of guards. A man hunt is launched and since Jones so closely resembles the killer, he is picked up and grilled to within an inch of his life despite his protests. Wilhelmina, whom he was lunching with at the time of his capture, is also grilled. When it is finally established that Jones’s fingerprints do not match Mannion’s, the cops give him a letter he can show to avoid being picked up again. When the Killer finds out, he figures that Jones’s pass can come in handy. He also starts hiding out in Jones’s apartment and otherwise terrorizing him.
Edward G. Robinson is so wonderful in this film. He gives each character a special flair and even plays Jones pretending to be Mannion at one point. His Mannion is meaner than even his Little Caesar (1931) and his Jones more humble than his character in Scarlet Street (1945). The script is sharp. And while this is not Ford at his auteur best, the story is beautifully told. Some of the scenes in which Robinson converses with himself are unbelievably seamless. It’s not as serious as I make it sound. Sort of a combo between a romcom and a gangster movie, with several inside pokes at each genre. Warmly recommended.
Fan Trailer
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This review catches me up with the movies I have watched. I intend to mix in some movies I have not seen from later years in the 30’s with my pre-Code viewing until I start up where I left off in 1978 in a month or so.
