Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda have a strong, sometimes even sensual chemistry in "The Mad Miss Manton", particularly when he tells her things like "I realize that I should let go of your hand, but I'm finding that I don't want to", or when they're alone in a moonlit room, talking about their mutual acrophobia. He is young and handsome, she is hot and has probably the best, most toned arms of any actress in the 1930s. The plot can be confusing on the first viewing (with some previously unintroduced characters suddenly popping up as suspects), but this is still an entertaining comedy-mystery, with the novelty of an all-girl squad of amateur detectives on the side, plus James Burke playing the exact same kind of dumb cop he repeated in the entire "Ellery Queen" series of the 1940s. *** out of 4.
Review of The Mad Miss Manton
