The Public Menace

Last updated
The Public Menace
The Public Menace.jpg
Directed by Erle C. Kenton
Written by Ethel Hill
Lionel Houser
Starring Jean Arthur
George Murphy
Douglass Dumbrille
Cinematography Henry Freulich
Edited by Gene Milford
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • September 24, 1935 (1935-09-24)(New York)
Running time
72-73 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Public Menace is a 1935 American black-and-white romantic drama film starring Jean Arthur, George Murphy and Douglass Dumbrille. A newspaper reporter keeps losing and regaining his job due to a manicurist he is persuaded to marry.

Contents

Plot

"Red" Foster (George Murphy) and other reporters board an ocean liner arriving from Europe. Red has been sent to cover a seemingly routine suicide. Cassie (Jean Arthur), the ship's manicurist, is homesick for America, but has somehow become a Greek citizen and not American. The captain (Thurston Hall) becomes aware of her plan to jump ship, and tells her she will be watched closely. She tells Red that she has a suicide note that reveals that man held by the police for a sensational murder is innocent and names the true killer. However, she will only give it to him if he marries her and makes her an American citizen again. He reluctantly agrees, and the captain marries them. Afterward, however, he learns that she has lied; the note is merely a letter of recommendation.

Meanwhile, the other reporters learn that notorious gangster Tonelli (Douglass Dumbrille) is being brought back to the United States to face a number of charges. When they locate his cabin, they barge in on him and his police escorts. Then they are all forced at gunpoint by Tonelli's henchman to help in his escape. The reporters do not mind, as they have a great front page story for their newspapers. All that is, except Red. Frentrup (Robert Middlemass), Red's city editor, fires him for missing it.

Neither Red nor Cassie have any money, so he lets her stay at his apartment. They find new jobs and save money for their divorce, though Cassie does her best to get Red to change his mind about splitting up.

When Cassie reads about two dead gangsters who have been burned too badly to be identified, she hits upon a scheme to get Red his old job back. She telephones Frentrup and claims to be able to identify one as Tonelli by a tattoo mentioned in the newspaper, but insists on talking only to Red. Frentrup reinstates the reporter.

However, Tonelli is still alive, and when he discovers that his girlfriend, Mimi (Shirley Grey), has quickly found herself another man, he guns them down in cold blood. Before he dies, the man is able to tell the police that Tonelli is responsible. Red gets fired again.

Cassie is taken in to be interrogated on suspicion that she is Tonelli's accomplice. The police allow Cassie to be released on bail, in the hope that she will lead them to the fugitive. Tonelli does indeed send for her. When he realizes the block is surrounded by policemen, Cassie persuades him to let her call her "brother" (actually Red) and have him bring "his" ambulance, so the gangster can try to sneak out on a stretcher. The plan works, except Cassie and Red take him not to a new hideout, but to Red's newspaper. Trapped, Tonelli starts shooting and is killed by the police. In the middle of the gunfight, Frentrup once again rehires Red to write the unfolding story.

At the divorce court, Red decides to stay married to Cassie.

Cast

Home media

The film is available on DVD as part of the Jean Arthur Comedy Collection, released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>A Medal for Benny</i> 1945 film by Irving Pichel

A Medal for Benny is a 1945 American film directed by Irving Pichel. The story was conceived by writer Jack Wagner, who enlisted his long-time friend John Steinbeck to help him put it into script form. The film was released by Paramount Pictures. The film is also known as Benny's Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglass Dumbrille</span> Canadian-American actor (1889–1974)

Douglass Rupert Dumbrille was a Canadian actor who appeared regularly in films from the early 1930s.

<i>Kentucky</i> (film) 1938 film by Otto Brower, David Butler

Kentucky is a 1938 American drama sports film with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan. It was directed by David Butler. It is a Romeo and Juliet story of lovers Jack and Sally, set amidst Kentucky horseracing, in which a family feud goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by Sally's Uncle Peter.

<i>Romance in Manhattan</i> 1935 film by Stephen Roberts

Romance in Manhattan is a 1935 American comedy/romance film directed by Stephen Roberts, starring Francis Lederer and Ginger Rogers, and released by RKO Radio Pictures.

<i>The Buccaneer</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by Cecil B. DeMille

The Buccaneer is a 1938 American adventure film made by Paramount Pictures starring Fredric March and based on Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. The picture was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Harold Lamb, Edwin Justus Mayer and C. Gardner Sullivan adapted by Jeanie MacPherson from the 1930 novel Lafitte the Pirate by Lyle Saxon. The music score was by George Antheil and the cinematography by Victor Milner.

<i>The Frozen Ghost</i> 1945 film by Harold Young

The Frozen Ghost is a 1945 American film noir mystery film starring Lon Chaney Jr., Elena Verdugo, Evelyn Ankers, Tala Birell, and Martin Kosleck, and directed by Harold Young. It is the fourth of the six "Inner Sanctum" mystery films.

<i>Delinquent Daughters</i> 1944 film by Albert Herman

Delinquent Daughters, or Accent on Crime, is a 1944 American drama film directed by Albert Herman and starring June Carlson, Fifi D'Orsay and Margia Dean. An exploitation film, it is about a police investigation into the suicide death of a high school girl and the hard-partying teenagers at a party prior to the incident.

<i>The Wiser Sex</i> 1932 film

The Wiser Sex is a 1932 American pre-Code crime drama film directed by Berthold Viertel and Victor Viertel and starring Claudette Colbert, Melvyn Douglas, Lilyan Tashman, William "Stage" Boyd and Ross Alexander. Made by Paramount Pictures, its working title was The Weaker Sex.

<i>Female</i> (1933 film) 1933 film

Female is a 1933 Warner Bros. pre-Code film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Ruth Chatterton and George Brent. It is based on the 1933 novel of the same name by Donald Henderson Clarke.

<i>Penthouse</i> (film) 1933 film by W. S. Van Dyke

Penthouse is a 1933 American Pre-Code crime film starring Warner Baxter as a lawyer and Myrna Loy as a call girl who helps him with a murder case. The film features Charles Butterworth as the butler, Mae Clarke as the murder victim, Phillips Holmes as the suspected murderer, and C. Henry Gordon as the gangster who arranged the murder. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on a novel by Arthur Somers Roche. The film was later remade as the more sanitized Society Lawyer (1939), without the risqué pre-Code dialogue.

<i>The Whole Towns Talking</i> 1935 film

The Whole Town's Talking is a 1935 American comedy film starring Edward G. Robinson as a law-abiding man who bears a striking resemblance to a killer, with Jean Arthur as his love interest. It was directed by John Ford from a screenplay by Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin based on a story by W.R. Burnett originally published in Collier's in August 1932. Burnett was also the author of the source material for Robinson's screen break-through, Little Caesar. The film The Whole Town's Talking (1926) has no story connection to this film.

<i>Murder by Invitation</i> 1941 film by Phil Rosen

Murder by Invitation is a 1941 American mystery film directed by Phil Rosen and starring Wallace Ford.

<i>Tell It to the Judge</i> 1949 film by Norman Foster

Tell It to the Judge is a 1949 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Foster and starring Rosalind Russell as a divorcee who tries to get back her ex-husband, played by Robert Cummings.

<i>Design for Scandal</i> 1941 film by Norman Taurog

Design for Scandal is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Taurog. Rosalind Russell stars as a judge targeted by a newspaper tycoon unhappy with her decision in his divorce case.

Whirlpool is a 1934 American pre-Code drama film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Jack Holt and Jean Arthur. The screenplay concerns a carnival owner convicted of manslaughter after a man is killed in a fight.

<i>Rovin Tumbleweeds</i> 1939 American film

Rovin' Tumbleweeds is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and Mary Carlisle. Written by Betty Burbridge, Dorrell McGowan, and Stuart E. McGowan, the film is about a cowboy congressman who exposes a crooked politician who is delaying passage of a flood control bill.

Lady Luck is a 1936 American comedy film directed by Charles Lamont. It was made by Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation.

<i>Hi Nellie!</i> 1934 film by Mervyn LeRoy

Hi, Nellie! is a 1934 American crime drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Paul Muni and Glenda Farrell. A newspaper editor is demoted to writing an advice column for refusing to go along with the crowd in declaring a missing lawyer to be a thief.

<i>Tell No Tales</i> (film) 1939 film

Tell No Tales is a 1939 American crime film directed by Leslie Fenton, written by Lionel Houser, and starring Melvyn Douglas, Louise Platt, Gene Lockhart and Douglass Dumbrille. Fenton's feature-film directorial debut, it was released on May 12, 1939, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>Gangster</i> (2016 film) 2016 film by Birsa Dasgupta

Gangster is an Indian Bengali language action thriller film directed by Birsa Dasgupta under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films. The film stars debutant Yash Dasgupta with Mimi Chakraborty in leading roles. The film is a romantic thriller where Yash plays the role of a Gangster. The film has been shot in Istanbul, Turkey. The film released on 7 October 2016.

References

  1. ↑ Dave Kehr (November 11, 2011). "Sweetness With Spine". The New York Times .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.