The Mad Miss Manton

Paired by RKO in 1938, Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda star in this madcap comedy set in Manhattan, where they try to solve a murder or two. Accompanied by her gang of socialite girlfriends, Barbara gets herself into many situations and in the meantime, Henry Fonda falls madly in love with her. Laughs galore from a fine supporting cast and tightly directed by Leigh Jason (who he?), this 80 minute romp never outstays its welcome.

I picked this one up in a recent Warner Archive haul as a blind buy because I really enjoy Stanwyck, but for some reason, I totally missed that Henry Fonda is in this too! Lady Eve is one of my absolute favorites and seeing this duo in another movie was delightful!

This has some Nancy Drew vibes to it that I totally didn’t expect, with Stanwyck playing Melsa Manton, a high society girl who finds a dead body that disappears after she calls it into the cops. Melsa is a part of a girl gang of other high society women who have a reputation for mischief, so the police and the news don’t believe her. Thus, she teams up with her friends to clear her name and track down the killer. There’s plenty of hijinks here and Fonda is a reporter who falls in love with Stanwyck along the way in a bit of enemies to lovers situation. There’s so many fun moments here, I loved the girl gang, the mystery is tied up really well, and Stanwyck and Fonda have great chemistry. Incredibly fun mystery comedy! If you like The Thin Man series, this is another great movie with a similar feel.