Adventure in Manhattan

This isn't a bad film. The problem is, that this type of mystery comedy was done so much better in The Thin Man films that it pales in comparison. Plus, the character played by Joel McCrea is pretty unlikable, unlike Nick Charles.

McCrea is a top crime reporter for the newspapers. His insights and predictions are uncanny and the problem is he is 100% sure of himself and quite the fat-head! Because he's so smug, I found it hard to like him and couldn't see why nice Jean Arthur was taken in by him. So what if he was so smart--he's still kind of a jerk. As a result, the chemistry just isn't quite right.

The plot itself concerns a master criminal that everyone EXCEPT McCrea thinks is dead. Throughout the film, McCrea swears he will eventually catch this "gentleman criminal", though this man's exact identity is unknown.

The acting is decent and the film does offer a few laughs and interesting moments--but not enough to make this a "must see" film.

An overly confident crime reporter (JOEL McCREA) and a clever actress (JEAN ARTHUR) must match wits against an even more clever art thief (REGINALD OWEN) who poses as a theatrical producer to cover his real proclivities as a thief. His theater is staging a play with heavy military artillery to disguise the noise of his thieves blasting a tunnel into the bank.

Some crisp dialog and some nice performances aren't enough to conceal that this is pretty flimsy material. Still, it does manage to show that both McCrea and Arthur had a natural flair for light material tinged with a hint of mystery.

Unfortunately, the script involving stolen art work and the attempted theft of the Sunburst Diamond from a bank vault, doesn't permit either one to create more than one-dimensional characters and after an original start, the story runs out of wacky ideas and turns serious before it reverts to comedy again.

McCrea and Arthur play their roles as though they were imitating the Nick and Nora Charles brand of humor in comedy with mystery. With stronger material, this would have worked. THOMAS MITCHELL is good as a newspaper man who fires and hires McCrea in moments of great exasperation.

It's light stuff and highly forgettable except for the charm of the two stars.

After a big success in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town which really established Jean Arthur as the rival in screwball comedy to Carole Lombard, she got cast in some routine films that sought to take advantage of her new image. Adventure in Manhattan was one of them and while it's plot verges on the silly it could have been a lot better, but for some really bad miscasting.

The guy who could have brought off the role of the wise cracking crime reporter was over at Warner Brothers. This part James Cagney could have phoned over to Columbia, but in the hands of all American hero Joel McCrea it really looks forced.

Some high profile robberies have taken place and crime reporter McCrea thinks and has written that the culprit of all these has been a master criminal along the lines of Professor Moriarty. Problem is that this guy is believed dead by all, but McCrea.

McCrea is right and it's revealed early enough in the film to be Reginald Owen who is now in the guise of a theatrical producer. And Jean Arthur is an aspiring young ingénue in the cast of a World War I play he's producing.

One of the problems I had with this plot was that Professor Moriarty and many of the master criminals in real life and fiction usually work alone or with as few accomplices as possible. The scheme that Owen has involves a considerable gang and I really can't swallow that somewhere along the line somebody doesn't slip up.

Thomas Mitchell in one of his earliest screen roles is McCrea's editor and he's his usual good self. Arthur makes the best of a routine assignment and it took someone like Preston Sturges to bring out the real comedian in Joel McCrea.

I have long admired Jean Arthur, so when I came across one of her films I did not know I naturally jumped at the chance to watch it. I did not even bother to read any of the reviews here or elsewhere in advance. As it turns out, that was probably the right decision: Some of these reviews might have prejudiced me against this near-perfect 1930s comedy. The plot is too convoluted to summarise here, but director Edward Ludwig manages to present it in a way that makes every twist and turn, however zany, look plausible (at least for the moment). He also gives 'Adventure in Manhattan' great tempo and pace: there is never a dull moment, and many moments that are simply hilarious. Joel McCrea plays a criminologist with a Sherlock Holmes-like ability to put himself in a master-thief's position and to second-guess the thief's plans. As his predictions come true he is so full of himself that one failure is truly devastating. Jean Arthur is great as an actress who thinks he is nuisance but eventually falls in love with him. The dialogues are spot on: sharp and witty. In sum, this is as nice a comedy as you will find: don't believe the reviewers who jumped on the bandwagon talking it down!

Let me begin by saying that McCrea and Arthur make one of the best looking, likable, elegant and best acting duos I have ever had the pleasure to watch. ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN is a zany tale about a newsman (McCrea) who can predict robberies - exactly why he has prediction powers no one can say.

Dialogue is full of repartee and it is rather advanced for a 1936 flick.

Director Edward Ludwig does a great job, cinematography is top drawer and the script does not make a whole load of sense but that is what makes this film so charming,