A throwback to the school of zany comedies, which had almost played itself out in the first six or seven months of the year, The Mad Miss Manton is an assemblage of madcap antics, confused mystery killings and deliciously bright, sophisticated lines.

| Apr 22, 2024

Director Leigh Jason has kept his farce moving at a suitable farce tempo and contrives to get the fullest value from the various episodes -- tense, funny and somewhere between -- with which the script endowed him.

| Apr 22, 2024

It’s a mystery comedy constructed along the same line as The Thin Man and is distinguished by excellence in direction, acting, photography and dialogue.

| Apr 22, 2024

A good comedy-murder mystery melodrama. Although several murders are committed, the picture is not gruesome, for the tension is relieved by wise-cracks and comical situations.

| Apr 22, 2024

The convolutions of the screen play by Philip G. Epstein, based on Wilson Collison's story, are too many, adroit and funny to be pursued by an unfunny synopsis.

| Apr 22, 2024

The producers have done rather well on all counts.

| Apr 22, 2024

What with a couple of killings to solve, a romance to consummate and a flock of laughs to produce, The Mad Miss Manton gets along very well, thank you.

| Apr 22, 2024

A mad and merry comedy.

| Apr 22, 2024

Although the story is strewn with corpses and has many suspenseful episodes, the atmosphere is that of an exciting parlor game and fun predominates.

| Apr 22, 2024

The Mad Miss Manton is a comedy belonging to that late un- lamented school of folderol which had, one supposes, already been given a decent burial. But R.-K.-O. presents it as though it were something brand new.

| Apr 22, 2024

The dialog is pat and believably delivered, while situations surprise and intrigue the observer. Clean, clever, comical.

| Apr 22, 2024

The Mad Miss Manton combines the thrills of an exciting detective story and the laughs of a high speed comedy.

| Apr 22, 2024

[The Mad Miss Manton features] good performances by Miss Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene and Stanley Ridges.

| Apr 22, 2024

Barbara Stanwyck's portrayal of the slightly wacky Melsa Menton is a captivating performance. Henry Fonda is excellent, too, although his Peter Ames is a strange newspaper editor.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 22, 2024

This daft piece adds up to fair entertainment. Its mystery is as tangled as its characters; but every one has a lovely time -- except the two corpses.

| Apr 22, 2024

In a sense it holds the interest -- as indeed it might well, for it picks the brains if not the teeth of half the smart fellows who ever borrowed a sure-fire line or incident from a smarter fellow who had seen it in the original plagiarism.

| Apr 22, 2024

Miss Stanwyck is a dashing Melsa Manton who makes interesting, if not convincing, a part that could be unpleasant in less able hands.

| Apr 22, 2024

It is funny stuff.

| Apr 22, 2024

Mr. Stanley Ridges... is the most appealing felon, one of the crazed, glazed-eyed and quiet kind.

| Apr 22, 2024

We are so used to mystery films in which each plot development is a new non sequitur that it is a real relief to find a yarn with some connection.

| Apr 22, 2024