BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . but the American Overlord Ruling Class (aka, the Nutty Rat Armory) has outlawed any scientific medical application of similar logic when it comes to firearms. U.S. Law Enforcement Agencies have identified at least 43 million "ticking time bomb" individuals posing a high risk of becoming "active shooters," but the nutty rats have forced the police to React to them on a one-by-one basis while prohibiting any Proactive effort to save lives BEFORE they're lost. THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING sheds a lot of light on this weapons conundrum. Without a gun within his reach, "Jones" is a meek, poetry-writing office drudge. Yet the first time his fingers touch a military-style assault rifle he's instantly transformed into a "first-person shooter" firing indiscriminately. As Jones callously orders a mob hit upon his alter ego in the Nature vs. Nurture Debate--Mannion--it's clear that the "shooting iron" is the only difference between meek poet Jones and mad-dog Killer Jones. THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING may be enough to convince We Citizens of the 21st Century about the necessity to immediately seize all the firearms now stockpiled by the 43 million high-risk potential "active shooters," rather than continuing to tolerate the inevitable daily carnage as these Jones-like nuts go bad one-by-one. Maybe someday a super computer will be able to provide fool-proof predictions of exactly WHEN each poet Jones will reach his expiration date, go bad, and turn into a deadly Mad-dog Jones (as in the movie MINORITY REPORT). Until then, the only way to "keep up with the Joneses" is to take away their guns!!

jc-osms I've been trying to track down this old Hollywood feature for nearly 40 years since I first saw and loved it. Of course it's not quite as wonderful as my childhood self remembers it but it's still a delightful movie I was more than pleased to watch again. In particular I remembered Edward G Robinson's meek Arthur Jones character's line, emboldened by his first experience of alcohol and a cigar, that a woman was just a woman but a good cigar was a smoke, great stuff!The inventive plot has Robinson's timid office worker sharing the face of a notorious gun- toting gangster, Killer Mannion, causing initially confusion but later consternation amongst the local police and press as Mannion forcibly takes possession of the pass-letter given to Jones by the D.A. to differentiate them, to rub out a rival gangster in prison, almost literally a licence to kill.At Jones's side, egging him onto acts of valour, is the vivacious Jean Arthur before she unwittingly falls into Mannion's hands but in a final twist, the mouse roars and all is resolved happily for ever after as Jones gets the girl, his life back and his long-desired trip to China before the end credits.Robinson is wonderful in the twin parts, firstly parodying his hard-nosed gangster roles of earlier years, most notably as Rico in "Little Caesar", with the lily-livered accounts clerk Jones before effortlessly turning into the hard-nosed murdering crime-lord of Mannion. I loved the scene where the doppelgängers unexpectedly first meet, director Ford employing some inventive double exposure technique to get them both in shot. The writing too is sharp and with some good gags too. The film is relatively untypical of John Ford, being a fast-moving screwball comedy but he directs with verve and timing and helped by the fine playing of his cast, particularly the leads, makes it a winning movie all round.

kidboots John Ford, by the mid 1930s, was known for being a man's director and for movies ("Men Without Women", "The Lost Patrol"and "The Informer") that showed the camaraderie and mateship of men under pressure. This movie was completely out of left field. With a comically inventive screenplay by Jo Swerling and it's delight in taking potshots at staid institutions, it could have come from the directorial chair of Frank Capra. John Ford, in years to come, was not particularly keen on it - commenting "It was all right - I never saw it"!! It was much more than that and Edward G. Robinson, who had lampooned his gangster image a couple of years previously in "The Little Giant" had a field day playing a notorious gangster and his innocent double. It also gave him an opportunity to show he could convincingly play a sweet natured, cultured law-abider, who wins the girl, not by force but through the girl's admiration of his character.A hard working mild mannered clerk, Arthur Ferguson Jones (Edward G. Robinson) spends his leisure hours writing romantic fiction and anonymously sending poems to work colleague "Bill" Clark (Jean Arthur) whom he secretly admires. When arch criminal "Killer" Mannion escapes and his picture is plastered over the front page, everybody feels that Jonesy is a dead ringer for the mobster. After innocently ordering lunch in a diner he is identified as Mannion and literally gets the whole town talking!!After the police end up with egg on their faces he is syndicated to write the story of Mannion from the point of view of the man who looks like Mannion of course. Meanwhile the real Mannion shows up and it is to Robinson's great ability as an actor that there is a difference in the way he plays each of them - you definitely can tell them apart - even at the end. Mannion takes the letter that Jonesy has been given by the police, stating that he is not Mannion. Mannion has it by night, when he can rob places in peace without police interference. He is also very interested in the articles Jonesy is writing but after reading the first instalment, in which Jonesy claims that Mannion is a moron with false courage who is only brave when he has a gun, he convinces Jonesy (at gunpoint!!) to write a more colourful, inside story of his jail break. The police at once become suspicious - especially when certain people who have called on Jonesy ("Bill", Mr. Seaver and Aunt Agatha) are kidnapped!!!This is an action packed movie as Mannion plans to have Jonesy gunned down by the police at the bank - the plans go haywire as Jonesy, almost opening the bank door, realises he has left the money on the desk at home and goes back to retrieve it with half the city's police in pursuit!!!This movie was also a milestone for Jean Arthur who had been in movies for almost 12 years and by this time had fled to Broadway after becoming dispirited with too many second rate movies. Variety called her performance "more individualistic" and "sassy" and predicted a brighter future for her which soon came true. Also of interest is an actress billed as "Seaver's Private Secretary". She was Virginia Pine and was George Raft's long time love.Highly Recommended.

Dale Houstman This movie is (correctly enough) billed as a "crime comedy" but that tone is not entirely maintained throughout the film, and to good effect. For one thing, Robinson (as "Jonesy") emanates a very palpable feeling of repression and yearning for a more romantic existence throughout the film, and this is underscored by his poetic ambitions, and the fact he named his cat "Abelard" for just two examples.But the most powerfully emotional scene in the film - and the one which most breaks the comedy constriction - is when Mannion is finally gunned down by his own men, entirely at "Jonesy's" direction. It is not a moment which is let off with comedic ease, and this is marvelously portrayed in a fleeting closeup of Robinson (as "Jonesy") as the gangs carts Mannion off to another room - the camera cuts away to a shot of "Jonesy's" face, and what one sees there (underscored by an anguished bark) is a true second of real anguish and guilt over what he has just be responsible for. Although Mannion was a murderer (and this "crime" of "Jonesy's" is partly in response to his discovering Mannion was trying to gt him killed), the murder is not tossed off without emotional undertones of true anxiety. It is a great sequence, possibly entirely a matter of Robinson's skill and feel for the character.The comedic moments go down easy, Jean Arthur is at her tough girl best, and the film abounds with the "usual suspects" of Hollywood character actors. It is well worth viewing as a light farce. But - for this viewer - that one quick brush with actual internal pain somehow puts the rest of the film in a briefly glimpsed and different universe of real human morality. If for no other reason, (and there are many) that one tiny moment makes this film highly recommendable.