One of my all time favorites.

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

"Man Wanted" is a delightful film that reflects so many of the themes of its time. Released in 1932, this pre-Code story plays with conventions, titillating the audiences of its day.First of all, there is a reversal of gender roles involving the central characters. Kay Francis plays a female executive who hires a male secretary. She is all business, but the two of them occasionally find themselves playing peek-a-boo with their libidos. Her husband spends his time playing polo and partying.The dialogue is filled with allusions to the "free love" and open marriage ideas of the time. The characters flirt with the freedoms that, no doubt, intrigued audiences of the thirties. They considered the possibility of marriage as a relationship of equals who respect each other without binding. Some of the peripheral characters are not very developed, but the central characters are very strong. Dressed to the nines and occupying some stylish art deco sets, they glibly play their parts while showing that underneath there are other, more serious, emotions at play. In this, the story is maybe not so modern, eventually paying its homage to love and the honesty of traditional commitments.Kay Francis and David Manners are both filmed strikingly. There is one scene of a stolen kiss that is iconic. The director uses the camera to convey a sense of intimacy when required. At other times, he lets the camera flow through a scene, capturing the feeling of gaiety and demonstrating a facility that is very welcome so early in the history of talkies.

In this pre-Code drama Kay Francis stars as the fashionable editor of a chic magazine who has no time for other than her job. Which leaves her playboy husband Kenneth Thomson all kinds of idle hours to play with perennial other woman Claire Dodd.When sporting goods salesman David Manners tries to sell her a rowing machine, he walks off with the job of her new secretary. And Kay ends up admiring more than David's work ethic.Man Wanted which contains no really steamy scenes nor any kind of suggestive language still could never have been made after the omnipresent Code was adopted. It has a way too casual attitude toward infidelity with Manners, Francis, Thomson, and Dodd all quite willing to keep things going. When Kay learns of Thomson's cheating, she's quite relieved actually because she and Manners can now kanoodle.Although Man Wanted cannot really make its mind up whether it's comedy or drama, it's still a good film and most typical of the films that Kay Francis was starring in at the height of her career.

This is a very interesting film and it's worth a look even though the main characters are mostly selfish and unlikable! Had they been more decent in how they treated others, I probably would have liked this film a lot more.This film was made during the so-called "Pre-Code" era--when Hollywood pretty much ignored the Hays Office and films featured a lot of very adult topics. Some of this was great, as films were allowed to have topics discussed that probably would have been ignored once the new Production Code was enacted in 1934. Some of this freedom was not so great, as adultery was often encouraged and nudity pervaded even supposedly "family films" (such as BEN HUR (1927) and TARZAN AND HIS MATE). MAN WANTED does not have some of the cursing or nudity of some of these films, but it does seem to glorify or excuse away infidelity--providing a false image that there are no victims in these situations, as couples just cordially agree to part when they find better partners.Kay Francis, a favorite of the more sensationalistic Pre-Code films, plays a hard-driving and seemingly asexual woman who runs a magazine that's been in her family for generations. Typical of the silly stereotype of the day, she is a woman who can't mix work and her personal life and her husband is basically a party animal who is half-intoxicated through most of the film. Into this lovely marriage comes a new secretary for Francis (David Manners). How she uses and abuses her secretaries actually bothered me a lot more than her contempt for her marriage. That's because her last secretary was fired with no notice or severance because the secretary objected to working 20 hour days again and again for Francis. Manners, it seems, has no life nor self-esteem and is more than willing to let Francis walk all over him. He is well paid for this, so Francis seems to take no notice for Manners' needs--even though it's becoming obvious that he's falling in love with her.Now here we have two problems. First, considering that Francis is a cold and selfish career woman, how could Manners fall so hard for her? Sure, he might fantasize about her sexually (she was considered quite a looker in 1932--something viewers today will probably find hard to believe), but to marry such a person?! Second, while Manners isn't married in the film, he does have a fiancée (Una Merkel) and he treats her horribly--stringing her along even though it's obvious he doesn't love her. Merkel isn't exactly a huge prize, but she's decent--as was Manners' friend played by Andy Devine. In fact, this was one of Devine's best supporting performances--coming off as less comical and goofy than usual and more just a nice and sweet person.All this ends exactly the way you'd expect--all according to formula. So there are both no likable characters and few surprises. So how does the movie STILL get a 6?! Well, the acting, directing and all were still very competent and the film is interesting to watch--keeping me focused throughout. Not a great film but a decent time-passer--just so long as you don't internalize the message that the film seems to be trying to make--that adultery ain't so bad after all!

Though the story told in Man Wanted isn't terribly original--or of particular interest--the film is worth seeing for several reasons. Kay Francis is excellent as a business woman who has everything but love (naturally), and David Manners is an affable and pleasant leading man. But the real stars of the film are William Dieterle's expressionistic direction and Gregg Toland's stunning cinematography. Toland's work is exemplary, with shot after shot displaying depth and intelligent composition. And who knows if Dieterle or Toland was ultimately responsible for a fabulous shot of Francis looking through a lace curtain? This is a wonderful looking film only partly let down by a somewhat pedestrian screenplay.