This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

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.

Edward G. Robinson stars in "The Whole Town's Talking" along with Jean Arthur, Wallace Ford, and Donald Meek.Edward G. Robinson was such a wonderful actor, a little guy with a towering talent. Here he has a dual role - that of an escaped criminal, Mad Dog Mannion and that of Arthur Jones, clerical worker, a shy man with a crush on a coworker (Arthur). When Mannion escapes from prison, his face is on the front page, and he looks so much like Jones that someone who sees him in a restaurant turns him into the police. When fingerprint ID verifies that he is not Mannion, he's given a letter by the police chief stating that he's not Mannion and should be left alone and even gets a job writing for the local newspaper about his experiences being mistaken for Mannion.Unfortunately for poor Arthur, Mannion shows up and wants to use the pass, which he does, raising complete havoc. He also starts giving Arthur info for the news stories - and the police wonder how it is Arthur knows so much.One of the funniest parts of the film for me was the newspaper description of Mannion - a cruel mouth, a Neandrathal face, etc., and poor Jones looking at himself in the restaurant mirror trying to look evil.Robinson is fabulous - so sweet, so gentle, such a hard worker as Arthur and a ruthless killer as Mannion. Jean Arthur, as the outspoken Miss Clark is great - when she's questioned by the police, they assume she's Mannion's accomplice, so they keep asking her questions - who did this, who robbed that, and she keeps saying, using a tough, gun moll voice, "MANNION!" Then they find out it's not Mannion they caught after all.I thought the movie went on just a tad too long, but otherwise, it was quite good, with fun performances, well directed by a man known for his westerns and bigger films, John Ford.

Three major male figures emerged as stars from the Warner Brothers factory of the 1930s -- Bogart, Cagney, and Robinson. Of the three, Edgar G. Robinson is probably the most underrated. He was adept at tough roles ("Little Caesar," "Key Largo"), mousy characters ("Scarlet Street," "The Woman In The Window") and thoughtful men of principle ("The Stranger").Here he plays both ends of the spectrum of virtue. He's Arthur Ferguson Jones, a frightened and self-effacing clerk at a jewelry firm. He's also the scowling, murdering gangster on the lame named Manion, a more subtle version of Caesar Enrico Bandello.Since the two look almost identical, when Manion breaks out of the slams, the police are on the lookout for him and arrest Jones instead. It takes a long time to iron out the mistake, which reduces the terrified Jones to a neural shambles. "I tell you, my name isn't Jones, it's Manion. I mean, it isn't Janion, it's Mones!" The police finally give him a "free pass" identifying him as Jones and asking he not be molested by the authorities. But then Manion shows up, threatens to kill Jones, and confiscates the free pass every night to continue his scurrilous activities. After that, it really gets complicated.Excellent support is provided by the professional cast, including Jean Arthur in the role of the sassy blond who eventually realizes she, who has been scoffing at Jones' tentative advances, is really his princesse lointaine and he is the guy she truly admires and cares for.It's a little long. And it seems every possible permutation of the mixed identity plot has been explored. The idea itself is hardly fresh. It was the subject of Shakespeare's first play and goes back to the Masques of Ancient Greece.But Robinson is so good in both roles that it's an enjoyable and often funny story. You wouldn't know it was directed by John Ford if you hadn't already known it. (There is only one comic drunk scene.) Robinson enjoyed working with Ford and, in his memoirs, he writes that his friendly working relationship continued with "Cheyenne Autumn."

I don't think there's anyone who's ever seen The Whole Town's Talking and doesn't believe this was a film intended for Frank Capra. The mere fact that the screenplay was co-written by Robert Riskin who won an Oscar together with Capra for It Happened One Night the year before should give ample indication. If Capra had a choice between this and Broadway Bill he chose wrong.Although this kind of comedy is not usually what is found in John Ford films, Ford does OK by it. I don't think he ever directed again anything that could be remotely classified as screwball comedy.Edward G. Robinson who would make his second and last appearance in a Ford film 34 years later in Cheyenne Autumn, plays a dual role. He plays Killer Mannion in the tradition he established as Little Caesar and also A.L. Jones a meek, mild mannered clerk a type Robinson would play later in Mr. Winkle Goes to War. Mannion's escaped from prison and there's a manhunt on for him, similar to the kind that was on for John Dillinger a year earlier. The police will simply shoot to kill. Bad luck for a guy that looks like Mannion and worse luck when Mannion finds out about his doppleganger and tries to make use of him.Robinson is fine in his dual performance, but the film was a milestone for Jean Arthur who plays Robinson's fellow employee and despite his being a milquetoast, she sees something in him. Up to this point Arthur had played a lot of ingénues and loyal wives to leading men. This is her first role in a screwball type comedy that she became known for, in fact what she's remembered for mostly. Of course a year later, Harry Cohn did team her with Frank Capra and they certainly made some cinematic history.My favorite two supporting parts are Etienne Girardot as Robinson's officious little office manager and Donald Meek another milquetoast who originally mistakenly turns in the clerk as the gangster and stays on the 'case.'Though he's not in his element John Ford serves a nice piece of entertainment.