Man Wanted (1932)

Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent but underrated film

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Provocative little Warners B that seems to enjoy playing with sexual mores, and presenting an unusually strong leading-lady character. That's Kay Francis, stalking around in high fashion and playing a driven magazine-editor lady, much like Liza Elliott in "Lady in the Dark." She hires a lowly but ambitious (and Harvard grad) David Manners as secretary, cueing the male-secretary jokes, and he's too much of a gentleman to admit to her or himself that he's falling in love with her. Which is a disaster, because, with plot knots that could never survive the Production Code, she's married to rich-but-worthless Kenneth Thomson, and he's engaged to demanding-and-annoying Una Merkel. The script merrily untangles the knots by making little to no judgment on Thomson's philandering, and suggesting that out-of-wedlock relations are just fine, as long as they result in divorce and marriage to the right partner. Manners is, as always, gentlemanly and photogenic (and Gregg Toland's photography makes the most of both the leading players), and the story has a nice feminist bent to it--it never castigates Francis for wandering far afield of expected feminine subservience, though it does eventually suggest that she and Manners will exist as equals, not dominating-woman-passive-man. It's pleasant, swift-moving pre-Code, capably directed by William Dieterle and very nice to look at.

"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.

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!

Fast-paced and well directed, Man Wanted is a compact entertainment that provides a window to early 1930s attitudes on several subjects but doesn't sermonize on any of them. Kay Francis and David Manners are sufficiently colorless to be easily molded by director Dieterle, who adds interesting pictorial touches throughout. Also of great interest is Gregg Toland's remarkable cinematography. The fact that the film is somewhat hard to categorize - is it a melodrama with comic touches or a satire with occasional pathos? - indicates the cleverness of Dieterle and writers Robert Lord and Charles Kenyon. The filmmakers are anything but heavy-handed in their commentary on gender roles, leaving the audience to reach its own conclusions about thorny workplace issues that persist in the 21st century. Adding to the general delight of the film are Andy Devine and Una Merkel in unexpected roles, with Elizabeth Patterson and Edward Van Sloan also glimpsed in very different parts than those for which they are most well known. This gem, seen occasionally on TCM, is well worth your time.