Passport to Fame (1935)
"The Whole Town's Talking" (original title)

A meek milquetoast of a clerk is mistaken for Public Enemy #1, and the notorious killer takes advantage of the situation.

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Jo Swerling (screen play), Robert Riskin (screen play),

Stars:

Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Arthur Hohl

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Edward G. Robinson	...	Arthur Ferguson Jones
Jean Arthur	...	Miss Clark
Arthur Hohl	...	Detective Sergeant Boyle
James Donlan	...	Detective Sergeant Howe
Arthur Byron	...	Spencer
Wallace Ford	...	Healy
Donald Meek	...	Hoyt
Etienne Girardot	...	Seaver
Edward Brophy	...	'Slugs' Martin
Paul Harvey	...	'J.G.' Carpenter

Storyline

Ordinary man-in-the-street Arthur Ferguson Jones leads a very straightforward life. He's never late for work and nothing interesting ever happens to him. One day everything changes: he oversleeps and is fired as an example, he's then mistaken for evil criminal killer Mannion and is arrested. The resemblance is so striking that the police give him a special pass to avoid a similar mistake. The real Mannion sees the opportunity to steal the pass and move around freely and chaos results.

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Plot Keywords:

milquetoast | police | public enemy | criminal | newspaper headline | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Toute la ville en parle

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mary Gordon is listed as a cast member in Studio records for this movie, "The Whole Town's Talking (1935)," but she was not seen in the print shown on TCM.

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Goofs

When Jonesy leaves his apartment in a rush he forgets to turn off the taps and his tub is (torrentially) overflowing. But when he returns from the police much later in the day there is no water anywhere.

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Quotes

Miss Clark: [to her co-workers] So long, slaves!

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Connections

Featured in The Lady with the Torch (1999)

User Reviews

Excellent!

This was a terrific movie. Edward G. Robinson was incredibly convincing as Jones and Mannion. Jean Arthur was excellent as Wilhemina Clark. Incredible cast, great suspense, seamless special effects, an all-around classic movie!