Manhandled (1949)

The secretary to a phony psychiatrist finds herself caught up in the murder of a patient's wife and realizes that her life is also in danger.

Director:

Lewis R. Foster

Writers:

Lewis R. Foster (screenplay), Whitman Chambers (screenplay),

Stars:

Dorothy Lamour, Sterling Hayden, Dan Duryea

Cast

Cast overview:
Dorothy Lamour	...	Merl Kramer
Sterling Hayden	...	Joe Cooper
Dan Duryea	...	Karl Benson
Irene Hervey	...	Ruth / Mrs. Alton Bennet
Phillip Reed	...	Guy Bayard
Harold Vermilyea	...	Dr. Redman
Alan Napier	...	Alton Bennet
Art Smith	...	Detective Lt. Bill Dawson
Irving Bacon	...	Sgt. Fayle

Storyline

Merle Kramer works as a stenographer for a psychiatrist. She is casually dating Karl Benson, a private eye and former cop. Merle mentions in passing that one of her boss's patients is an author with recurring dreams of murdering his wife, and she includes the fact that the wife owns valuable jewels. When the wife is found murdered in a manner identical to that of her husband's dream, the husband is naturally the prime suspect. But as the investigation of the police and insurance investigator Joe Cooper proceeds, it turns out that several people in the case, including Merle, are not what they seem.

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Plot Keywords:

dream | secretary | police | murder | insurance investigator | 

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Taglines:

The story of a smiling "Lady Killer" who knew how to "handle" women!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 May 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Man Who Stole a Dream

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pine-Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Star Dorothy Lamour, in her autobiography, described working with George Reeves in the role of the insurance investigator, despite the fact that this role was played by Sterling Hayden.

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Goofs

A cop coming out of the room where suspect Merle Kramer is being questioned says "this looks like an all night affair. I think I'll call the misses and have her put the dinner in the oven". I would seem the fridge would be a more likely place.

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Quotes

Det. Dawson: I've never known a congenital wise-guy yet that didn't outsmart himself.

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Connections

Referenced in Remington Steele: Cast in Steele (1984)

User Reviews

The Suspects Are A Plenty

One thing about Manhandled there are no shortage of suspects for the murder of Irene Hervey. About three quarters of the way through the murderer is revealed. It's what happens after that which gives Manhandled a rather unusual twist.

What's really odd about the film is that other than being a leading man and someone for Dorothy Lamour to take an interest in, Sterling Hayden has very little to do with the solving of the case. Hayden plays an insurance investigator whose company sends him in to help the police solve the case and recover the stolen jewels. But usually in these films it's the private investigators who show up the slow witted cops. That's not what happens here, lead detective Art Smith is very much on the job, more so than the audience is lead to believe all through the film.

I'm thinking that Paramount and Sterling Hayden were about to come to an unfriendly parting and Paramount did not want to exhibit Hayden in any kind of good light. He did two films before his war service and this was the third of three afterwards. Still Hayden did do well with what little to do he was given.

Manhandled is made by the host of character actors in the film playing some interesting parts. There's Alan Napier, Hervery's husband who has been having recurring dreams about killing his wife. There's Harold Vermilyea the psychiatrist Napier was seeing about said dreams and who Dorothy Lamour works for. There's Dan Duryea who is a private detective who's been seeing Lamour. Finally there's Philip Reed who Hervey's been seeing on the side.

So when Hervey is murdered the suspects are a plenty. I will say this that the actual culprit is someone who thinks fast on their feet. But it turns out the cops have not been as dumb as the culprit suspects.

Paramount as a studio did not do much in the way of noir. But when they did do it, the results were pretty good like Manhandled.