The Whole Town's Talking

The Whole Town's Talking (released in the UK as Passport to Fame) is a 1935 American comedy film starring Edward G. Robinson as a law-abiding man who bears a striking resemblance to a killer, with Jean Arthur as his love interest. It was directed by John Ford from a screenplay by Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin based on a story by W.R. Burnett originally published in Collier's in August 1932. Burnett was also the author of the source material for Robinson's screen break-through, Little Caesar. The film The Whole Town's Talking (1926) has no story connection to this film. Plot Meek and mild Arthur Ferguson Jones and brash Wilhelmina Clark work at the same advertising firm. He harbors a secret crush on her while she barely knows he exists. Jones turns out to look exactly like the notorious bank robber "Killer" Mannion and is apprehended by the police. After his true identity is confirmed, the district attorney gives Jones a "passport," a letter identifying him as not Mannion, so that he can avoid the same trouble in the future. Jones becomes a local celebrity and, at the behest of his boss, begins ghost-writing Mannion's "autobiography" in the newspaper, with good-natured but street-wise "Miss Clark" (as he refers to her) voluntarily acting as his agent to see that he gets paid. Mannion decides to take advantage of his mild-mannered doppelgänger and, ultimately, leave Jones "holding the bag" for Mannion's crimes. He kidnaps Wilhelmina, Jones' visiting aunt, and his manager from work, and takes them back to his hideout. He instructs Jones to make a large deposit for Mannion's mother's benefit at the First National Bank, and then has a henchman phone the police and tell them that he (Mannion) is about to rob the bank. But Mannion's plan fails when Jones forgets to bring the check and unwittingly leads the police back to Mannion's hideout.