Teresa Reviews “The Manhood of Edward Robinson” (1982)

Teresa reviews “The Manhood of Edward Robinson” (1982) and discovers Agatha Christie wrote screwball comedies before Hollywood.

Fidelity to text: 3 thieves

Greatly expanded over the slight plot, giving Edward a new best friend, Maud a character arc, and Noreen a more complex way to avoid boredom.

Quality of movie on its own: 4 thieves

The changes made for a better story but it should have sparkled more. I like sparkle in my screwball comedies which is what this really is.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.

Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movies on her podcast.

This is the last of The Agatha Christie Hour adaptations. To my surprise, the series held up very well overall, despite each episode being completely unrelated to the others in theme, characters, stories, directors, cast, or scriptwriters. That’s quite an accomplishment! It’s a reminder that Agatha wrote in many genres. Her earliest stories are as readable today as they were when she wrote them.

It’s also a reminder that there are loads of her stories waiting to be adapted as films. People get hung up on Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, but she had other detectives (Parker Pyne in particular) and other interests besides straight mysteries.

Manhood is a case in point. It’s a light, fluffy, screwball romantic comedy, exactly the sort of thing that Hollywood did so well back in the 1930s (film historians point to It Happened One Night (1934) as the first) when you had bored madcap heiresses getting themselves into ridiculous escapades, and connecting with some lucky gentleman from across the class divide. The 1930s. Yet Agatha published Manhood in 1924. Ahead of her time, she was.

Another unusual aspect of Manhood as a screwball comedy is there are two equally important female leads but they’re not the focus. It’s Edward. The ladies (Maud the fiancée and Noreen the heiress) never meet. They don’t know that they’re competing for the same man’s affections. They don’t know each other exists. By the end of the film, Edward knows them both well and has to choose between them.

It’s always interesting when main characters don’t meet and it’s rarely done. The (filmed) example that springs to mind is the Bruce Willis sci-fi epic The Fifth Element. Our hero Bruce crosses paths with the villain by an elevator and neither knows who the other is or why they’re important so they run off to their respective plot threads.

It’s hard to guess if Edward will ever admit to Maud that he met Lady Noreen, madcap heiress and part-time cat burglar. Maud might not take it well.

I see I need to backtrack. The short story does a lot of telling, not showing, but movies need action. Thus, Edward gains a friend, Herbert.

Herbert is, like Edward, a very junior stock clerk. He encourages Edward to live a little, to enter name-guessing competitions in the newspaper, to consider that even though Maud is remarkably pretty, she can also be controlling. Do women turn into their mothers? If so, Edward can look forward to Maud becoming like her mother, another added character.

Maud’s mother is not the girl any man would want to marry unless he likes being a doormat, told what to do from his first waking moment to when he’s finally asleep and oh, by the way, how whatever he’s doing was wrong or could be improved.

Maud’s heading in that direction, and she gets an actual story arc in the film, a huge improvement. There’s no real reason for Maud’s acceptance of Edward’s newfound self-confidence in the story but in the film, it’s different! She lectures him on saving and scrimping because she’s concerned about their future. She’s genuinely trying to help but she also wants to be sure they’re financially secure when they marry. But it comes across as nagging. The engagement ring is too expensive. The movie tickets (a real movie called Good Night, Vienna, sometimes titled Magic Night starring Jack Buchanan and Anna Neagle) cost too much. They can’t marry now but have to wait.

You can see why Edward might be having second thoughts, despite how well he and Maud dance together.

Then he wins the newspaper name-guessing contest and scores a quick £500. Should he be sensible like Maud and her mother would demand? Or should he blow the money on the car of his dreams? Edward buys the car, Herbert teaches him to drive it, and that means he has to put off seeing Maud.

This was a very nice touch. His unexpected absences forced Maud to reevaluate her relationship with Edward. She wondered if her well-meaning treatment of him was driving him away. She’d complained about her engagement ring and refused to marry when he wanted! Maybe he doesn’t want to marry her any more. Every scene between Maud and her mother amplified her doubts and fears.

The Christmas holidays arrive and Edward is faced with a decision. Run off and enjoy a magic night on his own with his fabulous new car? Or be a dutiful fiancé and spend it with Maud and her harridan mother?

He lies to Maud and drives away in his new car.

That’s how Edward meets madcap, bored heiress Noreen. He nearly runs her over in the dark lane leading to the trendy hotel, parks his expensive new car next to the other expensive cars, enters and discovers a new world. This world is rich and titled, with gentlemen in tuxedos and ladies in evening wear, all of whom behave raucously. They’re drunk. When Edward — sadly out of place — leaves, he discovers he drove off in the wrong car.

Complications pile on complications. He discovers in a door pocket not his muffler (probably knitted by Maud) but a diamond necklace.

The note with the necklace sends him to a rendezvous where he meets Lady Noreen. She thinks he’s Gerald’s brother, Edward. He takes a while to figure out who she is. Their magic night together culminates in a tango in a very happening, exclusive nightclub where a crowd of bright young things right out of P. G. Wodehouse try to steal the necklace back from Noreen.

While you’re watching the action, keep an eye out for a very young Rupert Everett in one of his earliest acting roles.

Edward grows in self-confidence, tangoes up a storm with Noreen, and defends her against all comers.

They dance together well enough to clear the floor while everyone else watches. This does happen. I’ve watched my sister and her husband (amateur ballroom dancers) provide the floor show at weddings. When they’re dancing, no one else dares step foot onto the dance floor and look like clodhoppers. They’re intimidating. Edward and Noreen, despite being in a crowd of aristocrats, intimidate via their dancing. It must have been a wonderful feeling for Edward who was feeling sadly out of place.

Eventually, Edward must reach a decision. Become the jewel thief that Noreen thinks he is? Take her up on her offer of becoming partners in crime? Or gracefully decline, without revealing who he really is (which would embarrass her dreadfully), and return to Maud.

With tangos, fast cars, the class divide, stolen diamond necklaces, and the realization of true love, this was a charming episode and an excellent finish to the series.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.