Often overlooked is another entry from 1936, Wanted! Jane Turner, a modest RKO Radio Pictures production originally produced under the title General Delivery and also announced before its release as Federal Offense. Lee Tracy, the troublemaking, redheaded star of films like Dinner at Eight and Bombshell (both 1933), stars as Tom Mallory, who teams up with fellow postal inspector Doris Martin (Gloria Stuart) to track down some mail robbers sending illicit cash across the country. The Jane Turner of the title is the recipient of a pivotal money-stuffed delivery, which leads our heroes on a chase through the various shady mail-related side business of the United States.
Laced with more humor than usual for a genre title, the film was Lee Tracy's second 1936 release following the western Sutter's Gold. The actor was in a career slump at the time due to fallout from his misbehavior in Mexico during the production of Viva Villa! (1934), after which major studios ceased casting him in leading roles. He continued to find steady work, however, and would continue acting well into the 1960s when he transitioned to television.
Though the enforced romance between the leads appears to be a tacked-on imposition to please audiences, Tracy's female lead is significant in her own right. Gloria Stuart had made a name appearing in numerous Universal productions, most notably the horror classics The Old Dark House (1932) and The Invisible Man (1933), and the year of this film's release saw her appearing in no less than five other movies including Poor Little Rich Girl, 36 Hours to Kill, and The Girl on the Front Page. A Santa Monica native, she left screen acting in the mid-1940s for other pursuits including stage appearances, a furniture shop, and oil painting. Following her husband's death, she returned to acting in the mid-1970s. However, her main claim to pop culture immortality came when director James Cameron listened to her audio commentary for The Old Dark House and decided she would be perfect to play the elderly Rose in Titanic (1997), a role that earned her an Oscar nomination. She passed away in 2010 at the age of 100, leaving a vast legacy behind.
When it opened in the final weeks on 1936, Wanted! Jane Turner (whose title sometimes substitutes a colon for the exclamation point) was more warmly received by critics than usual. Variety found it was "nicely mounted and contains some excellent dialog, which is directly responsible for heavy chuckles," while The Hollywood Reporter deemed it "above most of the stuff turned out for the dual program trade." Since then it has become a television mainstay, offering an exciting, witty, and even glamorous take on a profession far more dangerous than most people ever imagined.
By Nathaniel Thompson
