HOLD THAT WOMAN (1940) James Dunn, Frances Gifford & George Douglas | Comedy, Crime, Romance | B&W

Hold That Woman! is a 1940 American crime comedy film directed by Sam Newfield and starring the husband-and-wife team of James Dunn and Frances Gifford. The film follows the adventures of a skiptracer and his girlfriend as they attempt to repossess a radio that has not been paid for. Unbeknownst to them, a bag of stolen jewels has been concealed inside the radio by a gang of criminals.

SYNOPSIS
"Hold That Woman" is a 1940 comedy-drama film directed by Sam Newfield. The film follows Bill Reardon, a bumbling and good-hearted skip-tracer, who is tasked with recovering a radio from a delinquent customer. Complications arise when Bill discovers that the radio has been used to hide stolen money from a recent bank robbery. As he tries to recover the radio, he becomes entangled with a gang of criminals, a suspicious police detective, and his girlfriend, who disapproves of his dangerous job. Amidst the chaos, Bill must navigate these challenges while attempting to solve the mystery of the stolen money and prove his worth.

CAST
James Dunn as Bill Reardon
Frances Gifford as Nancy
George Douglas as Joe
Rita La Roy as Ruby
Eddie Foy Jr. as Tom
Robert Middlemass as Detective O'Neil
Ernie Adams as Maxie
William Gould as Mr. Dugan

Director: Sam Newfield
Screenplay: Martin Mooney
Story: Arthur Hoerl
Producer: Sigmund Neufeld
Cinematography: Jack Greenhalgh
Editor: Robert Jahns
Music: David Chudnow
Production Company: Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC)
Distributor: Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC)
Release Date: July 15, 1940
Country of Origin: United States
Running Time: 67 minutes

NOTES
"Hold That Woman!" was the second of two films made by the husband-and-wife team of James Dunn and Frances Gifford, who had married in December 1937. They had earlier starred together in "Mercy Plane" (1939).

The Daily News of New York wrote: "The presentation of 'Hold That Woman!' is better than the production. That the picture has been put together with as little expense as possible is evident, but it is invested with humor and clever situations. And the acting is all right."

Dunn's performance earned complimentary reviews. Miller (2015) called the film a "flippant comedy" that was "no great shakes, but it offered Dunn more opportunity to display his impudent charm than did his preceding effort." A brief mention in The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, observed: "Dunn with his old-time fire keeps the proceedings rolling merrily along, and as this, too, is out-and-out melodrama, Mr. Dunn is kept quite active." A 1940 review stated: "James Dunn plays the skip tracer in professional style but is seldom able to transcend the material. Frances Gifford, as his fiancée, is attractive and makes the most of her role."