My Scrapbook
Original Pressbook for Manhandled
(1949, Paramount Pictures)
If you’re not familiar with the 1949 film noir Manhandled, it’s about time you checked it out. The 1949 film noir is no lost classic, despite a decent cast (Dorothy Lamour, Sterling Hayden, etc.), but Dan Duryea, as private detective Karl Benson, is an absolute joy to watch, as a conniving ex-cop with anger issues and a problem with keeping his hands to himself, a squirrely scumbag reduced to doing repo jobs, divorce frame-ups and assorted other sordid sidelines, who launches upon a scheme to steal some jewels, following a tip he got from his girlfriend (Lamour), a secretary in a psychiatrist’s office.
Anyway, above is a shot of the cover of the 20-page pressbook, some studio fluffery that Paramount handed out to journalists to promote the film, full of the sort of drooling praise you’d expect, presented in the style of a tabloid newspaper, measuring 12.25 x 15 inches.Â
