Bruce Manning

Writing

Bruce Manning

Born — Died

1902-07-15 — 1965-08-03

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Writing

Credits

36 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bruce Manning (July 15, 1902 – August 3, 1965) was a Cuddebackville, New York-born Hollywood filmmaker/screenwriter who entered the movie business following the publication of several novels that he co-wrote with wife, Gwen Bristow. Their first joint novel, The Invisible Host (1930), was adapted to the screen in 1934 as The Ninth Guest. He wrote the screenplay for Bristow's novel Jubilee Trail in 1954. In addition to his numerous scripts, beginning in the 1940s he served as a producer for several films, and in 1943 he directed his first and only feature, The Amazing Mrs. Holliday. His career ended in 1957, eight years before his death.

Known for

We Have Our Moments poster
7.1

A trio of American crooks board a ship bound for Europe, intending to get rid of $100,000 in stolen dough. With detective John Wade breathing down their necks, the crooks stash the loot in the trunk belonging to vacationing schoolmarm Mary Smith.

We Have Our Moments

1937

Hoodlum Empire poster
6.5

It's a deadly play for power when a Mafia chieftain's top gun goes straight and threatens to testify against the big boss and his cruel, nationwide network of crime. The picture, which was shot in a semi-documentary style, was inspired by the Kefauver investigations of 1950-51.

Hoodlum Empire

1952

One Hundred Men and a Girl poster
6.4

The daughter of a struggling musician forms a symphony orchestra made up of his unemployed friends and through persistence, charm and a few misunderstandings, is able to get Leopold Stokowski to lead them in a concert that leads to a radio contract.

One Hundred Men and a Girl

1937

Flame of the Islands poster
4.7

An administrative assistant who may or may not have been the mistress of her firm’s deceased client receives a payout from the dead man’s widow and uses it to buy a stake in a Caribbean casino. In addition to being a neophyte empresario she’s a nightclub singer and several men lust after her.

Flame of the Islands

1955

The Rage of Paris poster
5.8

Nicole has no job and is several weeks behind with her rent. Her solution to her problems is to try and snare a rich husband. Enlisting the help of her friend Gloria and the maitre'd at a ritzy New York City hotel, the trio plot to have Gloria catch the eye of Bill Duncan, a millionaire staying at the hotel. The plan works and the two quickly become engaged. Nicole's plan may be thwarted by Bill's friend, Jim Trevor, who's met Nicole before and sees through her plot.

The Rage of Paris

1938

The Secret Fury poster
5.5

The wedding of Ellen and David is halted by a stranger who insists that the bride is already married to someone else. Though the flabbergasted Ellen denies the charge, the interloper produces enough evidence that his accusation must be investigated. Ellen and David travel to the small coastal town where her first wedding allegedly occurred. There, they meet a number of individuals whose stories make Ellen question her own sanity.

The Secret Fury

1950

Behind the camera

We Have Our Moments poster
7.1

A trio of American crooks board a ship bound for Europe, intending to get rid of $100,000 in stolen dough. With detective John Wade breathing down their necks, the crooks stash the loot in the trunk belonging to vacationing schoolmarm Mary Smith.

We Have Our Moments

1937

Hoodlum Empire poster
6.5

It's a deadly play for power when a Mafia chieftain's top gun goes straight and threatens to testify against the big boss and his cruel, nationwide network of crime. The picture, which was shot in a semi-documentary style, was inspired by the Kefauver investigations of 1950-51.

Hoodlum Empire

1952

One Hundred Men and a Girl poster
6.4

The daughter of a struggling musician forms a symphony orchestra made up of his unemployed friends and through persistence, charm and a few misunderstandings, is able to get Leopold Stokowski to lead them in a concert that leads to a radio contract.

One Hundred Men and a Girl

1937

Flame of the Islands poster
4.7

An administrative assistant who may or may not have been the mistress of her firm’s deceased client receives a payout from the dead man’s widow and uses it to buy a stake in a Caribbean casino. In addition to being a neophyte empresario she’s a nightclub singer and several men lust after her.

Flame of the Islands

1955

The Rage of Paris poster
5.8

Nicole has no job and is several weeks behind with her rent. Her solution to her problems is to try and snare a rich husband. Enlisting the help of her friend Gloria and the maitre'd at a ritzy New York City hotel, the trio plot to have Gloria catch the eye of Bill Duncan, a millionaire staying at the hotel. The plan works and the two quickly become engaged. Nicole's plan may be thwarted by Bill's friend, Jim Trevor, who's met Nicole before and sees through her plot.

The Rage of Paris

1938

The Secret Fury poster
5.5

The wedding of Ellen and David is halted by a stranger who insists that the bride is already married to someone else. Though the flabbergasted Ellen denies the charge, the interloper produces enough evidence that his accusation must be investigated. Ellen and David travel to the small coastal town where her first wedding allegedly occurred. There, they meet a number of individuals whose stories make Ellen question her own sanity.

The Secret Fury

1950

Guest Wife poster
6.4

Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war correspondent. But Chris's wife, Mary, is none to fond of Joe and tired of her husband's idolizing. On the eve of the Price's second-honeymoon trip to New York City, Joe arrives and tells Chris that he needs someone to pose as his wife in order to fool his boss in NYC, who thinks Joe got married to an overseas woman while on an assignment. Chris pushes Mary into posing as Joe's wife. In New York, this leads to many complications and misunderstandings, with Mary finally deciding to teach Chris and Joe a lesson by making them believe she is in love with Joe.

Guest Wife

1945

Guest Wife poster
6.4

Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war correspondent. But Chris's wife, Mary, is none to fond of Joe and tired of her husband's idolizing. On the eve of the Price's second-honeymoon trip to New York City, Joe arrives and tells Chris that he needs someone to pose as his wife in order to fool his boss in NYC, who thinks Joe got married to an overseas woman while on an assignment. Chris pushes Mary into posing as Joe's wife. In New York, this leads to many complications and misunderstandings, with Mary finally deciding to teach Chris and Joe a lesson by making them believe she is in love with Joe.

Guest Wife

1945

Jubilee Trail poster
5.2

A wild-west trader and his New York wife head out for the California by wagon train. The trader is killed enroute, and his wife finds herself with child. She continues on hoping to find a man and a home.

Jubilee Trail

1954

Appointment for Love poster
5.8

Charming Andre Cassil woos physician Jane Alexander and the two impulsively get married. The honeymoon ends very quickly when Jane voices her progressive views on marriage which include the two having separate apartments. Andre then tries to make his wife jealous in order to lure her into his bedroom.

Appointment for Love

1941

Appointment for Love poster
5.8

Charming Andre Cassil woos physician Jane Alexander and the two impulsively get married. The honeymoon ends very quickly when Jane voices her progressive views on marriage which include the two having separate apartments. Andre then tries to make his wife jealous in order to lure her into his bedroom.

Appointment for Love

1941

Three Smart Girls Grow Up poster
7.2

Three sisters who believe life is going to be easy, now that their parents are back together, until one sister falls in love with another's fiancé, and the youngest sister plays matchmaker.

Three Smart Girls Grow Up

1939

Spoilers of the Forest poster
6.0

Vera Ralston plays Joan Milna, who shares several thousand acres of valuable Montana timberland with her stepfather (John Alderson). Coveting Joan's property, lumber baron Eric Warren (Ray Collins) sends out his foreman Boyd Caldwell (Rod Cameron) to persuade her to sell. Instead, Caldwell falls in love with the girl, vowing to protect her trees from the eco-unfriendly Warren. Republic's wide-screen Naturama process is shown to good advantage throughout Spoilers of the Forest.

Spoilers of the Forest

1957

The Best Man Wins poster
6.6

A diver saves his best friend's life but loses his own arm in doing so. Later, unable to find work because of his missing arm, he is forced to go to work for a criminal searching for lost treasures. Meanwhile his friend, who has since become a policeman, finds himself assigned to break up the crook's operation and bring in his gang--including the man who saved his life.

The Best Man Wins

1935

The Lone Wolf Returns poster
6.1

Once a jewel thief always a jewel thief? Yes and no. Yes if you consider the fact that Michael Lanyard also known as the Lone Wolf once retired from the "trade" but relapses back into his old habits when he is tempted by the emerald pendant of beautiful socialite Marcia Stewart. The trouble (?) is that he falls for the belle and he soon gets more interested in getting the girl than the jewels that adorn her. What he wants now is to return the pendant but a rival gang interfere and force him to take part in a big-time caper.

The Lone Wolf Returns

1935

Payment on Demand poster
6.2

David gives his wife, Joyce, an unexpected—and unpleasant—surprise when he suddenly demands a divorce. When she then learns that David has taken up with a younger woman, Joyce decides to make the most of this separation by taking a solo trip to the Caribbean. However, just before diving into a vacation fling, she runs into Emily, an old chum whose own divorce has left her embittered. Joyce then debates giving married life one last chance.

Payment on Demand

1951

Payment on Demand poster
6.2

David gives his wife, Joyce, an unexpected—and unpleasant—surprise when he suddenly demands a divorce. When she then learns that David has taken up with a younger woman, Joyce decides to make the most of this separation by taking a solo trip to the Caribbean. However, just before diving into a vacation fling, she runs into Emily, an old chum whose own divorce has left her embittered. Joyce then debates giving married life one last chance.

Payment on Demand

1951

Back Street poster
7.3

In turn-of-the-century Cincinnati, vibrant shop girl Ray Smith falls in love with banker Walter Saxel, who is engaged to a socially prominent woman. Inadvertently prevented from running away with Walter, Ray remains single but reunites with him five years later. Despite Walter being married and having a son, Ray becomes his mistress, and over the years suffers social ostracism and long stretches of solitude while waiting for their brief interludes together.

Back Street

1941

First Love poster
7.6

In this reworking of Cinderella, orphaned Connie Harding is sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. She's hardly received with open arms, especially by her snobby cousin Barbara. When the entire family is invited to a major social ball, Barbara sees to it that Connie is forced to stay home. With the aid of her uncle, who acts as her fairy godfather, Connie makes it to the ball and meets her Prince Charming in Ted Drake, her cousin's boyfriend.

First Love

1939

This Love of Ours poster
6.0

At a convention, medical researcher Michel Touzac goes with colleagues to see stage caricaturist Targel, whose assistant Florence recognizes him...and attempts suicide. Saved by Touzac's new technique, Florence is revealed in a flashback as Michel's abandoned wife Karin, whom their daughter Susette thinks is dead. Can Susette cope if they now reunite?

This Love of Ours

1945

A Girl with Ideas poster
9.0

A rich banker's zany daughter gains control of a large newspaper.

A Girl with Ideas

1937

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday poster
6.7

A missionary tries to outwit the U.S. government and smuggle Chinese orphans into the country.

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

1943

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday poster
6.7

A missionary tries to outwit the U.S. government and smuggle Chinese orphans into the country.

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

1943

So Goes My Love poster
7.3

Country girl Jane Budden goes to the big city, determined to find and marry a wealthy man. Instead, she meets and marries Herman Maxim, a struggling inventor.

So Goes My Love

1946

Counterfeit poster
6.2

A cop goes undercover to infiltrate and break up a counterfeiting ring.

Counterfeit

1936

Spring Parade poster
6.9

In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman attends a Viennese fair and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker's assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka secretly sends one of the drummer's waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy's prediction.

Spring Parade

1940

That Midnight Kiss poster
6.2

Opera singer Prudence Budell, overhears truck driver Johnny Donnetti singing opera, and persuades her opera company to give him a chance in her new opera. They fall in love, but on meeting his colleague Mary while visiting Johnny's work, Prudence becomes convinced Johnny is in love with her.

That Midnight Kiss

1949

Grand Exit poster
6.6

A Stumped insurance company is forced to re-hire the most expensive, most big-headed, but best arson investigator to solve a string of major losses.

Grand Exit

1935

Eight Bells poster
6.5

A trustworthy captain is reduced in rank so that the owner's daughter's fiancé may take charge.

Eight Bells

1935

That Certain Age poster
5.5

Dashing reporter Vincent Bullit has just returned from covering the Spanish Civil War. His boss, newspaper magnate Fullerton, has more plans to send him off to China. However, first Fullerton invites Bullit to the peace and quiet of his own home to write a series of European affair articles. When Fullerton's adolescent daughter Alice develops a crush on Bullit, her suitor, boyscout Ken Warren, doesn't seem to stand a chance. Mr. and Mrs. Fullerton, Ken Warren, and even Vincent Bullit himself do their best to sway young Alice's feelings away from the older man. It's a difficult task though, as she is at 'that certain age.'

That Certain Age

1938

Let Them Live poster
8.0

A young man goes up against a crooked town boss.

Let Them Live

1937

Devil's Squadron poster
7.0

In this action film, a courageous test pilot works with experimental aircraft for the US Armed Forces. When an important airplane manufacturer dies, his daughter is left to run the company. The company seems to be producing dangerous prototypes, so the woman decides to close the company.

Devil's Squadron

1936

Bride for Sale poster
7.0

Nora Shelley is a tax expert for the accounting company which is led by Paul Martin. She thinks she can find a suitable husband by inspecting their clients' tax documents. Martin finds out and tries to dissuade her from this approach, later enlisting the help of his friend Steve Adams, who tries to woo Shelley.

Bride for Sale

1949

Mad About Music poster
7.0

A young woman at a girl's school in Switzerland makes up stories about and writes herself letters from an imaginary explorer-adventurer father, and is eventually put in a position where she has to produce him. Interesting things happen as she talks a visiting Englishman into helping her out.

Mad About Music

1938

Private Scandal poster
7.0

"Private Scandal" is a 1934 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by Ralph Murphy and written by Vera Caspary, Garrett Fort and Bruce Manning. The film stars ZaSu Pitts, Phillips Holmes, Mary Brian, Ned Sparks, Lew Cody, June Brewster, and Harold Waldridge. The film was released on May 11, 1934 by Paramount Pictures.

Private Scandal

1934

Service de Luxe poster
6.6

Glamorous and efficient Helen Murphy runs a service that will provide any type of assistance to wealthy customers, but what she's really looking for is a man who can take care of himself.

Service de Luxe

1938