The Mad Miss Manton

The Mad Miss Manton is a 1938 American screwball comedy and mystery film directed by Leigh Jason and starring Barbara Stanwyck as funloving socialite Melsa Manton and Henry Fonda as newspaper editor Peter Ames. Melsa and her debutante friends hunt for a murderer while eating bonbons, flirting with Ames, and otherwise behaving like silly young women. Ames is also after the murderer, as well as Melsas hand in marriage.

At 300 am, Melsa Barbara Stanwyck takes her little dogs for a walk. Near a subway construction site, she sees Ronnie Belden run out of a house and drive away. The house is for sale by Sheila Lane Leona Maricle, the wife of George Lane, a wealthy banker. Inside, Melsa finds a diamond brooch and Mr. Lanes dead body. As she runs for help, her cloak falls off with the brooch inside it. When the police arrive, the body, cloak, and brooch are gone. Melsa and her friends are notorious pranksters, so the detective, Lieutenant Mike Brent Levene, does nothing to investigate the murder. Ames writes an editorial decrying Melsas prank, and she sues him for libel.Melsa and her friends decide they must find the murderer in order to defend their reputation. The resulting manhunt includes searches of the Lane house, Beldens apartment, Lanes business office, and all of the local beauty shops two attempts to intimidate Melsa two shooting attempts on her life a charity ball and a trap set for the murderer using Melsa as bait. During this time, the women twice attack Ames and tie him up, Melsas friend Myra enthusiastically flirts with Ames, and their friend Pat eats incessantly. In the course of these events, the following facts emerge ........

Source: Wikipedia