# Manhandled
**Manhandled** is a 1924 American silent comedy-drama directed by Allan Dwan and starring [Gloria Swanson](https://www.edgepedia.org/gloria-swanson) as Tessie McGuire, a department store salesgirl who is swept into New York high society. It was produced by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, distributed by [Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures), and released on 4 August 1924 after a New York premiere at the Rivoli Theatre on 27 July.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / star | Allan Dwan; Gloria Swanson as Tessie McGuire[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED) |
| Source | Short story "Manhandled" by Arthur Stringer, *Saturday Evening Post*, 29 March 1924; scenario by Frank W. Tuttle[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED) |
| Release | New York opening 27 July 1924 (Rivoli Theatre); general release 4 August 1924[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED) |
| Format | Silent, black and white, seven reels, 6,998 feet, standard 35mm 1.33:1[2](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html) |
| Studio | Paramount's Astoria Studios, Long Island, New York; Swanson's fourth film shot there[2](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html) |
| Principal cast | Tom Moore (Jimmy Hogan), Lilyan Tashman (Pinkie Doran), Ian Keith (Robert Brandt), Frank Morgan (Arno Riccardi)[2](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html) |
| Survival | Only an abridged 16mm Kodascope reduction positive exists, held by the Library of Congress; the film is in the public domain in the USA[2](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and theme
After Jimmy, Tessie McGuire's boyfriend, neglects to show up for a date, the department store clerk goes to a party held at Robert Brandt's studio and wins everyone over with her impressions.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED) A German festival synopsis describes the next step: the uppity shopgirl, disparaged as a "Bolshevik," is recast at the party as the Russian countess Offernutski, and suddenly becomes a star to whom artists and fashion designers pay court, all because a writer has chosen her as the model for the heroine of his next novel.[5](https://www.dhm.de/zeughauskino/vorfuehrung/6497/) A trade synopsis summarized the film as the story of a shopgirl who maintains her virtue despite the machinations of upper-society men.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1068807-manhandled)
The title carried the film's moral. A contemporary account in the *New Zealand Times* explained the idea: just as merchandise sells at bargain prices from over-handling, so women pay the price of reputation for the same reason.[7](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19241004.2.136) The Museum of the City of New York notes that the film was also intended to test the first Hays Motion Picture Production Code of 1924, which prohibited "immoral" content.[4](https://www.mcny.org/event/new-york-on-film-movies-manhandled)
## Production
According to the 22 January 1924 issue of *Film Daily*, *Manhandled* was one of five consecutive collaborations between Allan Dwan and Gloria Swanson for Famous Players-Lasky.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED) Later accounts give different totals for the partnership: the *Los Angeles Times* calls it the first of six pictures Swanson would make with Dwan,[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-26-wk-screen26-story.html) and the Museum of the City of New York describes a seven-picture partnership.[4](https://www.mcny.org/event/new-york-on-film-movies-manhandled) Filming was scheduled to begin on 18 February 1924 at the Paramount studios on [Long Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/long-island).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED)
Swanson prepared for the shopgirl role by going undercover as a sales clerk at a department store in Chicago.[4](https://www.mcny.org/event/new-york-on-film-movies-manhandled) The part marked a deliberate change of image: after six sophisticated romantic dramas with [Cecil B. DeMille](https://www.edgepedia.org/cecil-b-demille) that had made her the most glamorous movie star of the silent era, she set aside the elaborate costumes to play a gum-chewing, subway-riding salesgirl in Macy's basement, even though the plot still let Paramount advertise that she would wear "more gorgeous gowns than ever."[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-26-wk-screen26-story.html)
The project marked the theatrical motion picture debut of actor Ian Keith.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED) The supporting cast included Tom Moore as Tessie's boyfriend Jimmy Hogan, Lilyan Tashman as Pinkie Doran, Arthur Housman as Chip Thorndyke, Paul McAllister as Paul Garrettson, and [Frank Morgan](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-morgan), later famous as the Wizard of Oz's title character, as Arno Riccardi; the performers Ann Pennington and Brooke Johns appeared as themselves.[2](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html) Harold Rosson photographed the film, Julian Johnson wrote the titles and edited it, and William LeBaron supervised the editing.[2](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html)
## Reception
*TIME*'s review of 4 August 1924, headed "Tess of the Tenements," praised Swanson's range across class lines, noting that few screen actresses could wear tough clothes with such dash or expensive ones with such ease, and called the story one more lesson that rags are royal raiment if worn for Virtue's sake. It judged Tom Moore an adequate leading man and found Lilyan Tashman excellent as Pinkie.[8](https://time.com/archive/6652017/cinema-the-new-pictures-aug-4-1924/) Regional press quoted in a Houston newspaper advertisement called the film unusually interesting and praised Swanson's comedy.[9](https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth607917/m1/16/) Later critics have kept the film in view: Richard Brody of *The New Yorker* described Dwan as filming workaday troubles with analytical comedic flair, contrasting earnest science with decadent art.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1068807-manhandled)
## Survival status
*Manhandled* survives only in an abridged 16mm Kodascope reduction positive held by the Library of Congress film archive; the film is in the public domain in the United States and has been issued on Blu-ray Disc and DVD.[2](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html) The 2013 Library of Congress survival study, which found that only 14 percent of American feature films from 1912 to 1929 survive in their original-release 35mm format, cites *Manhandled* among films with strong female characters that exist only in Kodascope editions.[10](https://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/pub158.pdf) Because the surviving print is abridged, modern sources list running times ranging from about 62 to 75 minutes for the original film and 63 minutes for the surviving version.[11](https://quadcinema.com/film/manhandled/) • [12](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/manhandled-1924) The film remains available for streaming free of charge.[12](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/manhandled-1924)
## References
1. [Manhandled (1924), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10621-MANHANDLED)
2. [Manhandled (1924), Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era](https://t.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/Manhandled1924.html)
3. [Kevin Thomas, "When Swanson made big changes," Los Angeles Times, 26 December 2002](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-26-wk-screen26-story.html)
4. [New York on Film: Manhandled (1924), Museum of the City of New York](https://www.mcny.org/event/new-york-on-film-movies-manhandled)
5. [Manhandled, Zeughauskino, Deutsches Historisches Museum](https://www.dhm.de/zeughauskino/vorfuehrung/6497/)
6. [Manhandled (1924), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1068807-manhandled)
7. [New Zealand Times, 4 October 1924, Papers Past](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19241004.2.136)
8. ["Cinema: The New Pictures," TIME, 4 August 1924](https://time.com/archive/6652017/cinema-the-new-pictures-aug-4-1924/)
9. [Houston Post-Dispatch, 2 August 1924, The Portal to Texas History](https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth607917/m1/16/)
10. [David Pierce, The Survival of American Silent Feature Films: 1912–1929, CLIR Publication No. 158 (2013)](https://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/pub158.pdf)
11. [Manhandled, Quad Cinema](https://quadcinema.com/film/manhandled/)
12. [Manhandled (1924), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/manhandled-1924)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Early and silent cinema › Silent feature films › Released 1914 to 1926*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license