I’ve heard of the Jane Arden comics, but I’ve never read them. Still, they were once popular enough for a 1939 crime movie to be made. I tried to look up what characters were from the comic, however, there’s very little about the content of the Jane Arden comic books to be found easily other than the fact that they came with paper dolls.
The film has Jane (Rosella Towne) investigating the murder of a beautiful young woman whose shooting was blamed on a random hood. Jane tells her editor, Ed, that she wants to write the real story by tracking down the real killers. Ed publicly fires her only to turn around and send her undercover with jewel smugglers they suspect really committed the crime. Jane and her ditzy friend end up on board a ship to Bermuda as jewelry mules along with the criminal mastermind and his jealous girlfriend. And Jane is pretty much having the time of her life as a fake moll.
You don’t see much of Jane’s writing in the movie other than sensational headlines in all caps. However, what made me want to watch the film is because the character of Jane Arden is what inspired many women to become journalists and writers. Her creators purposely made her strong, smart, and single so her career could be completely her own. She’s also the inspiration for Lois Lane (which is why some of you will be arguing online that she sounds like a Lois Lane rip-off).
