One of the classic romantic comedies of the 1940s, The Talk of the Town utilizes a timely discussion of competing political ideologies as its central plot complication. The story revolves around the plight of a small-town New England free thinker, Leopold Dilg (Grant), who has been framed on arson charges by a local factory owner and wrongly sentenced to death. On a dark and stormy night, Dilg escapes his jailers and finds refuge in a cottage owned by his old high-school classmate Nora (Jean Arthur). The house, however, has been leased by an eminent law professor (a bearded Colman, dubbed by the New York Times film critic as "100 per cent Harvard Law") whose arrival precipitates a hasty retreat to the attic by the fugitive. From these elements, Stevens creates a sophisticated narrative that brilliantly interweaves a romantic triangle with threads of a detective story, courtroom drama, and Keystone Kops antics.