Go Chase Yourself (1938)

Undescribable Perfection

Purely Joyful Movie!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Warner Archive had high hopes when they released "The Lucille Ball RKO Comedy Collection" on print-on-demand DVD in 2011, but I'm told that sales so far have been "very disappointing" considering Lucille's super-popularity. Although filmed on a generous but firmly "B" budget, "Go Chase Yourself" comes to a really slam-bang climax which certainly made me delightfully dizzy. The rest of the movie wasn't bad either. Admittedly, Joe Penner does takes at least a reel or so to start putting his comedy across effectively and Miss Ball is forced to play in his shadow until she suddenly asserts herself about halfway through; but once Ball and director Eddie Cline finally get into stride about the halfway mark, and the fur really starts flying, the movie becomes very entertaining indeed - though I'm tempted to add despite the presence of Mr. Penner! Admittedly his timing improves. But does this happen because he actually does lift his game but simply because we get used to his lack-luster personality?

Well, if the picture isn't generally considered a runaway success, then at least Lucy has an early chance to runaway with the picture.After proving her comic talents with her supporting role in "Stage Door" (1937), RKO-Radio Pictures expands the billing power for Lucille Ball, casting her in seven pictures in 1938, and "Go Chase Yourself" not only becomes Lucy's first release of the year, but also one of her earliest starring vehicles.Lucy's leading man, Joe Penner, has by now become a major star on Radio with his zany duck act, and Depression-Era audiences would embrace his film appeal, as well, so expect more than one reference to radio in this film.Jack Carson, who plays one of Lucy's "Stage Door" lumberjacks in one of his earliest film appearances, returns here in the supporting role of a Rambling Radio Reporter, to add a clueless smile to enliven a series of uncanny festivities.Now, the term "Go Chase Yourself" coincides with other popular idioms of the day, such as "Scram," "Get lost," "Go fly a kite," "Go jump in the lake," and dismissals along these lines, while the plot of "Go Chase Yourself," may have audiences uttering similar interchangeable phrases, which, of course, adds to the charm of these nonsensical Talkie gems.In its story, fumbling bank teller Wilbur P. Meeley (Joe Penner) wins a silver trailer in a radio contest, while his responsible and resourceful wife Carol Meeley (Lucille Ball) sees no real purpose to his keeping it especially without an automobile to tow the trailer. After an argument, Wilbur's last option is to sleep in the trailer parked before his residence along curbside.Frank (Bradley Page), Nails (Richard Lane) and Icebox (Tom Kennedy), meanwhile, team to burglarize the bank of Wilbur's employ and frame the witless teller in the process. They decide to elude police by hooking their getaway car to the isolated silver trailer in which Wilbur sleeps, in order to disguise themselves as tourists.Well, Mr. Hamilton Halliday (Granville Bates) attempts to enlist Carol's assistance to track down Wilbur and the loot, but she knows as little about what transpires as does her husband's employer. So, she obtains her clues from radio reports and acts accordingly.Heiress Judy Daniels (June Travis), meanwhile, decides to elope with her suitor, Count Pierre Fountaine de Louis-Louis (Fritz Feld), to whom Judy's father, Mr. B.H. Daniels (George Irving) objects to her marrying. When the faux Count's automobile breaks down in the camping park at which Wilbur and the burglars hide out, Judy and Pierre get mixed up with the crew.And when Rambling Reporter Warren Miles (Jack Carson) interviews campers at the mountain park, Carol finds herself with another ally in Mr. B.H. Daniels.So, by the time in which Carol is able to track down Wilbur and the heiress and her suitor in the trailer, the thugs are searching for their missing loot, which Wilbur has somehow unknowingly misplaced.But will Carol, Wilbur, Judy and Pierre be able to stop the silver trailer once it becomes unhitched from the getaway car and rolls out of control down the mountain road with passengers inside?

Silly but amusing comedy built around radio comic Joe Penner as a stupid bank clerk who becomes involved in a bank robbery when he wins a trailer in a lottery. Some good gags - I like the one where Joe pulls up to a gas station with the trailer and no car - and able support from people like Lucille Ball as Joe's wife, and Friz Feld as a fortune hunting Casanova, make this a breezy way to spend 70 or so minutes. Pity other more "important" pictures weren't as enjoyable.

While this may not be the greatest movie ever, it is a lot of fun to watch. Joe Penner is hilarious, and Lucille Ball is also great. It's too bad Mr. Penner had to die so young, he was a bit of a comic genius. If you like good clean family fun, then this is a movie not to be missed.