Woman Chases Man (1937)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent film with a gripping story!

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

With a den of wolves outside his office door, the aging Charles Winninger remains locked inside, that is until a pretty young architect (Miriam Hopkins) innocently gets rid of all the debt collectors who have been waiting for him to make an appearance. She has a letter of introduction (from herself) but unfortunately, as much as he'd like to, he can't hire her. His son (Joel McCrea) who is off on a cruise with his gold-digging fiancée (Leona Maricle) and the man claiming to be her uncle (Eric Rhodes) whom she really loves. When they get back, McCrea finds Hopkins as the absent Winninger's secretary and Broderick Crawford as a bumbling butler and feisty Ella Logan the cook/maid. He has no idea that Winninger is hiding out, hoping that Hopkins will get McCrea to sign a check so he can go ahead with a real estate project he promises Hopkins can design if she carries out her part of the deal.Oh, did I forget to mention that McCrea's practically a tea-totaler, having only one glass of champagne since more than one drink makes him a free-for-all with his checkbook? Revealing this innocently to both Maricle and Hopkins, this sets a scheme up for the two of them to get their hands on his John Hancock. Mixing both champagne and brandy sets McCrea up for a fall, and before long, he's lounging in a tree with Hopkins as the new servants and the gold diggers try to get to McCrea first. Sort of a reverse in screwball comedy since the heroine is usually the heiress, this shows Hopkins at her screwball best and is just another indication how much she resembled fellow former drama queen Constance Bennett who the same year as this was committing ghostly laughs in "Topper".Once again, McCrea shows his versatility, going from studious and serious to a delightfully seemingly sober drunk who still sees two fingers as three and is willing to buy everybody the world. Winninger is a delightful old codger whom you want to see get everything he desires from his son even if his inventions are wackier than Dick Van Dyke's in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". (Wait until you see the machine that helps you sign five checks at a time!) As for Maricle and Rhodes, the only love they seem to really have is the love of the green. Logan and Broderick are delightfully bumbling as the servants, and it is a great rare opportunity to see Logan who would go on to Broadway history as the originator of the Broadway standard "How are Things in Glocca Mora?" in "Finian's Rainbow".Although rather mild entertainment in the screwball comedy genre, "Woman Chases Man" speeds by at a frantic pace at just over 70 minutes. Even if her character does seem at times to be interested purely in McCrea's money, it is her you want to get it, not the obvious Maricle. When it comes to these classic comedy blonde heroines, all their methods of wacky schemes are worth it, even if nothing is sacred!

I have mixed feelings about this film, and perhaps that can be explained mostly by somewhat of an aversion I have against Miriam Hopkins. Mostly I dislike her performances, although every once in a while she seems to be just right for a part. For example, "These Three", "The Children's' Hour", and some of her films with Bette Davis are the exceptions, when I enjoy her performances. In "Woman Chases Man", I think she did a decent job of playing a scheming woman who is out to bilk a man (Joel McCrea), but also protecting him (out of a growing love) from another woman is attempting to bilk him.Probably because of his preference later in his career to concentrate on Westerns, Joel McCrae is a much underrated actor, and demonstrated here...though this is hardly his best role (watch instead, for example, "Foreign Correspondent").Charles Winninger as the McCrae's father is quite good here, and it's a hoot seeing Broderick Crawford playing a slightly crooked butler.The story -- a former millionaire and his wealthy son have differences about how to spend the family fortune -- is funny, and occasionally a tad silly...but I guess that's what screwball comedies are supposed to be. Some of the dialog is pretty clever, other times it devolves into being foolish, but overall it's a pretty good story.Recommended for a watch, but it probably won't end up on your DVD shelf.

Not sure why the previous reviewers here didn't like this charming Joel McCrae / Miriam Hopikins comedy. The dialog was tight, witty and clever. I usually don't like slapstick comedies, but the 'slapstick' parts in this were just the right amount to make it work perfectly. Miriam Hopkins was excellent in this - very Carole Lombard-like - with rapid-fire wit, yes, a little over-the-top, but it worked! Joel McCrae was superb and the chemistry between the two really worked. The story may not have been the most original, even for 1937, but it held my attention from start to finish. Very satisfying and highly recommended. Definitely worth seeing, especially if you're fans of either star.

Miriam Hopkins is Virginia Travis, the starving, ambitious, headstrong architect trying to get an assignment from broke millionaire BJ Nolan (Charles Winninger). Joel McCrea is Nolan's sensible, conservative son, who must be convinced to help Virginia on a scheme. Note Erik Rhodes as "Henri Saffron".. .he does the same, silly foreign accent that he did as the interloper in all those Fred Astaire films. There are some clever lines in the script, but a lot of it is just over- the- top sight gags and three stooges-type pratfall humor. Much of the time, it feels like the timing is off, or something. Some bad editing in several places, where scenes are held out too long, right before or after a film cut. This was one of the last films directed by John Blystone - he died the next year. According to IMDb, there were numerous writers working on this (fixing it?), including Dorothy Parker and Ben Hecht. It's watchable, but can't give it very high marks.