Woman Chases Man (1937) User Reviews (14)

Dull screwball comedy never misses a cliché...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 30 March 2007]

Only faithful fans of MIRIAM HOPKINS or JOEL McCREA could possibly want to sit through this screwball comedy full of impossible situations and banal dialog.

Fast talking Hopkins is an architect (c'mon, that's what it says) full of pep talk when she schemes her way into CHARLES WINNINGER's office to sell him on her wonderful housing designs. (How many times has Winninger played a daffy millionaire in '30s endless parade of screwball comedies???).

He admits the plans look great--but the hitch is he's no longer a millionaire having lost all his money on crazy schemes. But wait. He's got a son (JOEL McCREA), more sensible than him who's got lots of money. All it's going to take is for someone (like Miriam maybe?) to separate him from it so they can go ahead with her plans to make Hopkins and Winninger rich.

That's about it for starters. But it gets even sillier once Winninger takes her to his home (after she's fainted a couple of times because the poor thing hasn't eaten in 49 hours). And once ERIC RHODES, BRODERICK CRAWFORD and ELLA LOGAN enter the scene, it gets sillier and more improbable with each dubious remark.

Hopkins is photographed attractively and puts a lot of spirit into playing a ditsy architect, but it's obvious from the start that this is not going to go down as one of the best screwball comedies of the '30s--not by a long stretch.

Winninger seems to be doing a warm-up for his other millionaire role in HARD TO GET ('38), again involved with an architect (DICK POWELL) and the scatterbrained daughter (OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND) who wants to get revenge on Powell for his mistreatment of her. He spent a lot of time in the '30s and '40s playing daffy millionaires who ruled over nutsy, filthy rich households.

Summing up: Not worth a peek.

Woman Chases Man on blu-ray

[jucsetmai · 7/10 · 4 November 2020]

Good movie good fun and one that is diagnosed coming soon on Warner Archive Blu-ray release February 2021

Light fare

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 13 April 2021]

It's a minor screwball comedy and lacks big moments for sure, but Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea are cute, the dialogue is playful, and it zips along well enough in its 71 minutes.

An enjoyable little screwball comedy.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 20 January 2013]

"Woman Chases Man" is a very pleasant little comedy starring Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea. It begins when Virginia (Hopkins) approaches B.J. Nolan (Charles Winninger) for a job as an architect. He is VERY impressed with her designs but cannot help her--his son, Kenneth (McCrea) controls the family fortune and won't let him have much at all since he's known for throwing away money. So, Virginia comes up with a screwy idea--that B.J. should hide and they'll pretend that he's in Chicago on some big business deal and she'll entertain Kenneth when he arrives with his friends. However, things don't go well at all at first, as the friends Virginia has hired to pretend to be servants are idiots. Why did she hire them? Because B.J. has squandered the money Kenneth allotted him. It sounds very complicated--but turns out to be a decent little romantic screwball comedy. While I am not a huge fan of Hopkins, in this sort of film she seemed to be in her element. Cute and worth seeing. My only two complaints are small: sometimes the actors talk too fast and I HATE the fainting woman cliché--and this film uses it several times.

Wanted to like it... didn't.

[VLeung · 30 January 2001]

I'm not sure why this film doesn't work. It has everything I love about screwball comedies in it, and the wonderful Joel McCrea is gorgeous.

Where does it go wrong? I'm not quite as knocked out by Preston Sturges as the rest of the world because I think he's too prone to pointlessly noisy madcap chase scenes, and more often that not his endings suck a lot, but Preston Sturges' screwballs really work (apart from the chases and the endings) and this film doesn't. The difference, then, must be script. Sturges' scripts are superb, glittering things, that you just want to eat with a spoon, and Woman Chases Man is a fairly charming film with a lifeless script.

Pop used to pay, now he avoids creditors.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 3 December 2014]

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!

Decent screwball comedy

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 19 October 2012]

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.

charming Joel McCrae/Miriam Hopkins comedy - fast-paced and witty

[pforpeace · 8/10 · 6 May 2012]

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.

Everyone is Out of Their Tree

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 25 August 2007]

Woman (Miriam Hopkins as Virginia) chases Man (Joel McCrea as Kenneth) for father (Charles Winninger as B.J.). Woman wants to get Man to invest some of deceased mother's money in father's business venture; but, father is notorious for losing money on hair-brained schemes. Little does anyone know, but real evil schemers are posing as Man's best friends in order to steal his fortune...

The production looks engaging, but the story fails to engage. The players don't play drunk well. Notable as Broderick Crawford's first appearance - as gopher "Hunk"; other than running errands, Mr. Crawford gets pinned to the floor by Mr. McCrea.

*** Woman Chases Man (4/28/37) John G. Blystone ~ Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, Charles Winninger, Broderick Crawford

Perfect Screwball Comedy

[jayraskin1 · 10/10 · 19 September 2017]

At the very beginning of this film, Nina Tennyson (Leona Maricle) tells lover Henrie Saffron (Erik Rhodes) that she is going to marry millionaire Kenneth Nolan (Joel McCrea) "so you and I can live happily ever afterwards." She explains that she is going to marry Nolan for his money and then leave him. Henrie say, "Holy Mackerel, what a way to make a living." "Do you know any other way to make a living," she wisecracks.

Besides his fiancé, Nolan's father, B.J. Nolan (Charles Winninger) is also after his money. He has started a suburban housing community called "Nolan Heights" and creditors are going to ruin him if his son doesn't invest in the project. His son has specifically been ordered in his mother's will, not to invest in his father's hair-brained schemes. Thus both father and son are in trouble.

At this moment, Virginia Travis (Mariam Hopkins) shows up looking for a job as an architect for Nolan's "Nolan Heights" housing project. She gives a wild and hilarious introductory speech:

"I know what you're thinking that I'm a girl. Yes, Mr. Nolan, but I have a man's courage, a man's vision, a man's attack...For seven years, I studied like a man, researched like a man. There is nothing feminine about my mind. Seven year ago I gave up a perfectly nice engagement with a charming, wealthy old man because I chose a practical career. I left him at the church to become an architect and today I'm ready and he's dead. Here I am Mr. Nolan with the key to Nolan Heights. I've found a way to make us both rich. I can make you a fortune. Why I have a million dollars right here in my hand."

At this point, she faints dead away. A doctor is called and he explains that she fainted due to hunger. She hadn't eaten in 48 hours. "49 hours," Virginia corrects him, coming out of her faint.

This is a very sweet movie where all the main characters are both con-artists and lovers.

I think Mariam Hopkins is brilliant in her performance and deserved an academy award. Unlike Katherine Hepburn, who appears loving, but feather-brained, in the popular screwball comedy, "Bringing Up Baby (1939), Hopkins manages to be both loving and smart.

Everybody is flawed and a little bit of a screwball in this comedy. That makes it a very wise comedy, indeed.

iffy timing in this M Hopkins, J McCrae comedy

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 21 August 2009]

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.

Chasing a "cat" from a tree with a chair

[OldieMovieFan · 10/10 · 30 December 2023]

Charming screwball farce played by two of the greatest performers of the 1930s, Miriam Hopkins and Joel Mcrea, with a terrific supporting cast and a director with a fine sense of the absurd.

Hopkins, who suffered no fools and hurt her own career by it, loved working with McCrea and they made a quick series of five films together 1934-1937, all fairly successful at the box office and all great movies well worth viewing, with this one being the last. McCrea was moving into the greatest period of his career, 1937-1946, a time when nearly all his films were big hits. Late in life he credited Ginger Rogers and Barbara Stanwyck as the greatest actresses he worked with in his career, but he also spoke very highly of Hopkins and credited her with helping his career besides being a great screen partner. His wife Frances Dee was very popular with other actresses and the McCrea ranch was the locale for many script readings and scene preps, with Rogers, Stanwyck, Bette Davis and Hepburn being regular visitors.

In this movie, Hopkins is so caught up by the shenanigans in the scene in the tree that she briefly loses her polished acting voice and you can clearly hear her native Savannah, Georgia drawl. And no wonder - it's hilarious!

Disappointing

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2008]

Woman Chases Man (1937)

** (out of 4)

Screwball comedy has a father (Charles Winninger) trying to get $100,000 from his son (Joel McCrea) but when the son refuses the father hires a young woman (Miriam Hopkins) to try and lure it from him. This is a rather strange film because it doesn't work as a comedy at all. In fact, I don't recall laughing a single time but the two leads keep things moving along and makes for a great couple but it's a shame the screenplay doesn't do them justice. McCrea comes off a tad bit too straight-forward but this works well against the more free-spirited Hopkins who is incredibly charming in her role. The supporting cast doesn't add too much and the ending is very predictable but fans of the two stars might be interested.

awful screwball comedy

[chipe · 1/10 · 3 May 2012]

My mouth was agape throughout this screwball comedy. The reason: this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I was about to say that there isn't a single good joke or scene in the entire embarrassing movie, by, Ah Ha, I thought of one: there is a scene where several process servers are looking for the hiding Charles Winninger. Outside his office in the hall is Miriam Hopkins reading a letter of recommendation addressed to Winninger. Hearing her speech, the process servers mistakenly race down the stairs, thinking Winninger went that way. Believe it or not, that is the only decent scene in the movie. Everything else makes one cringe -- implausible silly story, terrible pratfalls and scrambles in a tree, nothing dialog, childish drunken scenes, etc. To give a feeling as to how bad everything is, Joel McCrae is returning to his mansion from a trip abroad. Hopkins is pretending to be a friend of his father. She recruits two friends to be servants though they know nothing about how to act as servants. Broderick Crawford is in his old movie usher uniform that is supposed to be a butler's uniform, and Hopkins is cutting out the movie theater patches as McCrae is knocking on the door. Meanwhile, through most of the movie, Winninger is living in the mansion, though he hides from his son McCrae because Winninger is supposed to be away. Excruciating. As someone said, see it only if you are die-hard McCrae or Hopkins fans.