Woman Chases Man ** (1937, Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, Charles Winninger) – Classic Movie Review 11,926

Joel McCrea and Gloria Talbott in The Oklahoman.

This is a poster for Woman Chases Man.

Director John G Blystone’s 1937 romantic comedy film Woman Chases Man stars Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea and Charles Winninger.

Architect Virginia Travis (Hopkins) chases Kenneth Nolan (McCrea), son of her millionaire employer B J Nolan (Winninger), in this breezy, vaguely amusing comedy. She plots with Winninger to get mean McCrea to invest in a building scam.

The film is generally amiable and entertaining enough, and there are a few good laughs along the way thanks to the lovely work of the genial star trio, plus Dorothy Parker and Ben Hecht’s sound work on the early stages of the screenplay.

It is Hopkins’s last of four films for producer Samuel Goldwyn, starting well with These Three, in which she was paired to better advantage with McCrea.

Also in the cast are Erik Rhodes, Broderick Crawford, Ella Logan, Charles Halton, Leona Maricle, Richard Cramer, Jack Baxley, Al Bridge, George Chandler, Frances Gifford, Roger Gray, Al K Hall, William Jaffrey, Walter Soderling and Monte Vandergrift.

It is written by Joseph Anthony, Manuel Seff and David Hertz, based on a story by Lynn Root and Frank Fenton.

Hopkins starred with Joel McCrea in five films, and this was their last together. They are: The Richest Girl in the World, Barbary Coast, Splendor, These Three and Woman Chases Man. Hopkins next made Wise Girl and then The Old Maid, the first of her two films Hopkins with Bette Davis, followed by Old Acquaintance. They did not see eye to eye and had well-publicised fights. Davis described Hopkins as a ‘terribly good actress’ but ‘terribly jealous’. Hopkins believed Davis was having an affair with her director husband, Anatole Litvak, whom Hopkins met while making The Woman I Love.

Hopkins was a Democrat who supported the presidency of Franklin D Roosevelt.

The cast are Miriam Hopkins as Virginia Travis, Joel McCrea as Kenneth Nolan, Charles Winninger as B J Nolan, Erik Rhodes as Henri Saffron, Ella Logan as Judy Williams, Leona Maricle as Nina Tennyson, Broderick Crawford as Hunk Williams, Charles Halton as Mr Judd, Richard Cramer, Jack Baxley, Al Bridge, George Chandler, Frances Gifford, Roger Gray, Al K Hall, William Jaffrey, Walter Soderling and Monte Vandergrift.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,926

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