When it comes to portrayals of women in the Golden Age of Hollywood (basically the 1930s and 1940s), most of the time they are demure and looking for a husband.  There are some slight exceptions.  One that comes to mind is His Girl Friday(1940), starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.  Russell plays former reporter Hildy Johnson, who is not exactly housewife material.  Today’s film, Woman Chases Man (1937), has a similar female lead with a profession.  I will go ahead and insert here my obligatory reminder that the Catholic Church has never had a singular goal in mind for all women, and that there have always been opportunities outside of what society labels traditional feminine roles.  And while these characters do eventually “find a man,” it is not before they complete a goal outside of those matrimonial bonds.

The only matrimonial bonds under discussion at the beginning of Woman Chases Man are those of Judy Williams (Ella Logan) and Kenneth Nolan (Joel McCrea).  She is doing what the title suggests, but not in a nice way.  They are on a cruise ship heading back to the United States from Europe, and Kenneth is summoned from their sunbathing to take a phone call.  I guess that was a thing in the 1930s, but I digress.  While he is away, we learn that their other traveling companion, Henri Saffron (Erik Rhodes), is not Judy’s uncle but her lover.  Their plan is for her to marry the rich Kenneth and make off with his millions.  For Kenneth, it is his father, B. J. Nolan (Charles Winninger), who is trying to take his son’s money.  During their conversation, B. J. asks for $100,000 to start a real estate development project he is sure will add to their fortune, called Nolan Heights.  Because dad has been known for some harebrained schemes and Kenneth says no.  B. J. hangs up in a panic because there are debt collectors closing in on him, the result of wreckless spending.  Stepping into this mess is the ambitious and young architect, Virginia Travis (Miriam Hopkins).  She has learned of B. J.’s housing project and has come with sketches of plans for potential houses.  He listens to her because she has managed to inadvertently lose the debt collectors.  However, they eventually come to the impasse: that he is broke.  The shock of him losing all his money and the fact that she had not eaten in a few days causes her to faint.  When she comes to, he explains the situation with Kenneth, including how it is he that control’s the rest of their family’s finances.  Because she persists in wanting to help, partially for the sake of a job, B. J. brings her to his largely empty estate outside the city.  Due to the monetary shortcomings, he has had to let go of all the servants and cover the majority of the furniture.  It is there that they hatch a plan for convincing Kenneth to make out a check to his father so that she can be an architect.  B. J. believes Virginia will have better luck getting the funds, and she thinks the house will be the perfect setting for doing so.  Thus, she has B. J. pretend that he is away in Chicago closing a business deal.  Meanwhile, Virginia calls her newly wedded friends, Nina Tennyson (Leona Maricle) and Hunk Williams (Broderick Crawford), to come and act as servants.  Hence, when Kenneth arrives with Henri and Judy, it is to a staffed home.  There is confusion, nonetheless, since these are not the workers Kenneth expects, nor the face of a stranger in Virginia.  While he is charmed by her, the rest has him trying to call the police.  Henri and Judy overhear the authorities being summoned, and the ensuing struggle over the phone, and have their own worries.  This is when Nina produces a letter from B. J. explaining to his son about the new people working at the house, and giving Virginia a glowing recommendation.  This settles the presence of the newcomers, but Kenneth remains obstinate about not investing in Nolan Heights.  The person he is softening on is Virginia, much to Henri and Judy’s distaste.  Speaking of distaste, Virginia further endears herself when she enjoys the food B. J. surreptitiously cooks for dinner that night, filling in for a non-existent cook.  After dinner, Kenneth shows Virginia some of the gadgets his father concocted, all of which lost money.  Yet, in the morning, one of these, a device that allows someone to sign five checks at once, gives her the idea for getting Kenneth to affix his name to the right amount.  B. J. and Virginia figure they have what they need until they go to the bank and are told that they need written authorization from Kenneth for any amount over $1,000.  B. J. feels they are finally defeated, but Virginia tells him not to give up.  At this point, B. J. mentions that his son is prone to buying things when he has had a few alcoholic beverages.  The potential problem is that Judy is also aware of this tendency.  While she plans to use this information to get a formal proposal out of Kenneth, Virginia is hoping to get him to make a commitment to Nolan heights.  By saying it is her birthday, and getting a new dress from B. J., she is able to get to Kenneth first.  Unfortunately, she passes out after having a little champagne, leaving him to have a few drinks with Henri and Judy.  Luckily, he goes to bed before getting engaged.  Meanwhile, Virginia is revived by B. J. and the others.  She manages to make it into a tree outside Kenneth’s window and gets his attention.  Because he has already confessed his love, he is ready to make Nolan Heights a reality.  Virginia does try to stop him, feeling guilty for taking advantage of him. Yet, when he makes the same decision after sobering up with a bucket of water from B. J., all is well.

It may not seem like all is well at the end of Woman Chases Man.  Indeed, it can be argued that Kenneth is being conned by bad and good guys.  Speaking of those good guys, B. J. makes an interesting statement regarding their schemes.  He says that they must trick Kenneth in order to save him from himself.  Of course, they are not aware of Henri and Judy’s deviousness until the end, but no amount of evil done in the name of good makes it good.  In other words, the ends do not justify the means.  There are some Biblical examples of why this is true.  In 1 Samuel, Saul does not follow God’s proscription to destroy all the people he fights in the land of Canaan.  Saul’s reasoning might seem sound.  He spares some people and their livestock, thinking that they will provide plunder that will help Israel.  It is one of the more difficult aspects of Scripture to see that God would want to wipe out anyone.  My goal here is not to get into a theological debate on the morality of the actions of the ancient Israelites.  Rather, the point of this is obedience to God’s plan since He had something remarkable in store for the Israelites.  In other words, Saul wanted what he wanted instead of what God did.  The comparison in the film is B. J. and Kenneth.  The mistrust between father and son aside, B. J. has something greater in mind that Kenneth refuses to see.  Kenneth might have reason to be skeptical, but he also has a high-minded attitude towards B. J.  God has great plans in store for us, too, if we can just let Him take the control.

As difficult as it is for Kenneth to trust B. J., Woman Chases Man’s tone is more light-hearted than I have described.  In fact, there were a couple moments at which I laughed out loud.  That alone makes this one worth a view.