Men Are Such Fools

1938 film by Busby Berkeley

July 16, 1938 (1938-07-16)

Running time

69 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Men are Such Fools is a 1938 American romantic comedy directed by Busby Berkeley and written by Norman Reilly Raine and Horace Jackson. The film stars Wayne Morris, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Hugh Herbert, Johnnie Davis, and Penny Singleton. The film was released by Warner Bros. on July 16, 1938.^[1]^[2] The movie is adapted from the novel by the same name, Men Are Such Fools, by Faith Baldwin.

Plot

Linda Lawrence skyrockets from a stenographer's desk to a job as account executive in an advertising agency. Though more interested in a career than in marriage, she falls in love with ex-football hero Jimmy Hall after his forceful courtship. They marry after Jimmy promises that he will not ask Linda to resign her position. Linda is pursued by her boss, Harvey Bates, and by Harry Galleon, a big radio contact man who can further her career if she will be "nice" to him. Jimmy becomes jealous, and Linda steps down to become a suburban housewife just as her name is becoming famous in the advertising and radio worlds.

Deciding that Jimmy is unambitious and content in a futureless job, Linda secretly promotes a junior partnership for him in an expanding firm. He refuses the job and she walks out on him, returning to her career. Jimmy then accepts the partnership and becomes successful, crashing the newspaper chatter columns as a Broadway playboy. After waiting a year for Jimmy to get in touch with her, Linda announces a trip to Paris, ostensibly to get a divorce and marry Harry, who has converted his proposition to a proposal. This brings Jimmy on the run to stop her, which of course is what she wanted all along. Their reconciliation throws Harry into the arms of Beatrice Harris, a sardonic vamp whom he had cast aside years before.^[3]

Cast

Wayne Morris as Jimmie Hall
Priscilla Lane as Linda Lawrence
Humphrey Bogart as Harry Galleon
Hugh Herbert as Harvey Bates
Johnnie Davis as Tad Turkel
Penny Singleton as Nancy
Mona Barrie as Beatrice Harris
Marcia Ralston as Wanda Townsend
Gene Lockhart as Bill Dalton
Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Dalton
Donald Briggs as George Onslow
Nedda Harrigan as Mrs. Nelson
Eric Stanley as Mr. Nelson
Claud Allister as Rudolf
Renie Riano as Mrs. Pinkel (credited as Reine Riano)
James Nolan as Bill Collyer (uncredited)^[4]
Carole Landis as June Cooper (uncredited)^[5]
Vivienne Osborne as Lili Arno (uncredited)

References

^ "Men Are Such Fools (1938) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
^ Sandra Brennan (2014). "Men-Are-Such-Fools - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
^ McCarty, Clifford (1965). Bogey - The Films of Humphrey Bogart. Cadillac Publishing Co., Inc.
^ McCarty, Clifford (1965). Bogey - The Films of Humphrey Bogart. Cadillac Publishing Co., Inc.
^ McCarty, Clifford (1965). Bogey - The Films of Humphrey Bogart. Cadillac Publishing Co., Inc.