Men Are Such Fools

I gave 6 stars only because of Priscilla Lane and Penny Singleton. The movie is ridiculous because Morris' character treats Lane's character so horribly, but she "falls in love" with him anyway. He practically kidnaps her, forces himself on her, acts like a spoiled child, and treats her terribly, but she marries him anyway. Not much has changed when it comes to women marrying idiots like this guy. You'd think they would pay attention to all the red flags that indicate what morons, narcissists, misogynists, and crybabies these dudes are, but they go right ahead and marry them regardless. On top of that he's a frat boy, which is just slightly better than being a serial killer.

Priscilla Lane does her best to keep afloat in this somewhat entertaining but maddeningly uneven B comedy. Roommate Penny Singleton just wants to get married but office worker Priscilla has ambition: "I'm going to be somebody in this advertising racket and I've got what it takes!"

Standing in her way is co-worker Wayne Morris, who takes for granted that she should be more interested in him than in her job, despite the fact that he is both dense and obnoxious.

Lane is perky but the relationship between her and Morris never seems believable, and a nice cast of character actors are sorely let down by a mediocre script.

Hugh Herbert is fine as the company boss, apparently silly and absent-minded but not as dumb as he seems. Johnnie Davis is his usual blustery self as Singleton's fiancé then husband.

Mona Barrie has most of the film's best lines as a successful but cynical ad writer who's had some ups and downs in the racket herself. Taking newcomer Lane under her wing, Barrie invites her to the lake for a weekend party—whether out of kindness or hoping to stir up mischief, it's not quite clear: "Bring your boyfriend along. Give you a chance to compare him with the other insects."

Alas, Barrie's role is too small, and what might have been another fun role is simply too dull—young Humphrey Bogart as a playboy radio executive is mildly annoying but little else. This might be Bogie's most boring role ever.

Priscilla Lane is very good and her character is smart and likable….but co-star Wayne Morris isn't her match here, and the standard plot just doesn't really work.

Linda Lawrence (Priscilla Lane) is a secretary in an advertising agency. She doesn't have time for lovelorn salesman Jimmy Hall (Wayne Morris). She is more interested in climbing the corporate ladder. Her boss Harvey Bates (Hugh Herbert) takes an interest and asks her to have dinner with him. Jimmy barges in on their 'date' and she falls for him. They meet Harry Galleon (Humphrey Bogart) at a pool party.

Busby Berkeley is directing but there are no big dance numbers. I didn't know that he made such non-dance movies. I am surprised by the modernity of the main theme. Linda is a modern girl trying to balance between romantic life and work life. I was hoping for more Bogie. He's the subordinate third wheel villain to the lightweight Jimmy. In addition, I'm annoyed by Harvey's voice work. It's not funny and he's trying too hard. This modern-ish rom-com is borderline ok.

Kind of a love triangle, starring wayne morris, cilla lane, and bogie. Linda and jimmy are engaged, but with linda, work comes first! Almost a half hour in, we finally see bogart. And he keeps her working late. Decisions to make. Schemes. Consequences. Hugh herbert is here as linda's nervous boss, for comic effect. Gene and kathleen lockhart are together again as the daltons. Penny singleton played blondie in so many films. Good chemistry between the actors. It's silly and fun to watch. Directed by busby berkeley! Known mostly for his huge, elegant dance numbers, he only directed 31 films. Wayne morris died young at 45. Mona barrie died at 54, and of course, bogey died at 57.

Men Are Such Fools is one of a handful of B pictures that Busby Berkeley directed between his musical extravaganzas. I guess Jack Warner was operating on the theory that if Berkeley was on salary, he'd earn his money one way or another.

It's a B picture comedy vaguely reminiscent of the Rock Hudson-Doris Day films a generation later. The leads are Wayne Morris and Priscilla Lane. He's a former star football player, she's a working girl in the advertising game. Priscilla was cute and homespun and was great in stuff like Four Daughters. Here she's all right, nothing more, ditto Morris.

THIRD billed in this film is Humphrey Bogart and ironically until he started getting gangster parts, these were the kind of roles he played on Broadway, sophisticated comedies. Bogey shouldn't have tried going back to his roots. His is the kind of role a generation later would have been played by Gig Young or Tony Randall.

Nothing spectacular here, it didn't harm the careers of Bogart or Berkeley, but it didn't help either.