Men Are Such Fools

Men Are Such Fools (1938)

** (out of 4)

Predictable and rather boring melodrama about a hard working secretary (Priscilla Lane) who works her way to the top of her office when she meets and eventually marries an ex-football star (Wayne Morris). Soon afterwards she eventually gives up her career and then problems start to rise as his career takes off. This here is yet another Warner "B" film that has a pretty good cast but in the end it gets ruined due to a rather lackluster screenplay. I really didn't think too highly of anything here, screenplay wise, because I found the comedy to be over the top and silly and then the melodrama was just too predictable. I think the early "dumbness" of the characters really hurt the later drama because it's hard to take either character too serious considering some of the dumb situations they get into early on. When the second half of the film takes place the characters just go through various motions that really make no sense except to lead up to the predictable ending. Lane is charming enough in her role and I think she comes off the best as her wonderful energy is always going strong and this really keeps the film moving. Morris doesn't give the greatest performance but he too is good enough in the role. Humphrey Bogart gets third-billing and plays the boss who falls for Lane. Once again we see Bogie in a rather thankless role that even he can't do too much with. The movie runs a brief 68-minutes but it feels much longer because the screenplay drags in so many places and one can't help but feel they've seen this type of story one time too many.