Go Chase Yourself (1938) User Reviews

Wanna buy a Ball?

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 15 July 2019]

The teaming of zany Joe Penner and Lucille Ball might incongruous to many the two actually make this RKO comedy work. Though how Lucy ever got hitched to Penner will be one of life's mysteries.

Penner is a dumb as a brick bank clerk who spills the beans on his bank's security measures. When its robbed Penner is thought of as an inside man. Not only that, wouldn't you know it the bank robbers hitch their getaway car to Penner and Ball's new trailer which they just won in a contest. Penner's asleep inside and soon enough the three crooks discover they have a hostage if needed.

Then to Top it all off Penner and the crooks get involved with June Travis who is running away from home to marry Fritz Feld, a no account phony count from some mittel Europa country. And Lucy hooks up with Feld rushing to claim his bride.

The laughs come fast and furious inthis comedy although Penner is something of an acquired taste. He died young and who knows how he might have done on television.

Tom Kennedy who matches Penner in wit and IQ is always a favorite. One of the dumber crooks and/or cops on the big screen when he's on the other side. He's my favorite here.

Lots of laughs in this ancient chestnut.

screwball ridiculousness

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 15 July 2019]

Bumbling bank teller Wilbur Meeley (Joe Penner) lets out the bank's secret vault to a gang of robbers casing the joint. He wins a trailer and pulls it home under his own power. His wife Carol (Lucille Ball) is no fan of the trailer and sends him to sleep in it. That night, the robbers come back for the vault. As they make their escape, they find and hook up the trailer pretending to be a family on vacation. Wilbur becomes the clueless prisoner of the gang. Carol reports him missing but the manager accuses Wilbur of being the one who stole the $50k.

I've never heard of Joe Penner who is a long forgotten vaudeville star during the Depression era. I can see his wacky voice being funny on the radio. As a movie lead, he's a bit schlubby. He's no leading man. He's more a comedic sidekick. The screwball comedy plot is a mess of convenient encounters and random connections. I'm not sure if it actually makes sense or that it matters. It gets more and more crazy. I actually admire the random sitcom plotting. The biggest aspect is of course Lucille Ball. She's a tall drink of water with a very unique voice. She has her moments even as a side character. She's kinda pretty and can really work her comedic face. This is not necessarily laugh out loud today although I can see the audience of yesteryear having a good time.

Joe Penner would spent 60 minutes chasing his tail, if he had one.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 8 April 2014]

Years before becoming the comic foil to husband Desi Arnaz Sr. On "I Love Lucy", that fabulous redhead Lucille Ball got to be the frazzled spouse of a dizzy husband, here the squeaky voiced Joe Penner, the Adam Sandler of his day. In a series of programmers at RKO from 1936 to 1940, this radio comic tried but failed to establish himself as a top film comic.

This is one of his more enjoyable programmers where he plays a bubble-headed bank clerk who wins a trailer which he decides to sleep in after a fight with wife Ball. A group of bank robbers (lead by the always villainous Bradley Page) steal the trailer with the sleeping Penner still inside, taking him on the ride of his life. Of course, Ball ends up in the trailer (something which would chase her in several other films) and the trailer gets loose from its car on a mountain road where it is in danger of going over the side.

There's enough laughs to make this a tad better than the many other comic programmers, but Lucy fans would have to wait a while to see her become the most beloved bubble- head on a new medium where she became the most famous female comic in entertainment history.

Penner is occasionally annoying but otherwise it's a decent time-passer.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 16 October 2021]

Wilbur (Joe Penner) is a bit of an idiot...and his wife (Lucille Ball) is quick to let folks know. This is especially the case after the guy is accused of robbing the bank where he works....and she insists he's just too stupid to have done it! However, the real crooks who did it are holding him prisoner in a trailer he just won...and the police have assumed that because he's missing, he must have stolen the money. Along the trail, the wife gets paired up with a silly gigolo and you know that eventually it all will get straightened out.

This is an okay film. It has some funny moments, but a few times Penner overacts and is a bit insufferable. Add to that an ending involving a runaway trailer (which is NOT done well) and you have a recipe for a film which is a time-passer and nothing more.

Even Lucille Ball couldn't save this movie

[treakle_1978 · 5/10 · 16 July 2019]

The writing was bland and the characters weren't funny at all. A road trip comedy with potential but fell flat. Wilbur's character to me was trying to imitate the three stooges. As much as I love Lucille Ball I'd skip this one.

Runaway Heiress Meets Runaway Banker in Runaway Trailer

[WeatherViolet · 7/10 · 16 September 2010]

Well, if the picture isn't generally considered a runaway success, then at least Lucy has an early chance to runaway with the picture.

After proving her comic talents with her supporting role in "Stage Door" (1937), RKO-Radio Pictures expands the billing power for Lucille Ball, casting her in seven pictures in 1938, and "Go Chase Yourself" not only becomes Lucy's first release of the year, but also one of her earliest starring vehicles.

Lucy's leading man, Joe Penner, has by now become a major star on Radio with his zany duck act, and Depression-Era audiences would embrace his film appeal, as well, so expect more than one reference to radio in this film.

Jack Carson, who plays one of Lucy's "Stage Door" lumberjacks in one of his earliest film appearances, returns here in the supporting role of a Rambling Radio Reporter, to add a clueless smile to enliven a series of uncanny festivities.

Now, the term "Go Chase Yourself" coincides with other popular idioms of the day, such as "Scram," "Get lost," "Go fly a kite," "Go jump in the lake," and dismissals along these lines, while the plot of "Go Chase Yourself," may have audiences uttering similar interchangeable phrases, which, of course, adds to the charm of these nonsensical Talkie gems.

In its story, fumbling bank teller Wilbur P. Meeley (Joe Penner) wins a silver trailer in a radio contest, while his responsible and resourceful wife Carol Meeley (Lucille Ball) sees no real purpose to his keeping it especially without an automobile to tow the trailer. After an argument, Wilbur's last option is to sleep in the trailer parked before his residence along curbside.

Frank (Bradley Page), Nails (Richard Lane) and Icebox (Tom Kennedy), meanwhile, team to burglarize the bank of Wilbur's employ and frame the witless teller in the process. They decide to elude police by hooking their getaway car to the isolated silver trailer in which Wilbur sleeps, in order to disguise themselves as tourists.

Well, Mr. Hamilton Halliday (Granville Bates) attempts to enlist Carol's assistance to track down Wilbur and the loot, but she knows as little about what transpires as does her husband's employer. So, she obtains her clues from radio reports and acts accordingly.

Heiress Judy Daniels (June Travis), meanwhile, decides to elope with her suitor, Count Pierre Fountaine de Louis-Louis (Fritz Feld), to whom Judy's father, Mr. B.H. Daniels (George Irving) objects to her marrying. When the faux Count's automobile breaks down in the camping park at which Wilbur and the burglars hide out, Judy and Pierre get mixed up with the crew.

And when Rambling Reporter Warren Miles (Jack Carson) interviews campers at the mountain park, Carol finds herself with another ally in Mr. B.H. Daniels.

So, by the time in which Carol is able to track down Wilbur and the heiress and her suitor in the trailer, the thugs are searching for their missing loot, which Wilbur has somehow unknowingly misplaced.

But will Carol, Wilbur, Judy and Pierre be able to stop the silver trailer once it becomes unhitched from the getaway car and rolls out of control down the mountain road with passengers inside?

Good Clean Fun

[Murphy-2 · 7/10 · 3 August 2002]

While this may not be the greatest movie ever, it is a lot of fun to watch. Joe Penner is hilarious, and Lucille Ball is also great. It's too bad Mr. Penner had to die so young, he was a bit of a comic genius. If you like good clean family fun, then this is a movie not to be missed.

Amusing comedy with a great climax!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 24 August 2014]

Warner Archive had high hopes when they released "The Lucille Ball RKO Comedy Collection" on print-on-demand DVD in 2011, but I'm told that sales so far have been "very disappointing" considering Lucille's super-popularity. Although filmed on a generous but firmly "B" budget, "Go Chase Yourself" comes to a really slam-bang climax which certainly made me delightfully dizzy. The rest of the movie wasn't bad either. Admittedly, Joe Penner does takes at least a reel or so to start putting his comedy across effectively and Miss Ball is forced to play in his shadow until she suddenly asserts herself about halfway through; but once Ball and director Eddie Cline finally get into stride about the halfway mark, and the fur really starts flying, the movie becomes very entertaining indeed - though I'm tempted to add despite the presence of Mr. Penner! Admittedly his timing improves. But does this happen because he actually does lift his game but simply because we get used to his lack-luster personality?

Lucy and the not so long trailer.

[jemkat · 7/10 · 1 January 2004]

Silly but amusing comedy built around radio comic Joe Penner as a stupid bank clerk who becomes involved in a bank robbery when he wins a trailer in a lottery. Some good gags - I like the one where Joe pulls up to a gas station with the trailer and no car - and able support from people like Lucille Ball as Joe's wife, and Friz Feld as a fortune hunting Casanova, make this a breezy way to spend 70 or so minutes. Pity other more "important" pictures weren't as enjoyable.