Oh, Men! Oh, Women!
Cast & Crew
Nunnally Johnson
Dan Dailey
Ginger Rogers
David Niven
Tony Randall
Barbara Rush
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Two days before his marriage to Myra Hagerman, New York psychiatrist Alan Coles is awakened in the middle of the night by Mildred Turner, a patient who complains that her movie star husband Arthur treats her like the character of Nora in the Ibsen play A Doll's House . Alan's annoyances go from bad to worse when the next morning, Grant Cobbler, a neurotic new patient, tentatively enters the office, tremulous with tics, and whimpers that he is unable to eat or sleep because he is "plagued by a dame." As Cobbler rants about the woman he broke up with eight months earlier yet is unable to forget, he mentions that her name is Myra, causing Alan to end the session abruptly. Bewildered at the idea that one of his patients once romanced his fiancée, Alan is about to leave the office when Mildred bursts in and babbles on about her dissatisfaction with her marriage. She then drops a bombshell by telling Alan that Arthur had dated Myra four years earlier. After she leaves the office, Alan lies down on his own couch, totally perplexed. Proceeding to Myra's apartment, Alan questions her about her relationship with Cobble, but she adamantly refuses to discuss "that horrible little man." Just then, the doorbell rings and Arthur falls, drunk, onto the floor. Arthur blames Alan for the problems in his marriage, and to get even, he passionately embraces Myra, after which Alan offers to leave them alone for thirty minutes. After Alan departs, Arthur grabs Myra and demands a kiss. Their embrace is interrupted by Cobble, who rings the doorbell and begs Myra to let him in. When Myra orders Cobble to go away, he breaks in through the fire escape and theatrically proclaims that Myra has caused him great agony and happiness, to which Myra responds she intends to be married to Alan forever. When Arthur opens the door to throw Cobble out, Alan is standing on the threshold, startling Cobble speechless. Cobble then hysterically reproaches Alan, stating that he is unprofessional and should be disbarred or unfrocked. After Arthur histrionically improvises a scene from A Doll's House , Alan observes that there can be no resolution between men and women because each sex wants something different, and Arthur leaves. Cobble continues his verbal attack on Alan, who slugs him in the stomach and ushers him out of the room. When Myra criticizes Alan's aggressive behavior, he calls her childish and begins screaming. Shocked by his own outburst, Alan proceeds to a bar, where he finds Cobble and Arthur. Later that night, a contrite Alan returns to Myra's apartment, but she refuses to see him. The next morning, Mildred flies into Alan's office, jabbering wildly about her marriage. Next, Arthur, hung over, appears and is followed by Cobble. Aware that the ship on which he is to be wed is sailing that afternoon and anxious about his fiancée's state of mind, Alan asks his secretary to contact Dr. Kraus, his mentor. After Arthur throws Cobble out of the office, Mildred declares that she just wants to feel needed and Alan advises that Arthur play the role of sweetheart rather than that of husband. As Arthur and Mildred decide to reconcile over drinks, Alan proceeds to the ship and waits alone, in the honeymoon suite, hoping that Myra will appear. Soon after, Dr. Kraus arrives and reassures the inhibited Alan that his outburst was quite normal. After Kraus counsels that with patience, Myra will develop into a devoted wife, Myra appears and Kraus excuses himself. Soon after, Cobble slithers into the room and Alan chases him out and throws him down the gangplank. Upset, Myra grumbles that Alan is rowdy, just like the rest of her suitors, and then criticizes him for not being more persistent the previous evening. After she challenges Alan to do something that will make her change her mind about breaking their engagement and leaving the boat, he calls her exasperating and infuriating. In the midst of their argument, the ship pulls away from the dock and Myra, thinking that Alan deliberately tricked her into staying onboard, forgives him.
Director
Nunnally Johnson
Cast
Dan Dailey
Ginger Rogers
David Niven
Tony Randall
Barbara Rush
Natalie Schafer
Rachel Stephens
John Wengraf
Cheryll Clarke
Charles Davis
Franklin Pangborn
Joel Fluellen
Clancy Cooper
Renny Mcevoy
Franklin Farnum
Hal Taggert
Alfred Tonkel
Monty O'grady
Les Raymaster
Harry Denny
Crew
Don Anderson
Teresa Brachetto
Josephine Brown
Alfred Bruzlin
Bill Buell
Charles G. Clarke
William Cronjager
Leonard Doss
William Eckhardt
Marjorie Fowler
Hal Herman
Nunnally Johnson
Nunnally Johnson
Ray Kellogg
Charles Lemaire
George Light
David Mcewen
Owen Mclean
Cyril J. Mockridge
Ben Nye
Charles Peck
Edward B. Powell
Mildred Quinn
Maurice Ransford
Stuart A. Reiss
Harold A. Root
Mike Salamunovich
Walter M. Scott
Rose Steinberg
Richard Talmadge
Wesley Trist
Helen Turpin
Lyle R. Wheeler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Neither screenwriter Nunnally Johnson nor playwright Edward Chodorov are credited onscreen. According to a Los Angeles Examiner news item, producer Charles Feldman bought the rights to Chodorov's play in 1954, then sold them to Twentieth Century-Fox. A February 1957 Daily Variety news item adds that Chodorov agreed to allow his name to be eliminated from the film's credits when he sold his rights to Feldman. A September 1955 Daily Variety news item states that Feldman considered making the picture with Marilyn Monroe. Although Hollywood Reporter news items note that Judy Busch and Michael Falcon were to make their screen debuts in the picture, their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. Hollywood Reporter news items note that location filming was took place in New York City and aboard the French liner Liberté. Oh, Men! Oh, Women! marked the screen debut of Tony Randall (1920-2004), who is listed in CBCS as Anthony Randall.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Winter February 1957
Screen debut for Tony Randall.
CinemaScope
Released in United States Winter February 1957
