Just perfect...

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Fast-paced, if rather muddled, programmer from MGM. The stars - McCrea & O'Sullivan - prove more likable than the story. Seems O'Sullivan's slated for execution for a murder she didn't commit. However, she's sprung for unknown reasons by a racketeer, and aided in her escape by lawyer McCrea. Together, they thread through a series of escapes from the cops and gangsters. But will she ever be cleared of the murder.The story's played in fairly light-hearted fashion and is occasionally amusing, especially when the fetching O'Sullivan plays hide-and-seek with McCrea's feisty fiancée (Ames) in his apartment. Also, relative unknown Robert Greig scores humorously as the butler Peebles. Then too, director Seitz manages to helpfully cover up much of the murky narrative with fast pacing. However, it surprises me that ritzy MGM didn't come up with better projection screens for the action shots behind both boats and cars. All in all, the movie fails to rise above programmer status, even though the two leads show how ready they are for bigger and better things.

Ann Graves (Maureen O'Sullivan) is a woman on the run that has been accused of murder who hitches a ride with hot shot lawyer (Tony Baxter). The movie has several interesting characters that makes the journey interesting and entertaining. Maureen O'Sullivan is fantastic and charming and Joel McCrea is a perfect pairing for her. This movie is only 1 hour 15 minutes and if you like classic movies it will be well spent.Victor J.

Joel McCrea and Maureen O'Sullivan star in Woman Wanted about a fugitive who escapes minutes after her murder conviction and the young attorney who tries to help her. I'll let you decide which of the stars played what role.Seriously though, Woman Wanted could have and should have been a straight drama, but the folks at MGM decided to try for some comedy relief. Though some of the bits are funny, especially the performance by Robert Grieg as McCrea's butler, they don't come as relief. Instead they interrupt the flow of the plot.After her conviction for murder, Maureen O'Sullivan is sprung from the courthouse by gangster Louis Calhern who wants information from her. Of course she didn't do the crime and the jailbreak goes well, but Maureen jumps into Joel McCrea's car. Now the proper thing to do would be for attorney McCrea to advise her to turn herself because he is an officer of the court. Still she's kind of cute. So as the Woman Wanted, O'Sullivan is only wanted by McCrea for good reasons, the police and the mob have other things in mind.Lewis Stone is in a similar undefined role as the District Attorney. Usually Stone is wise and sagacious even when he's not Judge Hardy on the screen. Here he's not all that smart, but he's a Rhodes Scholar next to the police who graduated from the Mack Sennett Police Academy. There is another good bit by Edgar Kennedy as a flustered house detective.In the films of Joel McCrea, Tony Thomas correctly says this is a B film, but it's got the MGM gloss to it so it looks far better than it really is.

Maureen O'Sullivan was beautiful. She was a fine actress as well. And Joel McCrea was one of the most handsome, versatile actors of the 1930s and forties. He did well settling into Westerns after that but I always feel it was the movie world's loss.These two don't have a whole lot of chemistry here but they work well individually. Louise Calhere is as always fine as a sleazy underworld figure, too.The cinematography of Charles Clarke -- not someone generally associated with film noir in later years -- is beautiful. It employs a lot of exciting shadows.The movie is part crime drama, part romance, and a little bit comedy. My preference is for movies that stick with one or another of these genres. But "Woman Wanted" works on its own terms: It has sinister moments. It's suspenseful. And we root for the lead couple.