Fast and Furious

Engaging fluff which must have been a second feature back in Hollywood's Golden Age. Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern are the principals in a comedy/ mystery with a dizzy plot. The couple go on a semi-vacation to what must be Atlantic City. Tone is to be a judge at a beauty contest but the promoter is murdered during the festivities. Lots of snappy dialogue and plot twists in this good-natured story, directed by none other than Busby Berkley.

Tone and Sothern work well together to make the picture work and with able support from Lee Bowman and Ruth Hussey. Harmless fun from this better-than-average 'B" picture that strives to be an "A".

6/10 - Website no longer prints my star rating.

Enjoyed the great acting by a veteran actor named Franchot Tone, (Joel Sloane) and his wife Garda Sloane, (Ann Southern) who have a business dealing with rare books in New York City and decided to take a vacation. Mike Stevens, ( Lee Bowman) is a good friend of Joel and asks him for five thousand dollars to invest in a beauty contest and he also offered him a position as a judge. Joel makes this deal with Mike and his wife Gara goes with him, however, Gara is very unhappy about her husband being around all these beautiful bathing suit gals in the contest. There is plenty of laughs and plenty of action as well as a murder. I was quite surprised at what a great film this is from 1939 and I loved watching this film from beginning to end.

Ann Southern and Franchot Tone's genial relationship wraps itself around a mediocre murder plot which features a lot of pretty young women in bathing suits (no belly-buttons, remember, this is the 30's Post-Code). Plenty of wise-cracking, a few Stooges-level laughs involving circus lions, and one great directorial flourish from Berkely involving a traveling camera-shot during a party scene.

Really liked the first film in the 'Fast...' film series from the late 30s, comprising of three films starting with 'Fast Company' and finishing with 'Fast and Furious'. Moderately liked if not loved the next film 'Fast and Loose', which had a better female lead and better leads chemistry but the plot wasn't as focused. So hopes were understandably reasonably high for 'Fast and Furious', again with changes to the cast and directed by Busby Berkeley in a relatively atypical film for him.

'Fast and Furious' is a decent time passer and not too bad a way to finish a film series that is not bad at all. There are inevitable but slightly unfair comparisons to 'The Thin Man' films, for reasons described in my review for 'Fast and Loose', but these three films don't fare too unfavourably and fare quite well on their own terms (especially 'Fast Company'). 'Fast and Furious' doesn't disappoint too much, it's not a great film in my view but it entertains enough and is above average at least. Of the three films though, it's perhaps the weakest.

There is a lot to like here. It is slickly and attractively made, not lavish or too fancy but there isn't a cheapness about it and it doesn't look rushed. Berkeley's direction is more subdued to usual, not his usual elaborate and dazzling visual extravaganzas that made the musicals choreographed by him so memorable and the complete opposite to that but he didn't seem uninterested or ill at ease with the material. The music is not quite William Axt level, who excelled in the previous two films, but has some nice atmosphere without being too heavy or too serious.

Script has some nice wit and snap and doesn't seem muddled, again like 'Fast and Loose' the comedy does fare better than the mystery and much of it amuses. The story is easier to follow than that for 'Fast and Loose' and generally compels, enough of it being lively. Franchot Tone is charming and suave and has a likeable chemistry with the not as subtle but "still giving it everything she's got" Ann Sothern. The supporting cast are all strong, Ruth Hussey and hilarious Frank Orth (as one of the most entertaining characters) coming off strongest.

Again, the mystery could have been a little better with more surprises and suspense. It's easier to follow here and with less of an overlong feel but there is a routine feel at times. The pace is generally solid but the film does have dull stretches, with the early portions taking a little long to find its rhythm, and more energy and tension wouldn't have gone amiss.

Like before, there could have been fewer characters and not all of them seemed necessary.

In conclusion, not great but nice enough. 6/10

B-movies were cheap and short films that were made to play as the lesser film at a double-feature. Many small-time studios specialized in Bs (such as Monogram and Republic) and the bigger studios also made Bs. In this case, the very respected MGM produced what seems like a B-movie in almost every way except that its stars were slightly better than you'd expect to see in a B. Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern star as a married couple who, not surprisingly, investigate crimes but are NOT professional detectives. I say 'not surprisingly' because there were plenty of B films with amateur detectives constantly showing up the police--such as Boston Blackie, Bulldog Drummond and Nancy Drew. And, like these other films, this was one of a series of such films--though NONE of the actors and actresses who played the two main roles played them in more than one film! The movie begins with Garda Sloane trying to trick her husband Joel into taking them on a vacation. Coincidentally, an old friend arrives and talks about a beauty contest going on at the SAME place where the Sloanes are headed (what are the odds?!). Once there, the Sloanes meet this friend once again but also (not surprisingly) stumble into a murder. And, like the genre, the pair begin investigating the crime and do far better than trained detectives.

The plot is about average for this sort of film--no better, no worse. However, Tone and Sothern are quite good AND the dialog is quite nice. It also helps that there is a nice sense of humor about the film--such as the wonderful dictophone scene. Overall, breezy and entertaining--but you wonder why neither Tone nor Sothern were used again for these roles.