Rare booksellers Joel and Garda Sloane are engaged to find who is stealing rare books from a private library.Rare booksellers Joel and Garda Sloane are engaged to find who is stealing rare books from a private library.Rare booksellers Joel and Garda Sloane are engaged to find who is stealing rare books from a private library.
John Hubbard
- Phil Sergeant
- (as Anthony Allan)
Roy Barcroft
- Reilly - Casino Bodyguard
- (uncredited)
Don Brodie
- Detective Jackson
- (uncredited)
Don Castle
- Desk Clerk
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe scenes with an inflatable donut allude to the earlier Fast Company (1938), wherein Joel Sloane (this time, Melvyn Douglas) is shot in a place that makes it painful for him to sit down.
- GoofsJoel and Garda sustain black eye injuries from having their auto run off the road by Lucky Nolan's gang. They even put raw meat over the black eyes for relief. The black eyes are shown in the next few scenes. But a few hours later that night, both eyes return to normal.
- ConnectionsFollowed by Fast and Furious (1939)
- SoundtracksWhy'd Ya Make Me Fall In Love?
(uncredited)
Written by Walter Donaldson
Played over the closing credits
Featured review
Brush up your Shakespeare
'Fast Company' (already reviewed a few months back), 'Fast and Loose' and 'Fast and Furious' have been inevitably been compared to the generally superior Thin Man film series, also featuring husband and wife sleuths and mixing comedy and mystery with some of the biggest stars at that point in film history. Of the three 'Fast...' films, my personal favourite is 'Fast Company', which fared the best at balancing comedy and mystery and has the most eventful and most cohesive story although the two leads' chemistry is better here in 'Fast and Loose'.
The second film 1939's 'Fast and Loose' is a fun and inoffensive enough entry in the series but despite preferring the chemistry here and the female lead is superior here, as said already comedy and mystery were balanced better in comedy and mystery and did prefer the story in 'Fast Company'. Not that those elements were done badly here in 'Fast and Loose', just that they were done better before. This is a very watchable film if not a must watch.
Will begin with what is good. Fred MacMurray is charming and commands the screen very well, with strong comic timing. Rosalind Russell is even better when it comes to the comic delivery, never looks ill at ease, looks great and very easy to like, to me she has more presence here than Florence Rice did in 'Fast Company'. They have a very endearing and witty chemistry together that really helps lift the film, of all the 'Fast...' films this is the film for me that had the most spark between its two leads. It is slickly directed and the supporting cast do well, the standout being Etienne Giradot.
Generally the script is snappy and sophisticated enough and the story does intrigues. The production values are slick and have some elegance and William Axt's score has some moodiness and light-hearted edge.
At times though, the film could have gone at a tighter pace and could have been shorter as there isn't enough plot structurally to sustain the film. There are also a few too many twists and characters which made it not always easy to follow, parts are downright confusing. The ending seemed rushed and could have been a little more suspenseful.
Not all the characters seemed necessary to the story and seemed there to pad things out.
Decent film overall but not great. It does well in the comedy and falls a little short when it came to the mystery. 6/10
The second film 1939's 'Fast and Loose' is a fun and inoffensive enough entry in the series but despite preferring the chemistry here and the female lead is superior here, as said already comedy and mystery were balanced better in comedy and mystery and did prefer the story in 'Fast Company'. Not that those elements were done badly here in 'Fast and Loose', just that they were done better before. This is a very watchable film if not a must watch.
Will begin with what is good. Fred MacMurray is charming and commands the screen very well, with strong comic timing. Rosalind Russell is even better when it comes to the comic delivery, never looks ill at ease, looks great and very easy to like, to me she has more presence here than Florence Rice did in 'Fast Company'. They have a very endearing and witty chemistry together that really helps lift the film, of all the 'Fast...' films this is the film for me that had the most spark between its two leads. It is slickly directed and the supporting cast do well, the standout being Etienne Giradot.
Generally the script is snappy and sophisticated enough and the story does intrigues. The production values are slick and have some elegance and William Axt's score has some moodiness and light-hearted edge.
At times though, the film could have gone at a tighter pace and could have been shorter as there isn't enough plot structurally to sustain the film. There are also a few too many twists and characters which made it not always easy to follow, parts are downright confusing. The ending seemed rushed and could have been a little more suspenseful.
Not all the characters seemed necessary to the story and seemed there to pad things out.
Decent film overall but not great. It does well in the comedy and falls a little short when it came to the mystery. 6/10
helpful•21
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jul 21, 2020
Details
- Runtime1 hour 20 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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