Fast and Furious (1939)

“Come on dear you need to get changed… you don’t want to be buried in that suit would you?”

            I love detective films from the 1930s be them serious or comedic. I love how smart the plots are and how good the characters are written and acted. At least the ones I have seen so far have been smart, well written, and well acted. MGM started the husband and wife sleuthing team with Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man in 1934 and spawned five more films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as the couple. Many copies soon followed but none to the success and status of Nick and Nora. MGM tried to capitalize on their own success by creating Joel and Garda Sloan in Fast Company in 1938 (read my review here). Joel and Garda were played by Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice. Then came Fast and Loose with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell the same year. Lastly there came Fast and Furious in 1939 with Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern.

            Garda (Sothern) gets to work before Joel (Tone). She sets up the office for him. The city is currently in the middle of a heat wave and Garda wants to get out it. To make Joel come up with the idea of leaving she puts a heating pad on his chair to really make him feel the heat. Joel comes in all happy. He gets his behind burned and figures out Garda’s idea. He still does not want to go away. Joel’s friend Mike comes into the office. Mike is a in a fix he needs money to start something up and also pay back someone. He is doing a pageant down in Seaside City. This pageant down in Seaside City gives Joel the idea to go down there with Garda. When they arrive in their room Joel at the shore sees his name listed on a brochure as being one of the judges of the pageant. He tries to get out of it but Mike convinces him to stay on.

            Bartell, the guy running the pageant, is in on a scam with Lily (Ruth Hussey). He had told her they would take the money that was raised for the pageant and run away together. Lily is not happy when she sees Bartell with one of the girls named Jerry Lawrence. Lily wants to take the money from the pageant and just run away that night but Bartell refuses.

            Garda finds out about Joel being a judge. She is furious with him. Before Garda can lay into her husband a whole bunch of people come into their room for a party. After the party Joel receives a telegram from Travers, a police friend of theirs. Travers wants Joel’s help on a case but Joel tells him cannot.

            The next day Travers finds Joel and Garda on the beach. He tells Joel that Bartell has been withdrawing funds every week from the pageant. Joel does not like what he is hearing since he has a stake in the pageant from giving Mike money for it. Bartell plans on leaving with Jerry, not with Lily, that night. Mike goes to get his ten thousand dollars back from Bartell. Bartell was getting the money from his office and all of a sudden Mike hears a gun shot. Mike thinks Bartell has killed himself. Travers and Joel come to the scene. Travers thinks Mike killed Bartell and brings Mike to jail. Joel goes back to the office. He finds a still lit cigarette with lipstick on it on the desk in the reception area. Lily has come back to the office to get money out of the safe. He asks her if she smokes and she replies that she does not.

            Joel finds out that Jerry is mixed up with a gangster named Connors. Bartell had owed Connors money. Travers goes to question Connors. Joel comes up to the apartment a few minutes later and he sees Jerry fleeing the apartment through another door. He stops her and questions her. He finds out that Jerry does not really know too much. When Joel gets back to the hotel Garda is waiting for him she wants to talk to him. As she talks to Joel he says he needs to go talk to Jerry again and he leaves. Garda thinks Joel had been with Jerry the entire time he was out.

            Garda wants to help with the case but Joel keeps telling her stay put. She decides to go snooping for herself. She gets the key to Jerry’s room. She finds Jerry’s passport and luggage set to go away on a cruise. She goes to tell Joel, who is at the club at the hotel, what she found. He does not want people to hear what she has to tell him. He takes her backstage but Lily walks by them so he takes her into a room. All the sudden the ceiling begins to come down on them. They are under the stage. Luckily they manage to stop the stage from crushing them at the last minute.

            Joel eventually manages to get some information out of Jerry. She tells him that Connors took the money from the safe when Bartell was killed. When Joel walks out of her room he hears her scream. He runs into the room to find Connors ready to hit her. Jerry runs out of room. Connors tells Joel that it was really Jerry who took the money and he was upset that Jerry was making it look like he took the money.

            Joel comes up with an idea to get to try to confess to the murder but unfortunately the chief of police has had enough with Travers and Joel working his territory. Jerry told the chief that she thinks Joel stole her passport. Joel goes to Jerry’s dressing room with fingerprints Travers had given him. The chief, who had been hiding, arrests Joel for theft.

            Of course Joel manages to get out of jail. As he and Garda are sitting down to breakfast he takes a look at Jerry’s passport he finds a ticket for a locker. He goes to the locker and finds the money that had been taken from Bartell. When Joel goes to talk to Jerry she is dead.

            The murderer is someone that you literally do not know until the moment they are revealed.

            I loved Ann Sothern and Franchot Tone together. Ann Sothern is just a panic. She is a tough chick to begin with so she was perfect as a determined feisty Garda Sloane. I was dying laughing with the way she was always ready to lay into Joel for being away all day or when he was looking at the other ladies. Franchot Tone I have only seen in dramatic roles before this. I thought he was very good in this role. He was funny and adorable. One scene I was cracking up with them was when Garda sees Joel flirting with one of the girls while they are swimming. Garda takes a dive in the water and swims up to Joel and bites his leg making him think the girl he is holding touched him and then Garda touches the girl making the girl think Joel touched her. Sothern's when she came up was hysterical. I have yet to see Fast and Loose with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell but I think I can say that I like Tone and Sothern the best as Joel and Garda. Ruth Hussey seems to have played some bad girls. She was in Maisie with Sothern in the same year Fast and Furious was released and she was a cheating no good wife in that film. I am used to seeing Hussey in the Philadelphia Story where her character is sweet and funny. It has been interesting seeing her in Maisie and Fast and Furious where she is a bad girl. Hussey had the look and attitude to be a bad girl. I like Hussey a lot I look forward to seeing more of her films.

            Fast and Furious was so much fun to watch I enjoyed every minute of it. This is one of my favorite comedic detective films from 1930s.I wish the series had been started with Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern as Joel and Garda Slone because then maybe it would have lasted for a few more films. I think that was the downfall of the series that three actors and three actresses had played the same character. There was no continuity to them. All I can say thank god this Fast film was less like The Thin Man than the first one was. I absolutely recommend seeing Fast and Furious especially for Ann Sothern and Franchot Tone’s pairing.

Three Comrades (1938)

World War I was supposed to be “The war to end all wars.” Nothing before had ever been witnessed or fought. The entire western world, except for the United States, was in shambles. Old Victorian traditions fell apart mostly for the better and young men and women were trying to find their modern place in the world. Before World War II, literature and Hollywood cranked out stories set either during the First World War or after. From what I know and have seen it seems that MGM was the master at producing stories set during and after those tumultuous years. One of the studio’s films centered after the Great War is Three Comrades.

            Three young friends- Erich (Robert Young), Otto (Franchot Tone), and Gottfried (Robert Young)- return home to Germany after fighting in The Great War. Gottfried is upset that he fought to protect his people and now they are all hoodlums fighting and destroying businesses.

            For Erich’s birthday they decide to go out in their car and have a good time together. On the road they were apparently driving too slow for another driver. Both cars race each other. They beat the other driver. When they stop their cars they introduce each other. The driver’s name is Breuer (Lionel Atwill) and he was driving with a lovely young woman named Patricia (Margaret Sullivan). Erich likes Patricia and the other two can see he does. Patricia leaves with Breuer but before they can part Erich gets her number. Back at home some time later Gottfried asks Erich if he still has Patricia’s number. Erich says he does not when he really does. He gives Patricia a call and he likes her so much he is awkward on the phone. Erich manages to ask Patricia out to dinner. They go out to dinner the following night. Otto and Gottfried show up. Otto has a nice talk with Patricia.

            The three friends bought a taxi in addition to their mechanic shop. Gottfried had the car out one night and was followed home after one of his political meetings. Someone comes in the middle of the night and stripes the car. After this Gottfried tells the head of the group that he can no longer be a member it is not safe for him anymore. As he and Otto leave the group’s headquarters two men shoot at Gottfried.

            Patricia confesses to Otto one day that when she was young she was very sick and now the sickness has returned. She does not want to marry Erich because she is afraid she will not live long. Otto tells her to go through with marrying Erich and not to tell him how sick she really is. Erich and Patricia get married. While on their honeymoon Patricia collapses. Otto finds her doctor and drives him as fast as possible to get to her in time. The doctor tells Otto to tell Erich that Patricia needs to get to a sanitarium by the middle of October at the latest. Months go by and the middle of October comes and Patricia has not been taken to a sanitarium. She never told Erich she needed to go.

            A riot breaks out in the city. Gottfried is shot and killed. Erich and Otto witnessed the shooting. Otto goes crazy looking for the shooter. He finds the man and kills him.

            Patricia eventually tells Erich she needs to go to the sanitarium. There she will have an operation that will save her life. The surgery will cost them around ten thousand marks. Erich does all he can to come up with the money. Otto sold his beloved car to help. Patricia, not wanting to suffer and not wanting Erich to worry about her, does something she was not supposed to do so soon after her surgery and dies.

            Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullivan, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young had amazing chemistry. I honestly do not believe I have ever seen a cast in a film that has had such perfect chemistry. Watching them act together you could believe the characters Taylor, Tone, and Young played were all the best of friends and that Erich really loved Patricia. Their chemistry makes and their fantastic acting makes you care deeply for their characters. Lionel Atwill was great as always. He had playing a stiff, stern man down to a perfected science.

            Three Comrades is a weepy melodrama but one that was so well made, written, and acted that it keeps you glued to the screen. Three Comrades is based off a book written by Erich Maria Remarque with the screenplay by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This story could not have been written anyone better than Remarque and Fitzgerald. The two authors excellently captured the mood of World War I and its aftermath like no one else did. This is one of the only films that Fitzgerald completed and received screen credit for. Three Comrades is a wonderfully made film that should be better known. 

Three Loves Has Nancy (1938)

Three Loves Has Nancy is one of the funniest most enjoyable classic comedies I have seen. From beginning to end I was so entertained and had such a good time watching it.

            The film starts off with Malcolm Niles (Robert Montgomery) planning how he wants to propose to his girlfriend Vivien. He rehearses all the things he plans to do such as shutting the lights off and how the food is to be brought out. Unfortunately Vivien arrives with her mother and completely ruins Malcolm’s night. The mother says she heard her daughter and Malcolm were engaged and wanted to see what he looked like. Now Malcolm is freaked out he desperately wants out of the relationship. He is a writer and goes to his publisher Bob Hanson (Franchot Tone) to have him sent out on a book signing tour across the country.

            Nancy Briggs (Janet Gaynor) goes to one of the signings with her mother. She tells Malcolm she does not plan on reading his book and totally throws him for a loop. Nancy’s grandmother like Malcolm and even invites him to Nancy’s wedding that night. In the middle of the signing he receives a cable from Bob that Vivian and her mother have left New York.

            Nancy’s fiancé George has skipped town. He just left her a note saying he is in New York City. She thinks he is in trouble and not with another woman like the rest of her family thinks. Her grandfather gives her money to go find George. Malcolm is on the same train Nancy gets on to travel to the city. She drives Malcolm crazy especially when she thinks she leaves her pocketbook behind in a store. Being a nice guy Malcolm goes to try to find the bag in the store the train leaves the station. Once in the city, Nancy goes to the place where George worked. She finds out from the manager that George is believed to have stolen from a customer. She refuses to believe he did it on purpose he must be in some trouble.

            Unfortunately Vivian has come back to New York once she found out Malcolm was coming back from his tour. Bob is not happy about seeing her at all and neither is Malcolm when he finally arrives home. His butler tells him there is a young woman crying in his bedroom. Nancy has come to see him. She has genuinely lost her bag this time someone stole it at the Missing Person’s Bureau. Malcolm goes to kick Nancy out but lets her stay when he hears Vivian say to a friend she and Malcolm will be announcing their engagement soon. He tells his former girlfriend about Nancy when they both hear Nancy and the maid arguing. The maid did not know she was a real guest and tried to kick her  out of the bed. Nancy sees Bob who is literally crazy drunk (he was thinking there as a bird in the house and he was trying to catch it) and brings him his room on the other side of the apartment. When Bob and Nancy leave Vivian tries to make Malcolm jealous by calling another man that she will be over soon. Malcolm is over the moon that she is going to see the other man.

            The next morning Nancy makes Malcolm a nice big breakfast. He asks where his cook has gone and she says she let the cook go because he was not saving any money on the food he was buying. Malcolm is now cranky he does not want any breakfast at all. Bob comes by. He tells Nancy to move into his place. She cooks for him and he cannot get enough. Malcolm comes over to Bob’s. He is writing a story based off Nancy. He finds she is helpful with bouncing his ideas about the characters and storyline off of. Bob keeps calling about what he wants for dinner. Malcolm gets mad at his friend and he tells him he is taking Nancy out for dinner. He does take her out so they can write up some more of the story. Over dinner she tells him that the whole time she has been with him and Bob she has not thought about George.

            Bob is so crazy about Nancy he wants to marry her. Malcolm thinks Bob is crazy and has him go see their old college roommate who has become a shrink. He gets Bob to go by blackmailing him that he will send out notices to find George and he will never see Nancy again. Needless to say the plan backfires especially because to “cure” him will take two years. When he gets home Bob calls his family and Nancy’s family to come to the city to see them get married. When the families arrive there is a class scuffle between them. To make the scene ten times crazier George arrives out of nowhere. Nancy confesses she does not love either Bob or George she loves someone else.

            The last scene is of Nancy and Bob on a train after their wedding.

            All three main actors were absolutely fantastic. Janet Gaynor was ridiculously adorable and wonderful. No other actress could have played the part of Nancy Briggs so perfectly. Gaynor made playing the character who is naïve but know what she wants and is very caring seem so effortless. I loved seeing Robert Montgomery be so flustered. He is usually plays cool, charming characters and here his character did not know what to feel or how to act to this woman who just randomly came into his life. Franchot Tone I am liking more and more whenever I see him in a film. I liked how he played Bob towards the end when he is crazy in love with Nancy. Gaynor, Montgomery, and Tone were all perfect together

            Three Loves Has Nancy is one of those classic comedies that should be more well known. It is not a perfect comedy (even though Franchot Tone is great in this his character was not really needed as much as he was and the story is a bit uneven) but is just fun to sit through. I cannot wait to own Three Loves Has Nancy on DVD eventually.

 

Dancing Lady (1930)

“I've got good legs, Mr. Gallagher.”
“Yes, so I've noticed, but don't let them run away with you.” 

            When I think of Pre-code films I often think of gangster films or films where there are tough woman working their way through life like Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face or Loretta Young in Born to be Bad. There are plenty of good Pre-code musicals but the one that sticks in my mind best is Gold Diggers of 1933 which is so excellent. When I went to watch Dancing Lady I did not even realize it was made in 1933 making it a Pre-code. I found it to be a very good example of a Pre-code not so much with its story but with some of the actions and things that are said.

            Janie Barlow (Joan Crawford) is a Burlesque dancer. The show gets raided one night on charges of indecency (good lord can you imagine what people would get picked up on today! Can you imagine their shock and horror of some of the rated R films today?!) and unfortunately Janie gets picked. But before she can spend the night in jail her bail is made by a rich man with nothing better to do named Tod Newton (Franchot Tone). Tod frequents the burlesque where Janie worked and liked her and basically wanted to get with her. He takes her out to dinner after she is released and he says he can help her get to Broadway. Janie says thank you but wants to get there by herself not with his money and help. When she gets home that night she opens a letter from Tod that says what words and sayings she should not use and what types of close to wear along with fifty dollars. Janie is mortified especially because he gave her money, she goes to tear up the money but her roommate stops her since that can buy a lot of groceries. The roommate mentions before they go to bed that a stage director named Patch Gallagher (Clark Gable) is putting on a new show and also to keep dreaming because he will never see.

            Determined more than ever, Janie goes to Patch’s office the next day. In the office a woman walks out who has a part and Janie notices the woman has a southern accents so she tries it too when she is walked over to Patch. As soon as she is literally pushed out the door by the stage manager Steve Janie drops the accent and gives the guy a great attitude. For days Janie follows Patch around like a stalker just trying to talk to him.

            Tod sees how bad Janie wants a job so he writes a letter to his producer friend Jasper Bradley. Bradley immediately takes Janie into his office and sends her down to Patch for an audition. As soon as Steve finds out she is coming to them through a friend of Bradley’s they put her through the ringer and do not plan on letting her into the show. Janie says out loud she knows she is getting the brush off but they are not going to lick her and she tries harder than ever. Steve sees that Janie does have real talent so he calls Patch over. Patch gives in and gives Janie a spot in the show. He asks her if she really loves dancing and is willing to work long hours and she says she is.

            The chorus girls are not paid but Tod makes a deal with Bradley to have Janie get paid through him with her knowing about since she does not want his help. One weekend Tod takes Janie to his grandmother’s house. While out for a swim, he asks her to marry him. At first Janie is reluctant because she wants to be part of the show it is something she really wants to do. Tod asks her if the show fails then will she marry him and she says yes. In a selfish act Tod has Bradley close the show down so Janie will be free to marry him. Patch is devastated at the news but with some money he has saved up and with some help from Steve they keep the show going.

            After the news about the show and Tod selfishly closing it down, Patch goes out and gets drunk. Janie and Tod are in the same restaurant and he drunkenly tells her what happened to the show. That night Janie goes to Patch’s apartment to smooth things over. She wants the show to be a success but she wants to help it be a success she wants to be in the show again.

            Patch puts Janie back in the show and the audience raves about it when it ends. Tod asks her if she still wants to marry him. Janie says no she loves what she does too much to give it up and she does not want to change the way she is.

            What I really liked this film was how Pre-code it was. I was in heaven with all the innuendo and the sort of seductive touching. In the scene when Patch asks if Janie really wants to be a dancer in the show he tells her to get going and slaps her behind! There is a really good scene with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford where they are working out. He throws the medicine ball too hard at her and hurts her hand. They like the touch so he plays it rough with her again so he can rub another hurt out of her arm. He tries it a third time this time hitting her in the behind thinking he could touch it but she is on to him and says no and sits down. LOVED IT!! Jasper Bradley’s son works with him and the only reason the kid works with him is because of all the girls. The kid is a hound he is constantly chasing and looking seductively at them or like they are a piece of meat. The raciest part of the whole film was at the beginning when Tod spots Janie at the burlesque. The main singer lets her dress slip off her shoulder revealing a bra strap and then the whole company strips down to skimpy outfit. I in doubt can believe that this one of a handful of films that enraged the Breen office and caused there to be a push in censorship.

            I really like Joan Crawford in her early films. Her acting was great and she looked fabulous. There were scenes here and there that her acting was not the greatest but for the most part she did a good job. Her dancing… I do not even know what to say. She had rhythm but she looked so sloppy and too big. To me she looked like an awkward cow (**darting flying objects**)  Clark Gable was Clark Gable he was a rough guy with a soft inside. He (literally) played rough with Janie at first to scare her off and then fell for her hard. Crawford and Gable’s chemistry was great. I know they had a little affair going on outside the studio so I am sure that sexual chemistry carried over onto the screen. What I want to know is what one earth did women see in Clark Gable. I think he was a very good actor but there is no way in hell that I think he was handsome. Franchot Tone I really do not have an opinion of. I have seen him in two other films besides this and really has not and does not leave an impression on me. 

            Fred Astaire makes his screen debut. He plays himself just a dancer in a Broadway show. So if the question ever comes up who was Fred Astaire’s first dance partner it was not Ginger it was Joan Crawford. I think Crawford besides Joan Fontaine in Damsel in Distress is his worst dancing partner. Eve Arden makes a very small appearance as the actress who walks out of Bradley’s office with a southern accent. I love this woman so much I love her attitude and her voice.

            Dancing Lady is a very good example of what a Pre-code film consists of. The story was lackluster and unoriginal even for 1933 but the racy scenes were pretty racy and well done. Dancing Lady is a not a film I would rush out to find unless you are a fan of Joan Crawford or Clark Gable.