Fast and Furious

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.

Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern star as Joel and Garda Sloane in this slick, lighthearted murder mystery. Joel loans his good friend Mike (Lee Bowman) $5,000 to invest in a beauty pageant. Mike invites Joel to the pageant and enlists him as a judge. When the pageant's producer is murdered and the police are convinced that Mike did it, Joel and Garda decide to investigate in order to clear Mike. It's all a bit of a lark since no one really liked the murder victim. As to be expected, Tone and Sothern did a good job with their banter and comedic flair. However, Sothern's Garda's excessive jealousy of Joel's casual attention to the bevy of beauties quickly becomes boring and somewhat annoying. The bit about the lion tamer (Frank Orth) and his two lions is far fetched but quite funny. This is an entertaining and enjoyable movie and is recommended.

Ann Sothern and Franchot Tone are a young married couple in "Fast and Furious" which also stars Allan Joslyn, Ruth Hussey, and Mary Beth Hughes.

A friend hits lawyer Joel Sloane (Tone) up for a loan to finance a beauty pageant taking place at a resort and invites Sloane and wife Garda (Sothern) to come see the show. After they arrive, the boss of the operation is murdered, and Joel's friend is jailed on suspicion. It's up to Joel to stop looking at the bathing suited beauties and solve the case.

This is a routine film, rather slow, with some nice humor. Tone and Sothern are a delightful couple. This is the earliest film in which I've seen Ann Sothern, whom I remember from her TV series as a child. She's gorgeous! A real knockout. She and Tone have the charm and lightness necessary for their roles; it's a shame they couldn't have had a better script.

Though this is directed by Busby Berkeley, there are no flashy dance numbers but he does regale us with some neat camera work.

A very pleasant film.

ANN SOTHERN and FRANCHOT TONE play a husband and wife team, a book dealer and his scheming, scatterbrained wife who get involved with murder at a seaside resort. She tags along to help solve the crime, but mostly because she knows there are too many bathing beauties around that might catch his eye.

Among the suspects are LEE BOWMAN, RUTH HUSSEY, MARY BETH HUGHES and ALLYN JOSLYN, with FRANK ORTH and some tame lions providing some unusual comedy relief. Miss Hussey is the surprise here, playing the sort of "heavy" role as a villainess that she seldom ever essayed in other films. Mary Beth Hughes does her usual blonde beauty routine and Allyn Joslyn is the best character actor in the cast.

With the accent on comedy, it's not difficult for FRANCHOT TONE and ANN SOTHERN to carry the leads with effortless charm.

Probably passed the time pleasantly as the second feature on a double bill, but hasn't dated as badly as some other comedy/mysteries of this sort have. Busby Berkeley is the unlikely director.

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.