Fast Life

William Haines' last movie for MGM has him and Cliff Edwards trying to get their speedboat engine perfected. After he hitches a ride to Catalina Island with Madge Evans, he convinces her father, Arthur Byron, to back him. But he's almost broke, and when the engine explodes, he's busted, leading Haines to rob yachts and leave IOUs. Meanwhile, Conrad Nagel is trying to marry Miss Evans, which doesn't suit Haines at all.

There's quite a lot of location shooting on Catalina Island, and Pete Smith turns up for a rare on-screen appearance. Yet while this movie follows the Haines performance -- minus all the gay not-quite-subtext --it wasn't enough. The standard story is that Louis Mayer ordered Haines to marry a woman and ditch his longtime partner Jimmy Shields, or else. Apparently Haines chose or else. But in truth his screen vehicles were not drawing as well as they had when he was Metro's solo talking star. He was aging out of his wise-guy-juvenile persona, and his contract was undoubtedly priced above his current drawing power. So he made two more movies a couple of years later, stayed with his lover for the next fifty, and ran a very successful decorating firm. For a Hollywood second act, it was a happy one.

This is a so-so story, with the typical formula of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again, in combination with a story about speedboat design and racing. There isn't much here to interest today's movie viewer. While there are some movies of the early 1930s which continue to delight us (e.g. Dinner At Eight), this movie isn't one of them.

Lead star William Haines was at the end of his film career. In his biography of Haines, "Wisecracker", author William J. Mann alleges that Haines's career was on the decline partly due to his aging out of the roles he had become typecast in, and also to becoming pudgy. Yet, Haines appears in a swimsuit in this film, looking fit and trim.

The Great Depression made film studios reluctant to make long-term contracts with actors, and when they did, they substantially reduced the salaries paid. Stories of Haines's enmity with MGM brass, and the effects of his personal life, may be apocryphal. The net net is that Haines wasn't making money for MGM any longer, and so he was out.

I wouldn't recommend this film unless you are a real die-hard Haines fan.

It seems from some of the other reviews that some people just don't like William Haines or his movies. However, if you do like his films this is one of his best sound comedies, and his last for MGM. However he wasn't alone as Conrad Nagel and Cliff Edwards are also making their last contract appearances for MGM as that studio did some housecleaning of their early sound stars to make room for the new faces coming on board. Haines was alone in the sense that he chose to leave rather than submit to a fake "lavender marriage" to provide cover for his gay lifestyle as ordered by studio head Louis B. Mayer.

The film is quite amusing and fast-paced. It has the elements you normally find in a Haines comedy as far as his character's brashness outpacing his brains somewhat. Here Haines' character Sandy has an idea for a maritime engine that has the possibility of greatly increasing the speed of a boat. He's been getting no takers until the boat he's in is accidentally hit by the yacht of Shirley, the beautiful daughter (Madge Evans) of the owner of a boat building business. The girl's father, Mr. Jamison, takes a shine to Sandy from the start and agrees to build the boat partially as a business proposition but mainly because he wants to enter it into an international speedboat race and win the trophy for the U.S. out of patriotic pride. The initial prototype burns up on trial, bankrupts Jamison - who does not hold a grudge, and ruins his budding romance with Jamison's daughter - who does hold a grudge. Sandy knows how to fix the design, but everyone involved is broke with the exception of Sandy's competitor for Shirley's affections, banker Burton (Conrad Nagel). How can Sandy redeem himself with thousands of dollars for needed repairs that he doesn't have standing in the way? I'll let you watch and find out.

It was interesting to see Conrad Nagel play a bad guy for a change when his pleasant voice and appearance normally had him playing the hero. This is also a departure from Haines' normal part. Usually he starts out as a proud guy with the world at his feet when some fall from grace teaches him a lesson in teamwork, humility, or the value of hard work. Here, Haines' character starts out penniless and industrious, he's just looking for a break. It's an unusual and somewhat subtle endeavor for MGM into the championing of the working class over the banking class - Nagel plays a banker - that was probably popular with Depression audiences in 1932.

Also note Pete Smith, who made many shorts for MGM, as an announcer in the final scene of the film. Here you get to see Pete rather than just hear him as was the case in his many amusing short films of the era.

I'd recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the early talkies and enjoys the silly brash style of William Haines.

William Haines is a fast-talking ex-sailor with big ideas for building the world's fastest speed boat, winning the love of a rich man's daughter and foiling the plots of a crooked young banker. Maybe some of his dreams will come true, if he can only slow down his hectic FAST LIFE.

The story is silly, as were most of Haines' pictures, but he's always enjoyable to watch. Extensive location shooting around the Catalina Island waterfront gives the film a boost.

Haines is his normal antic, brash self, doing all he can to annoy Madge Evans, as the love interest. Conrad Nagel is the banker, in a pleasant departure from his usual good guy roles. Little Cliff Edwards is funny as Haines' buddy. Karl Dane appears uncredited in a bit part as a wharf watchman. Only a few years before he'd been one of MGM's silent stars, but his thick Danish accent didn't pass the grade in the new world of talking pictures and he quickly faded. He would die a suicide two years after FAST LIFE was released.

This was also to be William Haines' last MGM film. He & Louis B. Mayer had loathed each other for years and Haines was finally given the shove. After a couple of films at a minor studio, he would become a very successful interior decorator.

While William Haines was a very popular actor in his day, I think many of his movies have aged poorly. This isn't so much his fault but that of the studio. MGM insisted on essentially making the same sort of William Haines picture...again and again. In nearly all of them, Haines plays a very talented but cocky guy. Because of this, he ultimately lets everyone down...only to redeem himself by the end of the picture. Here in "Fast Life", Haines plays a cocky sort of guy...but isn't as self-destructive or annoying as he was in many other pictures....as a result, the film is pretty watchable.

Sandy (Haines) and Bumpy (Cliff Edwards) are in the Navy but soon leave in order to pursue Sandy's dream of creating the perfect speed boat. Fortunately, he soon meets up with a rich guy who builds racing boats. Unfortunately, his business is in financial trouble and it looks like he's not going to be able to provide all the funds needed to get it in the big race. To make things worse, the guy who is dating the boss' daughter turns out to be a duplicitous jerk...and he'll do anything to prevent that boat from making it to the race.

This is an enjoyable film with some exicting speedboat scenes....though a few suffer from having crappy rear projection. Apart from this problem, the film is fast-paced and enjoyable....and shows what Haines could do if given a script that isn't strictly the usual formula.