Il levriero del mare

Well first off, William Haines was NOT "given the shove" by MGM as noted in another comment here. Haines quit MGM rather than submit to the maniacal hypocrite, L.B. Mayer. Haines had been among MGM's top stars from 1926 til he quit in 1932.

All of Haines' talkies for MGM have that cheap, second-feature look, partly because of Mayer's dislike for the openly gay Haines. But most of his film were hits anyway.

Here Haines plays his usual brassy, smart-ass self as an ex-navy man who has invented a swell motor. After being scuttled by a yacht, Haines and sidekick (the always funny Cliff Edwards) get taken to Catalina where they wheedle their way into the girl's father's boat business. Haines is also sweet on the girl--Madge Evans--but her sour boyfriend--Conrad Nagel--has other plans.

Lots of snappy lines here and an exciting boat-race finish make Haines' last MGM film a bittersweet event. He could have had another decade of film stardom. The chemistry between Haines and Evans is a joy.

As noted elsewhere Karl Dane and Pete Smith make appearances but it's Arthur Byron who plays the father, not Kenneth Thomson.

Ex-sailors William Haines and Cliff Edwards have developed a new kind of engine for motor boats and have come to Catalina Island where apparently everyone has a motor boat to sell it to folks who make a living at racing. Haines manages to blow it with Madge Evans, but with her father Arthur Byron who owns a boat yard and races he scores a big success.

But this is both the Depression and Prohibition and no one including Byron has money to splurge on new inventions. On the romantic front banker Conrad Nagel is cutting in on Evans at Haines's expense. Nagel does however have some secrets that he has to be most discreet about.

This was Billy Haines last film with MGM. He did two more for minor studios and then left acting for the more gay friendly atmosphere in the interior decorating business. It was hard enough to keep Haines closeted when he truly hated the idea of a closet. Fast Life however gives you a good sampling of the kind of smart aleck character that Haines made his specialty. He gets good support from Cliff Edwards as well in the sidekick part.

Conrad Nagel who was a big name in the silent screen era is playing the heavy for a change. A sophisticated heavy to be sure, but a heavy and he scores well in the part.

Over 80 years old and Fast Life is still a pretty funny item.

Navy buddies, Sanderson 'Sandy' Burton (William Haines) and Franz 'Bumpy' Jurgens, leave the service after blowing up a boat. Sandy had invented a revolutionary carburetor and befriends boat builder John D. Jameson who is eager to race the fastest boat. The daughter Shirley Jameson (Madge Evans) is weary of her father racing, but falls for the rogue inventor.

This is a bit of dumb fun. It is maybe too dumb for some people. I would like it to get even dumber and do it more often. They set up some gags. They just need to push them over the top and I would get rid of the gunplay. This is sometimes fun.

Rather boring film about a wisecracking braggart named Sandy (played by William Haines) who, along with his constant, practically joined-at-the-hip sidekick Bumpy, has invented a gas turbine engine which he hopes will make them both millionaires. They meet a wealthy young lady when her Catalina-bound yacht hits their rowboat, and seems her daddy owns a "boat works" company that builds racing boats - perfect for Sandy's new engine! Well, of course, she thinks Sandy is "awful handsome", but 'cause he's such a swaggering, conceited windbag who can't seem to keep his mouth shut, she sort of pretends to still be interested in her stuffed shirt of a boyfriend (Conrad Nagel) - and meanwhile Sandy tries to get the dad to invest in his engine and build a new speedboat to run in the upcoming International Cup race.

Well, I thought this film was just so so, it drags quite a bit through the middle, and has a lot of pretty improbable action going on involving Sandy and Bumpy stealing the new speedboat to try to improve the engine, with the cops constantly on their tails, firing gunshots that never hit them, chasing them via speedboats yet never catching them, and all the while the two men keep arriving back on shore, yet never get caught! This film does have some nice on-location scenes shot at Catalina Island, plus William Haines is always likable and Cliff Edwards (shucks, no ukulele in sight) as Bumpy is somewhat amusing here. Pete Smith plays himself in this, appearing briefly as the Cup race announcer. I thought this was a pretty mediocre film, though boosted up a bit by the appeal of the actors.

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.