"Fast and Furious" has the distinction of being the first American film shown in a newly-liberated Copenhagen, following Denmark's five-year German occupation in World War II.
Third and last in the 'Fast ' trilogy. It began in 1938 with a screenplay by Harry Kurnitz of his "Fast Company" novel and starred Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice as the sleuthing bookseller couple. "Fast and Loose" was released in 1939 with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell. Kurnitz stayed in Hollywood as a screenwriter as well as novelist.
The ship that Jerry Lawrence was booked on for her world cruise in August 1939 was the SS Panama. In reality in August of 1939, the SS Panama was celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal. The SS Panama and her two sister ships, the Ancon and the Cristbol, were part of the Panama Line and were billed as "The Safest Ships in the World" by their owners The Panama Railroad Company. These ships provided service between New York, Haiti, and the Canal Zone. At a cost of $4,000,000 each, they were 493 feet in length and had a top speed of 19 knots.
The gold-embossed eagle on Miss Lawrence's passport is not the one used on
US passports, but the one from the logo of the defunct NRA (1933-35).
The $5000 in 1939 is equivalent to just under $100,000 in 2021.