Um Casal Como Poucos

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.

Joel Sloane, a lawyer, is visited by a friend, Mike Stevens, who wants to borrow some money from him to invest in his boss' business that promises excellent return. Sloane, is reluctant at first, but relents because Mike seems a nice guy. Mike extends him an invitation to come to Seaside for the pageant. Little does Joel know he has already been made a judge in the competition.

As Joel arrives at the resort town with his wife Garda, things begin taking a different twist. The arrival of Eric Bartell in the scene and the murder of Mike's boss present a problem. Mike is hauled to jail for suspicion of being the one that committed the crime. There are other people around that could be involved, but Joel runs in different directions to help Mike and solve the mystery to clear his friend.

At the hotel where the Sloanes are staying there is a lion tamer who plays a trick on them in one of the best moments in the movie. Needless to say, Joel realizes who the real culprit is and unmasks the person at the end for a happy ending.

Busby Berkeley directed this light MGM comedy with his usual eye for style and movement. Best of all are Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern who played the Sloanes with elegance and fun. Others in the film are Ruth Hussey, Lee Bowman, John Miljan and Mary Beth Hughes.

The movie is a light entertainment, a product of the times. Watch it as a curiosity.

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.

When Busby Berkeley moved from Warner Brothers to MGM he wanted to be directing straight dramatic items as well as musicals. MGM obliged him with this Fast And Furious which in its 70 minute running time lives up to its name.

Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern play a married lawyer and wife who works as secretary and they look as playful and hip as Nick and Nora Charles. In fact Tone is asked to be a judge at an oceanside beauty pageant (Atlantic City in all but name) and sees this as a dream vacation. He throws an investment into the pageant and their friend Lee Bowman throws a lot more.

Which is in danger of being lost when it comes to their attention that the organizer John Miljan is going skip with the pageant money without wife Ruth Hussey and with contestant Mary Beth Hughes. In fact Bowman confronts Miljan who winds up shot to death and Bowman looking good for it.

That's when Tone goes to work to clear his friend Bowman. I have to confess I had it wrong in terms of the eventual murderer and that's when I like a mystery.

It's a B film from MGM, but their product would be a big budget item at Monogram or PRC. Tone and Sothern register well as a fun married couple. They have two good scenes, a harrowing one when they are in an elevator shaft and nearly crushed and a rather extended encounter with lion tamer Frank Orth and his 3 lions who are staying at the hotel. They must have one liberal guest policy.

Fast And Furious is the pace of the film and a fun film it is.

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.