Fast Workers

In some ways, this is like "La Chienne." The characters are simple, Everyman-types. The characters are basically a guy, a girl, the guy's buddy. The plot seems inevitable.

Tod Browning directed "Freaks" at just about the same time. How different from that this is! And Robert Armongstrong, very appealing as a kind of goofy loser here, played Carl Denham in "King Kong" the same year! Mae Clark, though she plays a tough, hard woman, is appealing. She is costumed interestingly against type. She doesn't look like a siren or a bad girl. She always wears a hat and an innocent looking suit. Though she is not kind of Armstrong, I don't think we're meant to dislike her.

The star is John Gilbert. He was such a good actor, too. He looks dissipated and considerably older than he was. But he is fully up to the admittedly somewhat rather minor demands of the role. What a shame that his career ended so badly and so soon after this came out!

There were two main reasons for wanting to watch 'Fast Workers'. Primarily that it was silent film star John Gilbert's MGM swansong and one of his sound pictures, that are not very well regarded at all generally (in a few cases understandably so but others are not bad). Also that it was directed by Tod Browning, known more for his horror films, so he was an interesting choice for director and especially for a type of film that if done right would have been quite light-hearted and witty.

'Fast Workers' to me is actually one of Gilbert's better talkies, 'Downstairs' being his best of the ones where he is the main lead. While it is not a great film and could have done with a much lighter touch later on, it does charm and amuse initially and actually looks and feels competent (something that was not the case with a couple of Gilbert's other talkies, it is much better than 'Redemption' and 'Way of a Sailor'). While the flaws are evident and glaring, a lot works in 'Fast Workers' favour.

One being Gilbert. The role is not a likeable or well fleshed out one, but Gilbert brings a lot of personality and confidence to it and has a lot of appeal. Mae Clark has charm and is at ease with her less serious moments and Robert Armstrong, despite his character being too much of an idiot at times, is amusing. Most of the acting is good. Browning provides some of the best direction of any of Gilbert's talkies, despite some heavy-handedness later on, most of them being badly directed but Browning directs with style and crispness as well as some nice atmosphere (namely because he was one of the few to actually give the impression that he was comfortable in sound pictures).

Visually, 'Fast Workers' is also one of Gilbert's better looking talkies. It doesn't look static and there are some nice visual touches photography-wise without being too clever, the production looks as if a good deal of time and effort went into it. The writing is fun and intriguing in the first two thirds or so and the story mostly engages.

It is an uneven film, having said all of that. Things takes a dramatic turn later on and it becomes heavy on the melodramatic sentiment, pretty ridiculous and almost too mean-spirited, very different to what became before. Browning's direction does as said get too heavy later on and the script loses coherence in the final third too. The central chemistry is too often bland and is agreed pretty turgid. Would have liked the characters to have fleshed out more, these are not really characters worth rooting for, most pretty amoral, and any negative characteristics are sometimes exaggerated.

Not all the acting is great, Sterling Holloway for example came over as annoying and out of place. The ending belongs more in a horror film and doesn't gel with the rest of the film.

Concluding, not a bad film and one of Gilbert's better talkies. Still could have been better though. 6/10

One cannot help but wonder how this film could have been made, even at the height of the era of mass production at the Hollywood dream factory. It is frankly utterly boring and I had lost interest totally two thirds of the way through. It will be of interest only to scholars and film buffs tracking the demise of the career of John Gilbert. That was my reason for viewing it. The basic plot is implausible and there is too much talk and obscure dialogue. The direction is heavy handed and it appears as if the director considered it a chore. Browning was at his best with macabre/horror type films and he is all at sea here. If Mayer was intent on destroying Gilbert's career, then there is no better proof of evil intent than casting him in such a vehicle in his final role under contract to MGM. It could have been intended only as a second feature/programme filler. As a jazz follower I am convinced the leading black musician(uncredited) in the cabaret scene is Lionel Hampton, then totally unknown, who within a very short time became a leading figure of the swing era in the Benny Goodman Trio/Quartet and later a highly successful band leader in his own right.

Fast Workers (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Tod Browning directed film, which I'm going to guess will be my most shocking viewing of the year. Construction working buddies John Gilbert and Robert Armstrong spend the nightlife tracking down girls but Armstrong's got the habit of being hustled by the women. One night he meets one of these hustlers (Mae Clarke) but doesn't know what she's up to. Gilbert does know because he's seeing her on the side. I said this will be my most shocking viewing of the year because this film has one of the worst reputations of any film from the 1930s but I found myself really, really ejoying the film and getting completely caught up in its story. This is also rather shocking because I'm not that big of a fan of Browning's sound pictures. What really worked for me was the three stars who all give very good performances. I was really caught off guard by Gilbert because I had heard he wasn't that good in sound pictures but I found him very entertaining and charming here. Armstrong was very funny in his role and Clarke was giving several good scenes. This is a very strange film as it starts out as a comedy and then moves into a very mean spirited drama and then the director finishes it off like one of his horror films. A very strange film but I really enjoyed it. One of Gilbert's final pictures at MGM as he was to die three years later at the age of 36.

When most folks who love old movies hear the name Todd Browning, they think of the ultra-creepy films he directed--stuff like "Dracula", "Freaks" and "The Unknown". However, Browning did also direct some 'normal' films, and "Fast Workers" is nothing like his scary and dark pictures. Instead, this film is a pre-code sleaze- fest--a film that drips cynicism from start to finish. It also marks the end of John Gilbert's career with MGM.

Gunner (Gilbert) is a guy who spends his evenings in bars and chasing floozies. He is hardly the romantic type--more the sort of guy who can see through cheap dames and loves 'em for what they are. His pal, Bucker (Robert Armstrong) THINKS he's also wise to women but in reality he's naive and kind of stupid. When Bucker meets Mary (Mae Clark), he believes all the ridiculous lies that she hands him to get his money and soon he believes he and Mary are going to become husband and wife. But while she's dating Bucker, she's also hanging with Gunner---and she's more than willing to have both men at the same time and bleed Bucker dry. When Gunner realizes what's happening a rare thing bothers him...his conscience. As for Mary, the same might just be happening as well. What's next?

This film is very typical of many pre-code films--it's extremely jaded and coarse compared to later Hollywood movies. Women are mostly tramps and men are often idiots or pimp-types. Seen today, it might shock viewers who have no idea that films from about 1930 to mid 1934 were often wild and espoused a very loose sort of morality!

For me, despite the film's ridiculously high score of 8.2, it had some serious problems. The writing wasn't great. In particular, Armstrong's character was just TOO stupid--and wasn't very believable. Had the guy been toned down a bit and therefore more believable, the film would have worked better. Plus, with Mary and Gunner being so amoral...how could they possibly have pangs of conscience?! A film with some very interesting moments (such as when the guys building the skyscraper are staring in windows at naked women), but a sub-par film for Browning and a sad end to Gilbert's career with a great studio. Despite excellent reviews by most folks, I agree with Lionel-21--it was the nadir for both guys' careers.