Synopsis
1938's PRIZE Mystery Novel! Now a Picture with twice the laughs and excitement!
Married book-dealers Joel & Garda Sloane try to clear a friend in the murder of a rival book-seller.
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Fast Company
Cast
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Producer
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Original Writer
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Alternative Titles
Rare Book Murder, Amigos peligrosos
Releases by Date
Theatrical limited
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USA
Theatrical
08 Jul 1938
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
05 Jul 1938
- Theatrical limited New York City, New York
08 Jul 1938
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
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“This thing is apt to blow the whole rare book business sky high.”
The first of three Garda and Joel Sloane mysteries, each with different leads, Fast Company is the best of the trio, primarily because of the presence of Melvyn Douglas, cast opposite Florence Rice. These Thin Man imitations are light and breezy, though not as breezy as they might have been, originating at MGM, which never handled B-movies as well as the other studios, especially RKO and Fox, not caring to soil its dainty slippers.
In this entry, crooked rare-book dealer Otto Brockler (George Zucco) gets himself killed, and the main suspect is Ned Morgan (Shepperd Strudwick), the ex-con boyfriend of Brockler’s daughter, Leah (Mary Howard). It’s up…
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Sure, the “Fast” trilogy is a poor imitation of the Thin Man series, but I adore it. We get Robert Montgomery, Franchot Tone, and Melvyn Douglas each with a turn as Joel Sloane and in all three cases, they do have a delightful chemistry with their respective Gardas- Douglas and Florence Rice in this film perhaps being my favorite duo. The Thin Man comparisons are inevitable, but these are just so much fun.
This has also been the quarantine of Nat Pendleton- I swear he’s been in, like, half of the films I’ve watched -
"Oooh - of all places."
Ah, the late 1930s. When a short-lived, inconsistently-cast cinematic sleuthing series could revolve around a smooth-talking rare book dealer with an uncanny knack for getting shot in the ass.
Fast Company knows it’s Thin Man-lite, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The film has no great ambitions. It's just going to let Melvyn Douglas be absurdly charming as he flirts and/or bickers with wife Florence Rice (love the little air kisses) and tries to uncover who bumped off a shady fellow dealer of old tomes:
"You know, this is my favorite case: nice surroundings, beautiful woman - I don’t care if we never solve it."
Exactly.
MGM made a total of three of these…
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“Anything you wanna know about my husband’s bones, lieutenant, you ask me.”
The Rare Book Murder
Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice in a Thin Man-esque married rare booksellers caper. But while Loy and Powell seem like they’d be entertaining party guests, Doug and Rice come off like the annoying couple that can’t keep their hands off each other. Claire “She’s what I call a collector’s item” Dodd, forever the other woman, is eating olives suggestively and secretly plotting with Louis Calhern, which is honestly enough for me to consider this success, and that’s before Nat Pen shows up late to play a bad-tempered but lovable gangland killer. If there is one thing that sets this firmly apart from Powell’s super sleuth Nick Charles, it’s that Douglas’ character is not above getting fully emasculated (i.e. shot in the ass) and does at least three elite commando type moves to disarm the bad guys instead of using his words.
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This is the first in a trilogy of mysteries MGM produced featuring married rare booksellers-turned-amateur sleuths Joel and Garda Sloane. As I commented on the final entry, the trilogy represented MGM’s most concerted effort at recreating the success of the Thin Man series, but it never really succeeded due to a rotating cast of actors in the recurring roles. This is easily the best of the bunch, thanks to the freshness of its setup and to Melvyn Douglas (as Joel). In the 1930s and ‘40s, Douglas often brought an amusingly naughty sexiness to his performances. Like Clara Bow, he reminds us that sex has always had the potential to be just plain fun. He has good chemistry with Florence Rice…
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All that really matters in these Thin Man-inspired series is the chemistry between the stars and, sister, Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice are lousy with it.
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I do appreciate the 1930s film phenomenon of happy, fun married people solving mysteries together.
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ok probably not a 4 star movie but I do love Melvyn Douglas and his & Florence Rice’s banter is very fun in this! Shame they didn’t do the other two movies together as they have such great chemistry in this!!
Mystery didn’t necessarily have a big reveal as it’s all decently obvious, but it was fun getting there!
& sorry but the air kisses was such a cute character detail
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Here we have foibles nicely served like an even textured and fluffy pink sponge cake with a bit of crime thrown in like Belgian sparkles. The first of three The Thin Man clones here staring Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice a comely married couple who bicker and reconcile easily throughout. We have a wonderful cast of character actors from George Zucco to Claire Dodd to Louis Calhern (sans moustache) and other greats.
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I loved this! Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice were so good together! Their banter was heavenly.
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Sometimes a good Thin Man copy, other times a weak copy. Felt like a half-written script. Melvyn Douglas and his gal Florence Rice had some funny lines, but other times their interactions was practically absent. They clearly hadn't put too much effort into the characters other then that they were supposed to be similar to Powell/Loy. Didn't help that this was built around the "dangerous" secondhand book scene. But I enjoyed it. Douglas carried his bit well, with enough nice looking ladies surrounding him. Plus the baddies looked bad with Dwight Frye as a book-forging psycho and Louis Calhern doing what he does best, that being slimy.
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Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice are wonderful together and a pretty good amount of laughs.
