"Fast and Loose" was a blundering movie. The "romance" was wonky and unappealing, the characters were flimsy and shallow, and the script was lacking.
The two main characters were Marion Lenox (Miriam Hopkins) and her brother, Bertie Lenox (Henry Wadsworth). Marion was a playgirl who'd gone through a series of suitors and was engaged to be married to Lord Arthur Rockingham (David Hutcheson), a stiff, uptight, proper high-society man. Bertie was a lush who was in love with a chorus girl named Alice (Carole Lombard). They were both from money and the two of them stayed in the headlines due to their hedonistic ways.
Bertie wanted to marry Alice and Marion did not want to marry Rockingham, which would no doubt upset their parents. Marion would eventually break off her engagement when she met the handsome and very southern Henry Morgan (Charles Starrett).
Marion's falling for Henry was odd and embarrassing. He pretty much insulted his way into her heart. The more demeaning and chauvinistic he was, the more she wilted. I don't even know how many times he said what a woman should and shouldn't be doing and with each denigration she grew fonder of him until she was as submissive as a trained puppy. Henry struck me as the type of guy whose favorite joke is, "What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?" (and if you don't know the punchline, look it up). I'm not saying she had to be a banner bearer for women's lib, but have some self-respect. All indications were this is what she had been missing in her life and she found it both repulsive and alluring.
This was actually the second movie of 1930 I've seen in which a boorish man used his boorishness to attract a woman (the other was "Ladies of Leisure"). In both cases the more the guy feigned indifference and behaved like the woman's father, the more the gal fell in love. And as a guy I'm sitting there wondering which women did the writer interview to understand that that's what women look for in a man.
As for "Fast and Loose," Henry was a principled man who wouldn't tolerate any looseness and disrespect from his wife. Marion would have to shape up, leave her money behind and move to the south with him where she could be a proper wife and he could be a proper husband.
Alice (Bertie's girl) was a principled woman who wouldn't tolerate Bertie being a souse. Bertie would have to sober up in order to marry her.
Both potential spouses threatened to abandon marrying their spoiled significant others for good reasons--even Henry. Whatever he was, at least he knew that marrying Marion as she was wouldn't work as opposed to marrying her and then trying to beat her into submission. Both principled potential spouses were also EASILY fooled into marrying the flawed Lenox children. Their father, Bronson Lenox (Frank Morgan--also known as The Wizard from "The Wizard of Oz"), put on a big show about cutting off his kids and never seeing them again, to which Alice and Henry predictably responded with "I'll take care of him/her." It was a pathetic ending for a movie that was limping along to begin with.
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The two main characters were Marion Lenox (Miriam Hopkins) and her brother, Bertie Lenox (Henry Wadsworth). Marion was a playgirl who'd gone through a series of suitors and was engaged to be married to Lord Arthur Rockingham (David Hutcheson), a stiff, uptight, proper high-society man. Bertie was a lush who was in love with a chorus girl named Alice (Carole Lombard). They were both from money and the two of them stayed in the headlines due to their hedonistic ways.
Bertie wanted to marry Alice and Marion did not want to marry Rockingham, which would no doubt upset their parents. Marion would eventually break off her engagement when she met the handsome and very southern Henry Morgan (Charles Starrett).
Marion's falling for Henry was odd and embarrassing. He pretty much insulted his way into her heart. The more demeaning and chauvinistic he was, the more she wilted. I don't even know how many times he said what a woman should and shouldn't be doing and with each denigration she grew fonder of him until she was as submissive as a trained puppy. Henry struck me as the type of guy whose favorite joke is, "What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?" (and if you don't know the punchline, look it up). I'm not saying she had to be a banner bearer for women's lib, but have some self-respect. All indications were this is what she had been missing in her life and she found it both repulsive and alluring.
This was actually the second movie of 1930 I've seen in which a boorish man used his boorishness to attract a woman (the other was "Ladies of Leisure"). In both cases the more the guy feigned indifference and behaved like the woman's father, the more the gal fell in love. And as a guy I'm sitting there wondering which women did the writer interview to understand that that's what women look for in a man.
As for "Fast and Loose," Henry was a principled man who wouldn't tolerate any looseness and disrespect from his wife. Marion would have to shape up, leave her money behind and move to the south with him where she could be a proper wife and he could be a proper husband.
Alice (Bertie's girl) was a principled woman who wouldn't tolerate Bertie being a souse. Bertie would have to sober up in order to marry her.
Both potential spouses threatened to abandon marrying their spoiled significant others for good reasons--even Henry. Whatever he was, at least he knew that marrying Marion as she was wouldn't work as opposed to marrying her and then trying to beat her into submission. Both principled potential spouses were also EASILY fooled into marrying the flawed Lenox children. Their father, Bronson Lenox (Frank Morgan--also known as The Wizard from "The Wizard of Oz"), put on a big show about cutting off his kids and never seeing them again, to which Alice and Henry predictably responded with "I'll take care of him/her." It was a pathetic ending for a movie that was limping along to begin with.
Free on YouTube.