This, the second cinematic version of THE BEST PEOPLE, a play by Avery Hopwood and David Gray that was first staged in 1924 and filmed in 1925, is a period piece that glides over the best efforts of time, its serio-comic point of view intact, a smartly paced affair presenting a strong opportunity for role development beneath its frothy Roaring Twenties backdrop. Paramount casts new contractee Miriam Hopkins for her film debut as wealthy Marian Lenox, along with Charles Starrett as her chauffeur and beau, Carole Lombard ( the "e" was added by a title scribbler for this film), Frank Morgan and whimsical Ilka Chase, all in top form, whilst Preston Sturges reconditions an already witty storyline. The setting is Long Island, where the Lenox clan resides, and where agitation reigns due to prospects of the family's adult son and daughter marrying below their station (to a chauffeur and a chorus girl), culminating with the entire family unintentionally meeting at a roadhouse speakeasy, whereupon a police raid adds to the growing embarrassment and consternation for two generations of Lenox family members. The film is smartly directed, and acted with verve by all cast members, Hopkins a lively delight and reliable Morgan as solid as ever, although it is Broadway standout Chase who steals acting honours with her uninhibited performance, each benefiting from the pungent dialogue of Sturges that maintains an airy tone for a sophisticated romp, this version topping its silent screen predecessor in all elements except for Warner Baxter's memorable playing of the prideful and lovelorn chauffeur.
15 Reviews
Fast and funny
AAdaSC30 November 2010
Marion (Miriam Hopkins) is engaged to Rockingham (David Hutcheson). She does not love him and you know that their relationship isn't going to work out. It doesn't. She calls it off so that she can spend her time with Henry (Charles Starrett), a mechanic. This is too much for Marion's mother, Carrie (Winifred Harris) who is a socially aspiring nightmare of a woman. Carrie is dealt another blow when her son, Bertie (Henry Wadsworth) announces his intention to marry a chorus girl Alice (Carole Lombard). Marion's father, Bronson (Frank Morgan) plays the voice of reason and engineers a happy ending.
This film belongs to Miriam Hopkins. Whenever she is on screen you are never far from a quality insult, especially in the scenes with Charles Starrett when they go swimming at night. She effortlessly insults him and it's great fun to watch. Unfortunately, he is a bit of a lughead and comes nowhere near the level of acting competency or talent that is demonstrated by Hopkins. He is just a big, stupid guy who likes cars. Carole Lombard hardly has a thing to do and is upstaged by her companion, Millie (Ilka Chase). The film is funny and moves at a good pace. It's the usual boy v girl story where we know what is going to happen and it's fun to watch how they get there.
This film belongs to Miriam Hopkins. Whenever she is on screen you are never far from a quality insult, especially in the scenes with Charles Starrett when they go swimming at night. She effortlessly insults him and it's great fun to watch. Unfortunately, he is a bit of a lughead and comes nowhere near the level of acting competency or talent that is demonstrated by Hopkins. He is just a big, stupid guy who likes cars. Carole Lombard hardly has a thing to do and is upstaged by her companion, Millie (Ilka Chase). The film is funny and moves at a good pace. It's the usual boy v girl story where we know what is going to happen and it's fun to watch how they get there.
Fast and Loose, Funny and Fun
dglink17 August 2020
An amusing trifle from the early sound period, "Fast and Loose" concerns the wealthy Lenox family of Long Island, whose two spoiled adult children have fallen for a mechanic and a chorus girl, both decidedly lower class and unsuitable to marry into the family. Based on a play, the short film is stagy and static; director Fred C. Newmeyer, obviously constrained by the new sound-recording process, rarely moves the camera, and his framing is invariably mid-shot, no close-ups at all. The story is predictable fluff, and some of the dated dialogue will have feminists howling. However, with Preston Sturges credited for writing the dialogue, the lines are often quite good, and the film moves at an entertaining pace.
Fortunately, the cast is superior to the flimsy story, with Miriam Hopkins outstanding as Marion Lenox, the multi-engaged young woman, who falls for handsome Henry Morgan, played by future western star, Charles Starrett, in his first credited role. After a moonlight swim together in the ocean, Marion has obviously admired Henry in his bathing suit, because she overlooks his misogynist remarks about women and motor cars and submits to his male dominance. Meanwhile, Marion's inebriated brother, Bertie, played by good-looking Henry Wadsworth, is engaged to showgirl Alice O'Neill, played by a young and lovely Carole Lombard. Lombard is years before emerging into stardom, and she is pleasant, if unremarkable, herein. Frank Morgan and Winifred Harris are fun as the elder Lenoxes, however, Ilka Chase and Barry O'Moore steal their scenes as Alice's wild roommate and Marion's stuffy uncle. Chase's pursuit of O'Moore is quite funny and lightens the film considerably.
Despite a dated script and pedestrian direction, "Fast and Loose" overcomes its flaws with the aid of a fine cast. While no great classic, the film is modestly entertaining and showcases Miriam Hopkins and Ilka Chase, as well as giving early evidence of the talent to come in Preston Sturges and Carole Lombard.
Fortunately, the cast is superior to the flimsy story, with Miriam Hopkins outstanding as Marion Lenox, the multi-engaged young woman, who falls for handsome Henry Morgan, played by future western star, Charles Starrett, in his first credited role. After a moonlight swim together in the ocean, Marion has obviously admired Henry in his bathing suit, because she overlooks his misogynist remarks about women and motor cars and submits to his male dominance. Meanwhile, Marion's inebriated brother, Bertie, played by good-looking Henry Wadsworth, is engaged to showgirl Alice O'Neill, played by a young and lovely Carole Lombard. Lombard is years before emerging into stardom, and she is pleasant, if unremarkable, herein. Frank Morgan and Winifred Harris are fun as the elder Lenoxes, however, Ilka Chase and Barry O'Moore steal their scenes as Alice's wild roommate and Marion's stuffy uncle. Chase's pursuit of O'Moore is quite funny and lightens the film considerably.
Despite a dated script and pedestrian direction, "Fast and Loose" overcomes its flaws with the aid of a fine cast. While no great classic, the film is modestly entertaining and showcases Miriam Hopkins and Ilka Chase, as well as giving early evidence of the talent to come in Preston Sturges and Carole Lombard.
The spoiled heirs and the paupers
hudecha4 December 2020
Not the most original of plots, capricious heiress promised to a British lord falls for mechanic, while her equally spoiled heavy-drinking brother wants to marry a chorus girl. While the ending is no big surprise, the way to reach it is rather more original, as the pleasant and unhurried script finally reaches the more exciting climax it has been preparing. Good acting wins the day, though admirers of Miriam Hopkins will feel more satisfied than those of Carole Lombard, who inherits the fairly small and not so endearing part of the serious chorus girl with admirably strong morals. Still this is very much a pre-code movie, as can be seen in the night beach scene when the heiress and the rather uptight mechanic wonder whether they are both thinking about the same thing as Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden - and conclude it would be more advisable for them to go swimming...
Rich jerks fall for hard working folks.
planktonrules31 October 2022
When the movie starts, you learn that a wild society girl, Marion (Miriam Hopkins), is about to marry some stuffy inbred dullard. The marriage would seem doomed from the outset...and fortunately, Marion realizes this before it's too late. How? Well, she meets a nice normal guy and she's captivated by him. Unfortunately for her snobbish mother, the guy is a mechanic. But here's the rub...he is a smart guy and wants nothing to do with marrying Marion, as she's totally spoiled! And, it turns out, her brother wants to marry a chorus girl...and she doesn't think he's good enough for her...as he's totally spoiled as well! Is there any hope?
This film is cute and enjoyable. Predictable? Of course...but a nice little film with a few nice performances....and particularly good for 1930.
This film is cute and enjoyable. Predictable? Of course...but a nice little film with a few nice performances....and particularly good for 1930.
Would've Worked Better A Few Years Later As A Screwball
boblipton13 July 2022
Despite some heavyweight writing credits -- Avery Hopwood co-wrote the play, and Preston Sturges contributed dialogue to the movie -- and some fine performers -- Frank Morgan, Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard, and Ilka Chase in the best role in the movie -- I was not impressed. It starts out with Miss Hopkins engaged to David Hutcheson. It's a marriage of desire; he desires her family fortune, and Miss Hopkins' mother, played for the stage by Winnifred Harris, desires a title for her daughter. Meanwhile, Miss Hopkins' brother, played callowly by Henry Wadsworth, wants to marry Miss Lombard. This all falls apart when Miss Lombard spots Charles Starrett swimming in the moonlight. She pursues him, only to discover he's the auto mechanic daddy Morgan has hired. She wants him nonetheless, but he isn't going to marry her because she has too much money. Meanwhile, the parents find out, and start measures to end these unsuitable matches.
It all culminates in a very funny scene in a roadhouse, where Miss Chase steals everyone's thunder. But there's a long summing up, ending in the conclusion that too much unearned money is dead weight on the recipient's character. True enough, but this show fails by not following this line to its logical conclusion. In the end it's a romantic comedy that in a few years would have been a fine little screwball farce. It's pleasant enough in spots, but far too conventional.
It all culminates in a very funny scene in a roadhouse, where Miss Chase steals everyone's thunder. But there's a long summing up, ending in the conclusion that too much unearned money is dead weight on the recipient's character. True enough, but this show fails by not following this line to its logical conclusion. In the end it's a romantic comedy that in a few years would have been a fine little screwball farce. It's pleasant enough in spots, but far too conventional.
Disasterpiece
view_and_review12 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
"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.
Free on YouTube.
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.
A great early screwball comedy
AlsExGal16 September 2009
In the midst of the Great Depression films often focused on the antics of the idle rich, with the best of these being made at Paramount. This film is about a wealthy family that is thrown into chaos when the son wants to marry a chorus girl (Carole Lombard) and the daughter (Miriam Hopkins) wants to marry a mechanic (Charles Starrett). Even though Carole Lombard is second billed in this film, she is practically a statue here -beautiful to look at, but having only a line here and there. This is really Miriam Hopkin's film as Marion Lenox, and she does a great job as the poor little rich girl that doesn't know what she wants until she meets the man of her dreams that turns out to be the family's newly hired mechanic. Frank Morgan plays his part as the father, Bronson Lenox, with all the befuddled flair we've come to expect from him. The whole film comes to a head when Bronson and his brother meet the chorus girl fiancée of Bronson's son at a roadhouse intending to convince the chorus girl to leave his son alone. Unfortunately Bronson's son shows up at the same roadhouse that night as well as Bronson's daughter with the mechanic in tow. There is a big scene between all involved that is only interrupted by a raid on the establishment.
Ilke Chase, as Carole Lombard's close friend and fellow chorus girl, is a great comic touch. The story calls for Carole's character to be sober and responsible, so Ilke is added as a counter to all of that. She physically resembles 30's Warner character actor Aline McMahon, but she has the wildness of all of the Gold Diggers of 1933 rolled into one with Winnie Lightner thrown in for good measure. Her vamping of Bronson Lenox's emotionally embalmed brother is hilarious.
One of the forerunners of the screwball comedies of the 1930's, ironically Miriam Hopkin's part here reminds me a bit of the part that Carole Lombard plays in 1936's "My Man Godfrey". Very entertaining and highly recommended if you run across this one.
Ilke Chase, as Carole Lombard's close friend and fellow chorus girl, is a great comic touch. The story calls for Carole's character to be sober and responsible, so Ilke is added as a counter to all of that. She physically resembles 30's Warner character actor Aline McMahon, but she has the wildness of all of the Gold Diggers of 1933 rolled into one with Winnie Lightner thrown in for good measure. Her vamping of Bronson Lenox's emotionally embalmed brother is hilarious.
One of the forerunners of the screwball comedies of the 1930's, ironically Miriam Hopkin's part here reminds me a bit of the part that Carole Lombard plays in 1936's "My Man Godfrey". Very entertaining and highly recommended if you run across this one.
Chase the Flapper
richardchatten1 January 2020
Leaden direction from Fred Newmeyer meets its match in a surprisingly saucy Miriam Hopkins making a very Pre-Code feature film debut in frizzy blonde hair and a bathing suit, aided by saucy dialogue by Preston Sturges. Also featured are a bare-armed Ilka Chase as a lithe young flapper in a backless dress (goodness me, this WAS a long time ago!), Blighty's David Hutcheson (also making his film debut while in the US appearing on Broadway), who was never young; and Amazonian matriarch Winifred Harris, who towers over most of the rest of the cast - men included!
Great fun!
Great fun!
Depression Fantasies Come to Life - Fast and Loose
arthur_tafero4 October 2022
Nothing pleased Depression Era audiences more than when working class people like chauffeurs and chorus girls got to date the rich sons and daughters of those with lots of money to waste. 99% of the audience fantasized it would be them as the rich son or daughter's new companion, because 99% of them were poor. Of course, they had no such change in real life. But for an hour or so, they could at least dream. I will take Carole Lombard over Miriam Hopkins for overall effect. The plot of the film is pretty original; as original as a copying machine. Don't bother watching this turkey unless you want to see an early Lombard performance.
Strong attention to bluster and form - minimal fun
I_Ailurophile22 March 2022
I haven't seen many movies that so plainly impressed as emphatically derived from a stage play. The film is divided into small, distinct scenes with a change of setting, and at the same time that dialogue is pointedly articulated and sometimes even stilted in its delivery, the sense of humor throughout is drastically restrained, as though the form of the presentation were more important to the producers than its content. Then, too, while as a sound picture 'Fast and loose' certainly dispenses with the exaggerated facial expressions and body language in performances that characterized the transition in the silent era from theater to film, instead we're treated to unmistakably embellished, ham-handed acting that is in no way nuanced, or natural.
I suppose all this was quite intentional, but I also suppose that it's very earnest in this construction. That's unfortunate, because if 'Fast and loose' were ironic, genuinely making fun of the style and substance herein - well, that may have been the best chance for this to truly be enjoyed. This could have been a satire - of prominent classism, sexism, nonsensical moralizing, and antiquated conservative values - but instead comes across more as unwanted sober sincerity. And it's not possible to meaningfully assess the contributions of the cast, the screenwriters, or director Fred C. Newmeyer when the feature seems to care so much more about faithfulness to an ideal than to the utmost spirit it could communicate.
I understand and appreciate that 'Fast and loose' reflects a simpler aesthetic, and a simpler notion of entertainment, for a simpler time. I also can't state clearly enough that I've seen titles preceding or succeeding 'Fast and loose,' or that were its contemporaries, that were much more fun, and aimed to be so. Half the runtime passed before I cracked a smile, or detected any real cleverness, and even at only a brisk 70 minutes, this feels overly long. What's remarkable is that even with comedic genius Carole Lombard joining the cast - I can recognize the definite skill that all the assembled players possess, but it rather seems like the movie doesn't want them to show what they're capable of. The fleeting one or two laughs this delivers are surrounded with tawdry gaucheness, and or social mores that were outdated upon conception, that reduce any sense of amusement to its most infinitesimal arrangement. Those qualities, and the rigid conformation of the film's craft, are so "paramount" in this production as to overwhelm all else.
I have no frame of reference by which to speak to the play 'The best people' that this is based on, but if this feature is any indicator, I don't know that I'd have much positive to say about David Gray and Avery Hopwood's writing, either. There are some good ideas here, but they are subsumed by a vast preponderance of boorish, grating pomposity of one fashion or another. The cast are wasted, the fine work of crew members behind the scenes are wasted - and the viewer's time is wasted. True, there are still worse films out there one could watch. Yet I entered with high expectations, being an enthusiastic fan of the silent era, of Carole Lombard, of old films generally - and I leave both frustrated and disappointed. Frankly, even if you're a diehard fan of someone involved here, there's so little enjoyment to be had in 'Fast and loose' that you're better off just not bothering.
I suppose all this was quite intentional, but I also suppose that it's very earnest in this construction. That's unfortunate, because if 'Fast and loose' were ironic, genuinely making fun of the style and substance herein - well, that may have been the best chance for this to truly be enjoyed. This could have been a satire - of prominent classism, sexism, nonsensical moralizing, and antiquated conservative values - but instead comes across more as unwanted sober sincerity. And it's not possible to meaningfully assess the contributions of the cast, the screenwriters, or director Fred C. Newmeyer when the feature seems to care so much more about faithfulness to an ideal than to the utmost spirit it could communicate.
I understand and appreciate that 'Fast and loose' reflects a simpler aesthetic, and a simpler notion of entertainment, for a simpler time. I also can't state clearly enough that I've seen titles preceding or succeeding 'Fast and loose,' or that were its contemporaries, that were much more fun, and aimed to be so. Half the runtime passed before I cracked a smile, or detected any real cleverness, and even at only a brisk 70 minutes, this feels overly long. What's remarkable is that even with comedic genius Carole Lombard joining the cast - I can recognize the definite skill that all the assembled players possess, but it rather seems like the movie doesn't want them to show what they're capable of. The fleeting one or two laughs this delivers are surrounded with tawdry gaucheness, and or social mores that were outdated upon conception, that reduce any sense of amusement to its most infinitesimal arrangement. Those qualities, and the rigid conformation of the film's craft, are so "paramount" in this production as to overwhelm all else.
I have no frame of reference by which to speak to the play 'The best people' that this is based on, but if this feature is any indicator, I don't know that I'd have much positive to say about David Gray and Avery Hopwood's writing, either. There are some good ideas here, but they are subsumed by a vast preponderance of boorish, grating pomposity of one fashion or another. The cast are wasted, the fine work of crew members behind the scenes are wasted - and the viewer's time is wasted. True, there are still worse films out there one could watch. Yet I entered with high expectations, being an enthusiastic fan of the silent era, of Carole Lombard, of old films generally - and I leave both frustrated and disappointed. Frankly, even if you're a diehard fan of someone involved here, there's so little enjoyment to be had in 'Fast and loose' that you're better off just not bothering.
Love, unhappiness and independence among the idle rich.
mark.waltz4 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This is the type of drawing room comedy that dominated the 1920's and 30's with both social relevance, a bit of sophisticated humor and a glimpse into a world that depression- era audiences longed to at least get a view of. Frank Morgan is the wealthy patriarch of this family where his son and daughter both find love with partners Morgan is suspicious of.
Miriam Hopkins is the leading lady as Morgan's daughter, falling in love with a noble mechanic (Charles Starrett) while her more irresponsible younger brother (Henry Wadsworth) falls in love with the pretty chorus girl Carole Lombard whom Morgan believes is a gold digger. Delightfully stagy, this is one of the best early sound comedies and features some great lines and a terrifically sassy performance by stage legend on Ina Claire as an eccentric friend of the families.
Lombard has very few scenes, but it's very interesting to see her in several of those with fellow blonde Miriam Hopkins in her very first film. Lombard had been around for a couple of years but was working her way up bit by bit. This film assured her place as one of Paramount's brightest stars, and she shows a penchant for comedy that she wouldn't get to do for a few more years.
Morgan is far from the flibberty- gibbit character that he would play in many of his later films, and it is a reminder that he had started off his acting career in more serious parts. The last scene brings everything together all very nicely with the truth of who each of the major characters are being revealed and Morgan making surprising discoveries as to what class really is.
Miriam Hopkins is the leading lady as Morgan's daughter, falling in love with a noble mechanic (Charles Starrett) while her more irresponsible younger brother (Henry Wadsworth) falls in love with the pretty chorus girl Carole Lombard whom Morgan believes is a gold digger. Delightfully stagy, this is one of the best early sound comedies and features some great lines and a terrifically sassy performance by stage legend on Ina Claire as an eccentric friend of the families.
Lombard has very few scenes, but it's very interesting to see her in several of those with fellow blonde Miriam Hopkins in her very first film. Lombard had been around for a couple of years but was working her way up bit by bit. This film assured her place as one of Paramount's brightest stars, and she shows a penchant for comedy that she wouldn't get to do for a few more years.
Morgan is far from the flibberty- gibbit character that he would play in many of his later films, and it is a reminder that he had started off his acting career in more serious parts. The last scene brings everything together all very nicely with the truth of who each of the major characters are being revealed and Morgan making surprising discoveries as to what class really is.
Underrated Gem of Wealthy Siblings who meet their match among the Middle Class
HarlowMGM8 August 2022
This unheralded little light comedy-drama was a happy surprise; when it is discussed it usually is panned harshly (Leonard Maltin I believe rated it only one and a half stars) but I found it very appealing and a pleasant film. Star Miriam Hopkins is a bit of an acquired taste, there is always a touch of sourness to her performances, no sweet, friendly ingenue she, unlike most blonde star. Give her a role where she is caustic or scheming however and she is superbly cast (Becky Sharp, The Old Maid, Old Acquaintance) and gives a great performance. Here she plays a role a touch in that vein and it's one of best performances and let's her have a warmer edge to her mischievousness. She's a bored heriess engaged to a Lord she's disinterested strictly because her family wants her to marry a title (it's a nice touch while the Lord is in the relationship for the money as per usual, he's not the sleazy creep of other films but rather a dullard.) Miriam adores her brother (Barry Hutchinson) who is secretly engaged to chorus girl Carole Lombard and envies their loving, playful relationship. She breaks the engagement in pursuit of real love and stumbles upon handsome hunk Charles Starrett at the beach. They quarrel a bit that first night but Miriam comes back for seconds the next night, finding romance for the first time. Trouble is she eventually learns he is a mechanic and she is an heiress - and he happens to be employed by her father. When Miriam and Barry's father learns of his romance with showgirl Carole he schemes to buy her off, unaware his daughter is also now in a relationship "beneath" the family.
Charles Starrett would be a popular western movie star a few years later but here is one gorgeous hunk of a romantic leading man (check out those photos on the IMDb page to this movie!) very believable as the sort of Adonis a love-struck woman would chase after despite any obstacles. (I also found it amusing that his somewhat strong Southern accent provokes Miriam's own to come to the surface at times, particularly on certain words.) Carole Lombard is lovely but hers is a pretty small part despite her second billing (understandable since she was the only Paramount contract player in the film besides Miriam) and the rather unknown Barry Hutchinson is very good as the boozy brother. Ilka Chase is a revelation as Carole's horny, man-hungry pal. Ms. Chase is best known for playing elegant society women like Bette Davis' sister-in-law in Now Voyager but here she's a thin, physical comedienne along the lines of Charlotte Greenwood and Joan Davis. Fast and Loose is indeed fast and rather loose, too. Recommended.
Charles Starrett would be a popular western movie star a few years later but here is one gorgeous hunk of a romantic leading man (check out those photos on the IMDb page to this movie!) very believable as the sort of Adonis a love-struck woman would chase after despite any obstacles. (I also found it amusing that his somewhat strong Southern accent provokes Miriam's own to come to the surface at times, particularly on certain words.) Carole Lombard is lovely but hers is a pretty small part despite her second billing (understandable since she was the only Paramount contract player in the film besides Miriam) and the rather unknown Barry Hutchinson is very good as the boozy brother. Ilka Chase is a revelation as Carole's horny, man-hungry pal. Ms. Chase is best known for playing elegant society women like Bette Davis' sister-in-law in Now Voyager but here she's a thin, physical comedienne along the lines of Charlotte Greenwood and Joan Davis. Fast and Loose is indeed fast and rather loose, too. Recommended.
Remake of Silent Film, Miriam Hopkins Movie Debut
springfieldrental22 August 2022
During the first few years of talkies, Hollywood studios had a habit of remaking a number of their silent movies into audible motion pictures. One reason is they held the film rights to the plays they were based on, so it cost less to convert these silent gems into new, retitled sound feature films.
A good example is November 1930's "Fast and Loose." Paramount Pictures had produced its 1925 silent film 'The Best People" (now lost), based on a David Gray and Avery Hopwood 1924 play of the same name. It's a story of a rich family with two older children, Marion Lenox (Miriam Hopkins) and Bertie Lenox (Henry Wadsworth), that are spoiled, snobbish siblings who their dad, Bronson Lenox (Frank Morgan), secretly despises them. The two have a pair of friends who are their complete opposite. Bertie has fallen for chorus girl Alice O'Neil (Carole Lombard), while Marion loves auto mechanic Henry Morgan (Charles Starrett), both whom the Lenox parents feel are beneath their children's high society status.
Relatively new playwright, Preston Sturges, with just two written plays under his belt (the second one, a Broadway megahit called 'Strictly Dishonorable'), was hired by Paramount to write the dialogue for its films. "Fast and Loose" was his second movie for the studio. Sturges was destined to have a bright future in Hollywood, becoming an Oscar winner as well as producing several classics.
"Fast and Loose" was the cinematic debut of Miriam Hopkins. The Savannah, Georgia-born and raised actress appeared first on the stage as a 20-year-old chorus girl in 1922, and soon leapfrogged onto the Broadway stage in musicals and dramatic plays. When talkies arrived, Hopkins signed a contract with Paramount in 1930. She later appeared in a string of popular movies, including the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch hit "Trouble in Paradise," but turned down the lead in 1934's "It Happened One Night." The actress was Margaret Mitchell's choice to play Scarlett O'Hara in 1939's "Gone With The Wind," only to lose out to Vivien Leigh.
"Fast and Loose" was the second movie Carole Lombard appeared for Paramount. A veteran of movies since the early 1920s as a teenager, Lombard was one of Mack Sennett's 'Bathing Beauties,' appearing in 18 short films in the late 1920s. Picking up comedic skills in those shorts, she was most comfortable playing light-hearted movies. Her first talkie was in 1929 'High Voltage. "Fast and Loose" was already her 40th film appearance, but she plays against type here, displaying a serious, mature demeanor. The title writer misspelled her name in the opening credits, adding an "e" to Carol. Lombard loved her new misspelled name so much she adopted it for the remainder of her life. Lombard later married actor Clark Gable.
"Fast and Loose" was also the film debut of actor Charles Starrett, an Athol, Massachusetts-born actor who attended Worcester Academy before graduating from Dartmouth College. He played in several repertory theatre groups before signing with Paramount. He settled into Western parts in the mid-1930s and was cast as The Durango Kid in 1940, the film character he was eternally known for.
A good example is November 1930's "Fast and Loose." Paramount Pictures had produced its 1925 silent film 'The Best People" (now lost), based on a David Gray and Avery Hopwood 1924 play of the same name. It's a story of a rich family with two older children, Marion Lenox (Miriam Hopkins) and Bertie Lenox (Henry Wadsworth), that are spoiled, snobbish siblings who their dad, Bronson Lenox (Frank Morgan), secretly despises them. The two have a pair of friends who are their complete opposite. Bertie has fallen for chorus girl Alice O'Neil (Carole Lombard), while Marion loves auto mechanic Henry Morgan (Charles Starrett), both whom the Lenox parents feel are beneath their children's high society status.
Relatively new playwright, Preston Sturges, with just two written plays under his belt (the second one, a Broadway megahit called 'Strictly Dishonorable'), was hired by Paramount to write the dialogue for its films. "Fast and Loose" was his second movie for the studio. Sturges was destined to have a bright future in Hollywood, becoming an Oscar winner as well as producing several classics.
"Fast and Loose" was the cinematic debut of Miriam Hopkins. The Savannah, Georgia-born and raised actress appeared first on the stage as a 20-year-old chorus girl in 1922, and soon leapfrogged onto the Broadway stage in musicals and dramatic plays. When talkies arrived, Hopkins signed a contract with Paramount in 1930. She later appeared in a string of popular movies, including the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch hit "Trouble in Paradise," but turned down the lead in 1934's "It Happened One Night." The actress was Margaret Mitchell's choice to play Scarlett O'Hara in 1939's "Gone With The Wind," only to lose out to Vivien Leigh.
"Fast and Loose" was the second movie Carole Lombard appeared for Paramount. A veteran of movies since the early 1920s as a teenager, Lombard was one of Mack Sennett's 'Bathing Beauties,' appearing in 18 short films in the late 1920s. Picking up comedic skills in those shorts, she was most comfortable playing light-hearted movies. Her first talkie was in 1929 'High Voltage. "Fast and Loose" was already her 40th film appearance, but she plays against type here, displaying a serious, mature demeanor. The title writer misspelled her name in the opening credits, adding an "e" to Carol. Lombard loved her new misspelled name so much she adopted it for the remainder of her life. Lombard later married actor Clark Gable.
"Fast and Loose" was also the film debut of actor Charles Starrett, an Athol, Massachusetts-born actor who attended Worcester Academy before graduating from Dartmouth College. He played in several repertory theatre groups before signing with Paramount. He settled into Western parts in the mid-1930s and was cast as The Durango Kid in 1940, the film character he was eternally known for.
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