Fast and Loose is a 1939 American thriller film directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell and Reginald Owen. It is a sequel to the 1938 film Fast Company and was followed the same year by Fast and Furious. In each film, different actors played the crime-solving couple.
Contents
Plot
Rare booksellers Joel and Garda Sloane try to solve a murder, which hinges on a missing scrap of a William Shakespeare manuscript.
Cast
Robert Montgomery as Joel Sloane
Rosalind Russell as Garda Sloane
Reginald Owen as Vincent Charlton
Ralph Morgan as Nicholas "Nick" Torrent
Etienne Girardot as Christopher Oates
Alan Dinehart as David Hilliard
Jo Ann Sayers as Christine Torrent
Joan Marsh as Bobby Neville
John Hubbard as Phil Sergeant
Tom Collins as Gerald Torrent
Sidney Blackmer as "Lucky" Nolan
Donald Douglas as Inspector Forbes
Ian Wolfe as Mr Wilkes
Mary Forbes as Mrs Torrent
Leonard Carey as Craddock, Mrs Torrent's butler
Reception
In the March 9, 1939 issue of The New York Times, Frank Nugent wrote: "a sense of humor, a facile style, genial performances and just enough puzzlement to keep us from suspecting the least suspicious member of the cast".
On July 27, 2008, Dennis Schwartz gave the film a B, concluding: “It’s cleverly hidden who the guilty party is until the last minute of the third act, as until then many of the characters wind up with shiners and the son of the tycoon gets cut off from his father’s will for being such a jerk. This enjoyable film is the final pairing of Rosalind and Montgomery, who appeared in several successful films during the 1930s together.”