Kind of like a poor man's Thin Man film, one with a beauty contest, lions, and Ann Sothern and Franchot Tone substituted in for Myrna Loy and William Powell. Those are big shoes to fill but the pair are not without their own charms, with the banter and teasing flowing naturally early on and Sothern slipping in lines like "Don't you want to examine me? I have some very nice symptoms." Unfortunately, the script undermines them and the film ends up pretty lacking. Before the murder we see the husband's wandering eyes regularly on the young women in bathing suits, with director Busby Berkeley trying to spice things up as best he can under the Production Code. There is a playfulness to it but it gets a little tired as Sothern repeatedly has to reign him in. After the murder the story around the investigation lacks focus and isn't well executed. Perhaps knowing how thin the story was, the filmmakers toss a few lions into the action. Weirdly, they don't help either (go figure). It's really kind of too bad as I thought Sothern and Tone showed promise together. I haven't seen the others in the MGM trilogy (Fast Company, and Fast and Loose), but I guess it shows how tough it can be to make something as good as the Thin Man films.
Review of Fast and Furious
