Rare Books and Murder

 

Read/Watch 'em In Order #171

We still  have a Tom Corbett book to eventually look at as part of the In Order series, but I caught a movie on TCM today that I want to write about. That movie had two sequels made the next year AND I just scored a triple feature disc with all three of the films on it on Ebay. So we'll add them to the In Order line-up. If I get confused and start writing about Tom Corbett being a rare book dealer... well, I'll try to keep it all straight. Besides, Tom would only deal in rare SPACE books.

Anyway, Fast Company (1938) was directed by Edward Buzzell and released by MGM. It's based on a novel written by Marco Page--a pen name for screenwriter Harry Kurnitz, who also co-wrote the screenplay. I'd like to read the book as well, but quick search makes me think an affordable copy will be hard to find.

The movie features Melvyn Douglas as a rare book dealer named Joel Sloan, who runs his business with the help of his wife Garda (Florence Rice). Joel's bookshop doesn't make a lot of money, but he supplements his income with detective work--tracking down stolen rare books and getting rewards from the insurance companies. 

But when a rival and probably corrupt dealer is murdered, a friend of Sloan's is the main suspect. So Sloan is obligated to step up his detective game and look for a killer. 

He has a lot of suspects to chose from. There's Eli Bannerman (Louis Calhern), who--like the dead man--deals in stolen books. Sid Wheeler (Dwight Frye) has a talent for making fake first editions. And the victim's lovely secretary (Claire Dodd) was probably involved in the crooked side of the business as well.

While looking into the murder, Joel often pauses to banter with his wife. The movie is obviously going for a Thin Man vibe. And this is fine, because it suceeds here. Douglas and Rice have a nice chemistry together, their one-liners are often very funny, and she comes across as smart and capable herself. In fact, Garda will get a chance to save Joel's life near the end of the film.

Another similiarity to the first Thin Movie at least is having the protagonist suffer a minor gunshot wound in an... embarassing location. I don't know if that was intentional or coincidental, but it's another fun conntection between the two series. 

The murder mystery in Fast Company is satisfying and the supporting cast is quite good. I always like seeing Dwight Frye outside the Universal monster movies. He was an excellent character actor whose early death in 1943 was a loss to the movie industry.

I also enjoyed seeing former wrestler Ned Pendleton as a less-than-brilliant thug. Ned, by the way, was in several of the Thin Man movies as a less-than-brilliant cop. He was good at playing befuddled and slow-witted character parts. 

The two sequels came in 1939. Provided there's no problem with my getting the DVD, I'll review those soon as well. It will be interesting to compare them, since the Sloans are played by different actors in each of the three films. Douglas and Rice got the series off to a strong start. Will the other actors do as well?