''Fast and Loose'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and starring Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard and

Frank Morgan Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous sound ...

. The film was written by Doris Anderson, Jack Kirkland and

Preston Sturges Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He is credited as being the first screenwriter to find success as a director. Prior to Sturges, other ...

, based on the 1924 play ''The Best People'' by David Gray and

Avery Hopwood James Avery Hopwood (May 28, 1882 – July 1, 1928) was an American playwright of the Jazz Age. He had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920, namely "The Gold Diggers," "The Bat" and "Spanish Love" and "Ladies' Night (In a ...

. ''Fast and Loose'' was released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

. Other films or TV series with identical or similar titles, such as the 1939

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

detective comedy starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell, are not related to this film.

Plot

The Lenox family of Long Island, headed by Bronson and Carrie, is wealthy and respectful of tradition, but their children Bertie and Marion are more irreverent. When Bertie gets involved with a chorus girl, Alice O'Neil, and Marion falls in love with Henry Morgan, an auto mechanic, the family tries to intervene to prevent their children from marrying beneath themselves.

Cast

* Miriam Hopkins as Marion Lenox * Carole Lombard as Alice O'Neil *

as Bronson Lenox * Charles Starrett as Henry Morgan * Henry Wadsworth as Bertie Lenox * Winifred Harris as Carrie Lenox * Herbert Yost as George Grafton * David Hutcheson as Lord Rockingham *

Ilka Chase Ilka Chase (April 8, 1905 – February 15, 1978) was an American actress, radio host, and novelist whose career spanned stage, film, and television. Born into a well-known New York family, she made her stage debut as a child and later became a ...

as Millie Montgomery * Herschel Mayall as Judge Summers A typographical error in the title cards for this film credited starlet Carol Lombard as ''Carole'' Lombard, a name she kept for the remainder of her career.Erickson, Ha
Plot synopsis (Allmovie)
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Production

David Gray and

's play, ''The Best People'', opened on Broadway on August 19, 1924 and ran for 142 performances. (It was later revived in 1933 when it ran for a more modest 67 performances.) Hopwood was a prolific and successful playwright, many of whose plays were adapted into films – his 1919 play '' The Gold Diggers'' provided the template for the

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

series of movie musicals. ''The Best People'' was made into a

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

in 1925, '' The Best People'', before

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

had it refashioned into a vehicle for Miriam Hopkins, an established Broadway star who had just signed with the studio after making the short subject '' The Home Girl'' for them in 1928. ''Fast and Loose'' was her second film appearance. ''Fast and Loose'' was also

' second Hollywood assignment, after '' The Big Pond'' (and its French-language version '' La grande mare''). Carole Lombard, on the other hand, had appeared in over 40 films by the time ''Fast and Loose'' was released, all as "Carol Lombard."

References

External links

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lobby poster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fast And Loose (1930 Film) 1930 films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Films directed by Fred C. Newmeyer Paramount Pictures films 1930 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language romantic comedy films