Fast Workers

Fast Workers (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Tod Browning directed film, which I'm going to guess will be my most shocking viewing of the year. Construction working buddies John Gilbert and Robert Armstrong spend the nightlife tracking down girls but Armstrong's got the habit of being hustled by the women. One night he meets one of these hustlers (Mae Clarke) but doesn't know what she's up to. Gilbert does know because he's seeing her on the side. I said this will be my most shocking viewing of the year because this film has one of the worst reputations of any film from the 1930s but I found myself really, really ejoying the film and getting completely caught up in its story. This is also rather shocking because I'm not that big of a fan of Browning's sound pictures. What really worked for me was the three stars who all give very good performances. I was really caught off guard by Gilbert because I had heard he wasn't that good in sound pictures but I found him very entertaining and charming here. Armstrong was very funny in his role and Clarke was giving several good scenes. This is a very strange film as it starts out as a comedy and then moves into a very mean spirited drama and then the director finishes it off like one of his horror films. A very strange film but I really enjoyed it. One of Gilbert's final pictures at MGM as he was to die three years later at the age of 36.