A husband and wife team who are in rare books and are skillful at recovering stolen volumes for insurance companies become involved in the murder of a fence.A husband and wife team who are in rare books and are skillful at recovering stolen volumes for insurance companies become involved in the murder of a fence.A husband and wife team who are in rare books and are skillful at recovering stolen volumes for insurance companies become involved in the murder of a fence.
- Arnold Stamper
- (as Douglas Dumbrille)
- Danny Scolado
- (as Horace MacMahon)
- MacMillen's Secretary
- (uncredited)
- Safe Expert
- (uncredited)
- Maitre d'
- (uncredited)
- Assistant Dist. Atty. Byers
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe three films of the "Fast Series" were produced by Metro because exhibitors were clamoring for more movies from the Thin Man Series. The "Fast" films were intended to fill that gap.
- GoofsThere's a film editing error when Joel (Melvyn Douglas) wakes tied up after being kidnapped, and says, "Oh, what happened to my head?" Terison (Nat Pendleton) is playing cards. He stops playing, looks up and starts to answer. There's a cut and Pendleton stops playing (again), looks up, and answers.
- Quotes
Lt. James Flanner: [to Joel] Langner tells me that you've worked on some cases of stolen books... that you've helped the insurance companies quite a bit.
Steve Langner: Any favors he does we pay him for. There's not an altruistic bone in his body.
Garda Sloane: Anything you want to know about my husband's bones, Lieutenant, you can ask me.
- ConnectionsFollowed by Fast and Loose (1939)
Apparently the Sloane book dealing business itself isn't doing that well,so Joe has been picking up extra bucks by finding stolen rare books and getting a 10% cut from the insurance company on what they would have had to pay had the books not been found. A friend of the Sloanes, Ned Morgan, has just gotten out of jail for stealing some rare books that were never recovered. He has always proclaimed his innocence, but after he's out of jail it seems the Sloanes and Ned's girl Leah Brockler are the only people who believe him - he can't find a job anywhere. Plus Leah's wealthy dad Otto Brockler (George Zucco) is threatening Ned with more jail if he doesn't leave Leah alone.
Well, next thing Otto is found dead, bludgeoned to death in his office by a statue on his desk. Joel gets involved because the police are already measuring a missing Ned for the electric chair. There are a multitude of suspects including Claire Dodd as Otto's secretary who dresses in expensive fashions considering her small salary, plus a couple of rare book counterfeiters played to perfection by Louis Calhern and Dwight Frye.
The pace is fast moving, the characters interesting, and Joel seems to move effortlessly through his sleuthing paces, just dripping with self confidence. This had me wondering - where did a rare book dealer come up with all of these detective skills? With a mystery film, the question I ask at the end is - would I watch it again, now that I know who did what? The answer in this case is yes - because the characters and just not the twists and turns of the plot make it memorable. Recommended.
- AlsExGal
- Apr 7, 2013
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Rare Book Murder
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 15 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1