A delightful little crime story, presented by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. On his anthology series, "The Fast Buck" is designed to keep 'em guessing, clearly dealing from the outset with dodgy characters, but keeping its extremely clever plot twists close to the vest.
At the outset, it's great to see Lois Maxwell, everyone's favorite Miss Moneypenny, in a major role for a change, and styled glamorously at that. Setting is at a bar in a British colony in the Far East, where Alexander Gauge and his lawyer George Coulouris are chatting about investments, and Alex is unashamed to admit he's always on the lookout for a quick score.
Lois shows up and is in need of money in a hurry, as she's running away from her husband and has already put down a deposit on a boat ticket outta there. She shows Alex her diamond watch and he offers her a loan of $Malay500 to hold it, to be returned to her when she gets away and sends him the money plus 5% interest.
That night at the bar Alex strikes up a captivating conversation with an Aussie played by John McCullum. After hanging out for hours, and drinking, McCullum mentions he's buying pearls as a gift for his girlfriend and they almost come to blows when Alex talks expertly about the danger of buying pearls locally where inferior ones might be passed off as quality ones rubs John the wrong way -he thinks Alex is calling him a mug. Alex brings up the diamond watch as a better sort of gift, but it's already spoken for, as he's promised to return it to Lois when she pays back the loan. John insists on buying it for $Malay6000 (more than 10 times Alex's loan outlay for it) and writes him a check.
How this escalating story of con jobs is resolved is delicious, extremely entertaining. The show was previously done as a live TV presentation two years before with largely the same cast, but Lois and Coulouris were new players for the second version.
At the outset, it's great to see Lois Maxwell, everyone's favorite Miss Moneypenny, in a major role for a change, and styled glamorously at that. Setting is at a bar in a British colony in the Far East, where Alexander Gauge and his lawyer George Coulouris are chatting about investments, and Alex is unashamed to admit he's always on the lookout for a quick score.
Lois shows up and is in need of money in a hurry, as she's running away from her husband and has already put down a deposit on a boat ticket outta there. She shows Alex her diamond watch and he offers her a loan of $Malay500 to hold it, to be returned to her when she gets away and sends him the money plus 5% interest.
That night at the bar Alex strikes up a captivating conversation with an Aussie played by John McCullum. After hanging out for hours, and drinking, McCullum mentions he's buying pearls as a gift for his girlfriend and they almost come to blows when Alex talks expertly about the danger of buying pearls locally where inferior ones might be passed off as quality ones rubs John the wrong way -he thinks Alex is calling him a mug. Alex brings up the diamond watch as a better sort of gift, but it's already spoken for, as he's promised to return it to Lois when she pays back the loan. John insists on buying it for $Malay6000 (more than 10 times Alex's loan outlay for it) and writes him a check.
How this escalating story of con jobs is resolved is delicious, extremely entertaining. The show was previously done as a live TV presentation two years before with largely the same cast, but Lois and Coulouris were new players for the second version.
