Fast Life (1932) review - William Haines, fast boats, and a very busy carburetor

If you have a soft spot for fast-talking pre-code comedies where guys in funny hats yell about engines, Fast Life is worth seventy minutes of your Sunday. It is great for anyone who loves William Haines being an arrogant charm-machine, but if you can't stand old-timey boat jargon or thin plots, you should probably skip this one. ⚓

The whole thing is basically about a carburetor. Two navy buddies, played by William Haines and Cliff Edwards, invent this gadget to make speedboats go incredibly fast.

Haines plays Sandy, and he has that classic 1930s energy where he smiles so wide you think his face might crack. He is incredibly smug, but somehow you still want him to win.

Cliff Edwards is there too, doing his usual sidekick thing. He doesn't play his ukulele here, which feels like a missed opportunity, but he has this great bit where he gets super nervous and his voice does that funny little squeak.

The Workshop is Better Than the Race

After they get out of the Navy, they try to sell their invention to a big boat builder. Of course, they run into money troubles because that is how these movies work.

There is a romance plot with Madge Evans that feels like it was written on a napkin during lunch. She plays the builder's daughter, because of course she does.

Their first meeting is so rushed it actually made me laugh out loud. She almost runs him over with a boat, and two minutes later they are practically planning a wedding.

The movie is at its best when it's just Haines and Edwards messing around in the workshop. There's this one scene where they are trying to hide from a landlord, and Edwards hides behind a tiny blueprint.

It makes no sense physically, but the timing is perfect. It reminds me of the silly physical comedy in Oh Kay!, where the logic of space just completely goes out the window.

But then the movie remembers it has a plot about racing boats. The actual boat race at the end has some real footage spliced in, and you can totally tell which shots are the actors in a studio tub with water being thrown at them. ⚙️

The water looks so fake in the close-ups, like someone is just off-camera with a bucket. Still, the speed of the editing during the race is surprisingly modern.

It has this chaotic energy that keeps you watching even if you don't care who wins the trophy. It’s not a masterpiece like some of the other dramas of the era, like maybe The Lonely Road, but it doesn't try to be.

One weird thing I noticed: there is a dog in the background of one shipyard scene that looks like it is trying to climb a ladder. Nobody acknowledges the dog, it just scrambles there in the corner of the frame for like five seconds.

I love stuff like that. It makes the movie feel alive in a way modern CGI stuff never does.