There were two main reasons for wanting to watch 'Fast Workers'. Primarily that it was silent film star John Gilbert's MGM swansong and one of his sound pictures, that are not very well regarded at all generally (in a few cases understandably so but others are not bad). Also that it was directed by Tod Browning, known more for his horror films, so he was an interesting choice for director and especially for a type of film that if done right would have been quite light-hearted and witty.
'Fast Workers' to me is actually one of Gilbert's better talkies, 'Downstairs' being his best of the ones where he is the main lead. While it is not a great film and could have done with a much lighter touch later on, it does charm and amuse initially and actually looks and feels competent (something that was not the case with a couple of Gilbert's other talkies, it is much better than 'Redemption' and 'Way of a Sailor'). While the flaws are evident and glaring, a lot works in 'Fast Workers' favour.
One being Gilbert. The role is not a likeable or well fleshed out one, but Gilbert brings a lot of personality and confidence to it and has a lot of appeal. Mae Clark has charm and is at ease with her less serious moments and Robert Armstrong, despite his character being too much of an idiot at times, is amusing. Most of the acting is good. Browning provides some of the best direction of any of Gilbert's talkies, despite some heavy-handedness later on, most of them being badly directed but Browning directs with style and crispness as well as some nice atmosphere (namely because he was one of the few to actually give the impression that he was comfortable in sound pictures).
Visually, 'Fast Workers' is also one of Gilbert's better looking talkies. It doesn't look static and there are some nice visual touches photography-wise without being too clever, the production looks as if a good deal of time and effort went into it. The writing is fun and intriguing in the first two thirds or so and the story mostly engages.
It is an uneven film, having said all of that. Things takes a dramatic turn later on and it becomes heavy on the melodramatic sentiment, pretty ridiculous and almost too mean-spirited, very different to what became before. Browning's direction does as said get too heavy later on and the script loses coherence in the final third too. The central chemistry is too often bland and is agreed pretty turgid. Would have liked the characters to have fleshed out more, these are not really characters worth rooting for, most pretty amoral, and any negative characteristics are sometimes exaggerated.
Not all the acting is great, Sterling Holloway for example came over as annoying and out of place. The ending belongs more in a horror film and doesn't gel with the rest of the film.
Concluding, not a bad film and one of Gilbert's better talkies. Still could have been better though. 6/10
