Fast Company/Fast and Loose/Fast and Furious-Triple Feature (DVD)

Who bumped off bibliophile Otto Brockler? Mystery turns a new page when bookdealers and amateur sleuths Joel and Garda Sloane (Melvyn Douglas, Florence Rice) sift through clues and suspects in Fast Company, the first of three brisk, urbane Sloane films. When a rare Shakespeare manuscript is stolen, the stage is set for murder in Fast and Loose, with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell as the Sloanes. "The comedy is jauntily paced, and profits as much from its writing as it has from the deft light-comedy playing of Mr. Montgomery and Miss Russell" (Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times). Last, director Busby Berkeley turns his camera toward a bevy of bathing beauties and helms the clues and comedy of Fast and Furious. Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern play the Sloanes, rescuing a friend falsely accused of gunning down a shady beauty-pageant promoter. Three films, three sets of stars -- all ideal fare for fans of The Thin Man series!

• mystery