Fast Workers

Fast Workers depicts the friendship between a pair of riveters -- Gunner (John Gilbert) and Bucker (Robert Armstrong), who keep themselves honest by stealing each other's girl. This practice goes terribly awry when streetwise grifter gal Mary (Mae Clarke) becomes the middle of their perpetual triangle. Director Tod Browning, better known for macabre masterpieces, delivers the goods with deft characterizations and a stunning eye for the dramatic in the film's skyscraper and speak-easy setting. He draws two superb performances from his leads, while the small cast of stellar secondary players cast a wide enough net to support the lead's high tension, hi-wire dramatics. Gilbert's entrancing portrayal of rogue Gunner shows that he was more than ready for sound while Armstrong's hapless Bucker should prove a revelation for audiences who best know him for his immortal performance as King Kong's Carl Denham.

• classic
• drama