Torchy Blane gets a fluffy send-off

Torchy Blane... Playing With Dynamite (1939)

Starring: Jane Wyman, Allen Jenkin, Tom Kennedy, Sheila Bromley, Eddie Marr, and Joe Cunningham

Director: Noel Smith

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Torchy (Wyman) gets herself sent to jail in the pursit of an exclusive article about notorious bank robber Denver Eddie (Marr) via his incarcerated girlfriend (Bromley). Meanwhile, her fiancé, police Lt. Steve McBride (Jenkins), and his assistant Gahagan (Kennedy) decide to moonlight as bounty hunters and team up with Torchy in an effort to catch the robber and collect a $5,000 reward.

With a title like "Torchy Blane... Playing with Dynamite", I had hoped there'd be a mad bomber somewhere in the mix here.. but no. There wasn't even a time bomb in this, the final outing for Torchy Blane. This isn't the first time where the title of a Torchy Blane film has been a little off-the-mark

There's nothing particularly bad about this film, except perhaps the shaky logic that motivates the characters Lt. McBride and Gahagan to fly across the country in pursuit of the bank robber.., and perhaps Torchy's running around committing actual crimes to get herself put in jail, on the off-chance that she'll make friends with the bank robber's girlfriend and thus get not only a scoop but also the chance to arrest him. However, if you try to put yourself in the mindset of a 10- or 12-year-old, then the logic makes perfect sense.

The best thing about "Torchy Blane... Playing With Dynamite" is that it's constantly moving and almost every moment is devoted to somehow advancing the film's story or providing some tidbit of character development. It's only an hour long, but it flies by so fast it feels even shorter.

Another strong point of the film is that Gahagan got to do a little more than just be a moron who gets in the way. In fact, he is key to the film's climactic sequence revolving around a professional wrestling match

This was the final entry in the Torchy Blane series, but it saw two of the three lead characters portrayed recast with Jane Wyman wearing Torchy's hats and Allen Jenkins carrying Steve's badge. While Jenkins is a good replacement for Barton MacLane (who previously played the character), Jane Wyman is less effective in taking over from Glenda Farrell. Wyman has plenty of screen presence and energy, but she lacks the aggressive edge that made Farrell's Torchy believable as someone who over and over would outshine her male colleagues on the crime beat, but also take their ribbing and throw it right back at them. Wyman's a good Torchy, but she's not a great one.

All in all, Torchy's swan song is a solid B-movie. It's better than some in the series, but it's no "Smart Blonde" or "Blonde at Work".

'Torchy Runs for Mayor' is a mixture of the really good and the really bad

Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939)
Starring: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, John Miljan, John Downing, and Irving Bacon
Director: Ray McCarey
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell) takes on the city's corrupt political machine and underworld power broker Doc Dolan (Miljan), and after losing her career due to political pressure, she eventually becomes a candidate for the office of mayor herself.

"Torchy Runs for Mayor" was the eighth film in the Torchy Blane series, and it's at once both one of the best and one of the worst in the series.

First, what makes this the best film in the series: We get a good look at Torchy (Glenda Farrell) plying her trade as a story-at-any-cost reporter. In too many of the previous films, Torchy's workday has happened off-screen, but here we get to see her no only go about her ethically and legally questionable (and outright illegal) information gathering methods, but also her dealings with editors and publishers, as well as her working to turn her source material into column inches for print. We get to see a realistic reaction on the part of the police force when they are placed under political pressure from corrupt forces in the sense that instead of railing against Torchy and trying to shut her down, they got out of her way and quietly encouraged her to keep digging and poking at the bad guys--except for her long-suffering boyfriend Steve (Barton McLane) who genuinely fears for her life. (Although he's not so concerned that he doesn't join his Captain is executing an elaborate prank that becomes Torchy's inspiration to run for mayor). We also get to see long-running comic relief character Gehagan (Tom Kennedy) show that he is a capable police officer and useful for more than just taking up space. This film also has one of the most serious storylines and thrilling climaxes of any of the ones in the series; there's a sense that the characters are actually in danger and that things may not work out for them in the end.

Second, what makes this the worst in the series: A potentially fantastic villain, Doc Dolan played by John Miljan, ends up as an uninteresting cypher. We're told how powerful he is in both political and underworld circles, but we only get the slightest hint of this and we're never shown where that supposed power comes from. More to the point, this supposed criminal and political mastermind has to resort to kidnapping Torchy during the film's second half, something the character himself admits to Steve is a stupid thing to do (as a way of denying he did it), but that then begs the question as to why he kidnapped her. This question becomes even more vexing when one considers that he kept her alive and unconcious for at least a couple days--why? Why not just kill her and be done with her? The answer remains as mysterious as the nature of Dolan's powerbase... but it does ensure that Torchy is once again reduced to damsel-in-distress at the end of her own story and must be rescued by Steve. And, finally, the film doubles-down on Torchy being "just a woman" by ending with her quitting the office of mayor that she has just won in a landslide election to go off and marry Steve and have babies. (Yes, I just spoiled the ending.)

"Torchy Runs for Mayor" has the strongest script since the first couple of Torchy films, and the most dramatic storyline of all of them. As it unfolds, Torchy and Steve both are left without jobs, and there's a real sense that thnigs aren't going to end well for them as the story heads towards its climax. Naturally, things do ultimately turn out well for our heroes and heroine, and we're even given a sense of closure to the tale of Torchy and Steve that we've been following for the past seven movies; and it's a great closing, too.

At least it would have been if "Torchy Runs for Mayor" had been 20 or so seconds shorter. We still get closure for the story of Torchy and Steve, but it's a closure that betrays everything that Torchy has been about since she first strolled onto the screen, cracking wise. I realize that in the late 1930s, a woman's place was at home, but Torchy had been bucking that trend and fighting the good fight for eight movies, and now that she was in a place where she had the resources to really impliment change and justice on a large scale, she instead bows to conservative social convention and gives it all up--after the public clearly said they were okay with a woman mayor in charge of the city. (The only good point about this totally botched ending is that Steve is as taken aback by Torchy's announcement and total change of heart and character as I was. He was, naturally happy, as he and Torchy exited Stage Right... where I was left irritated and borderline angry to the point where the film dropped from a solid Seven Rating to a low Six.)

Although the story wraps up so neatly in this picture that it feels like the last "Torchy Blane" film, there was one more made. This film was the last for Farrell and McLane, but the characters they portrayed would be back, embodied by different performers. I'll find out if this should have been the last Torchy film, period, at some point in the future. When I do, I'll tell you all about it in this space.

2019

'Torchy Blane in Chinatown' is misnamed

Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)
Starring: Barton MacLane, Glenda Farrell, Tom Kennedy, Patric Knowles, and Richard Bond
Director: William Beaudine
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

A shadowy group of Chinese assassins are killing those involved with stealing Jade burial tablets from a powerful family. Will police detective Steve McBride (MacLane) stop the killers before they finish marking names off their hit-list, and will his girlfriend and reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell) keep her promise about keeping the details of his investigation of of the papers?

"Torchy Blane in Chinatown" is a major step down quality-wise from the five previous installments of this series. While it mostly avoids the racist stereotypes you'd expect from a film of this time period, it doesn't deliver anything that the title promises... unless the title character Torchy Blane spent all the time she was missing from the screen in Chinatown.

Yes, despite this supposedly being a film about Torchy Blane in Chinatown, no time is actually spent in Chinatown, and comic relief character Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) has more impact on the action than Torchy does. (Well, not quite; there's some dialogue at the end that tells us that Torchy was doing things off camera, but that's no way to treat what is supposed to be the main character).

As bad as it is that we get to see very little of Glenda Farrell and Torchy in this picture, it's even worse that the mystery here is so simple that I had it mostly figured out as of the first of three murders. But what pushed this film down to a Four Rating--and only its brief running-time of barely an hour, combined with Torchy not ending up as a damsel in distress like in the last two films saved it from getting Three Stars--was the way the story only worked if the characters behave like complete idiots and contrary to all common sense. Twice, the villains' master plot should have been stopped dead in its tracks, but the lazy scriptwriters just turned off the brains of all the characters so it would work. (Hell, the investigation would have taken an entirely different direction--and the movie would have been even shorter--if Torchy Blane hadn't been off-screen in Chinatown for as much as she was, because she had a key to the solution early on. She even tried to tell McBride about it, but he just brushed her off with "I'm too busy to talk to you"... as he gets into his chauffeured car in which Torchy could have ridden along and told him the clue she had uncovered.)

I have been irritated by some of the far-fetched, should-have-been-career-ending shenanigans that Torchy got up in previous films, and I have been frustrated when the filmmakers made her a spectator and/or damsel in distress during the climaxes of the movies bearing her name, but none of the previous films inspired the borderline anger that this one did. I literally felt like my intelligence was being insulted--I tried to think of it as a film made for kids instead of adults (which it isn't), and I still felt it was a lazily written, badly executed story. And to add insult to injury, Gahagan is portrayed as so mind-blowingly stupid in this film that it's hard to believe he even has a job as McBride's driver. He is so dumb, in fact, that he's not even all that funny.

As for the performances and technical aspects of the film, everyone does a good job. Barton MacLane seems engaged with his part again, and the various supporting players--both the ones portraying characters unique to this film, or the returning characters at the police station--all do excellent jobs. As always, Glenda Farrell is lots of fun as Torchy... it's just a shame she doesn't get to do more, or even have a single important scene. (That's not entirely true... in retrospect, the scene where Steve McBride tells her he's too busy to talk to her is an important one, but not in a good way.)

"Torchy Blane in Chinatown" is one of the nine films included in the "Torchy Blane Collection." I think it's the first one that I've had a hard time coming up with something good to say about, so in balance, this is still a series worth checking out if like Girl Power stories and fast-talking 1930s reporters. There are two more installments in the series for me to watch... and I really hope they get better rather than worse.

Torchy is Returned to Her Roots

Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)
Starring: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, and Willard Robertson
Director: William Beaudine
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A counterfeiting ring, led by the elusive "100 Dollar Bill" Bailey (Robertson) engages in an elaborate deception to trick police detective Steve McBride (MacLane) and his superiors in the police department into thinking they are Secret Service agents conducting a sting operation and to inadvertently give them cover to operate. Meanwhile, his fiance, crime reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell), hopes those Secret Service agents will provide her with leads for her investigative article about Bailey and his career in crime, and she badgers a vacationing police officer (Kennedy) into helping her tail them.

"Torchy Blane Gets Her Man", the sixth film in this series, sees Glenda Farrell return as the character she originated... and it's great to have her back. It's also great to have the character back in full hard-nosed, dedicated crusading reporter mode, something that had faded in the two previous installments where Torchy was more a trickster and action heroine respectively.

While Farrell and the return of Classic Torchy is enough to boost this film, it is further enriched by a brazen and coldhearted villain with a clever scheme that, although I doubt it would ever work in the real world, makes for great movie entertainment. It also provides some nice old-school melodrama action during the third act with all the main characters assembled in house where a time bomb is counting down to their demise. We also get lots of Tom Kennedy's dimwitted Gahagan... and the dynamic between Torchy being the "straight-man" to his goofiness is a joy to behold. The only returning performer who doesn't shine is Barton MacLane, partly because Steve McBride is sidelined for most of the story, but also because some of the life seems to have gone out of MacLane's performance. He also appears puffier than he did in the previous three movies; perhaps he was ill, or maybe he just wasn't interested in even being on the set?

There are, however, two crucial aspects that prevent this film from being as great as it could have been. First, the film feels cheaper than previous installments, with a cramped feeling about most of the sets as well as a very sloppy use of stock footage badly matched to the sequence it's inserted into; the Torchy Blane films have always been low-budget B-pictures, but this is the first one that looks like it. Second, the story suffers from the same flaw that undermined "Torchy Blane in Panama"--Torchy ultimately ends up as a "damsel in distress" that must be rescued by her boyfriend. It's more deftly done here, but it would still have been nice if Torchy had played a more active role in the film's resolution.

"Torchy Gets Her Man" is included on DVD with the rest of the films in this classic 1930s series in the Torchy Blane Collection from the Warner Archives.

It's the end of the road for Hildegarde Withers

Forty Naughty Girls (1937)
Starring: James Gleason, ZaSu Pitts, Frank M. Thomas, Joan Woodbury, Alan Edwards, Tom Kennedy, Marjorie Lord,  and Stephen Chase
Director: Edward F. Cline
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Oscar and Hildegarde (Gleason and Pitts) are enjoying a night at the theatre when not one but two murders happen during the show... the second one taking place on stage, in full view of the entire audience and cast and crew backstage.

This was the last of the Hildegarde Withers films, and it is also the weakest. While it's not terrible, it is far down the quality scale from where the series began with "The Penguin Pool Murders." Where there is plenty to like here, the good does not quite outweigh the bad.

First, the good: Someone working on the film during pre-production finally remembered that Oscar and Hildegarde are involved in a relationship, and they used it as a central motivator to get the story started. Also, the film has a strong supporting cast, with Tom Kennedy (basically playing the same dumb cop he portrays in the "Torchy Blane" series), Joan Woodbury (at the height of her B-movie stardom, playing an actress who was in a love triangle between the first murder victim and the show'd producer, a friend of Oscar's), and Marjorie Lord (at the very beginning of her career in a small but crucial part) shining particularly brightly. In fact, Kennedy is so amusing in this picture that I found myself wishing that he was star rather than James Gleason.

And that takes us to the bad. While the writers may  have remembered that Oscar and Hildegarde are a couple, but they forgot they were intelligent people, and that they worked as a team (mostly) when solving crimes. That has been completely lost in the script for "Forty Naughty Girls". What has also been lost is any unique flavor that was present in previous installments of this series. While the Hildegarde Withers films were always B-movies, this is the first one that felt like it was just another cheap mystery/comedy, with a dumb cop bumbling his way through his "investigation" while a clever trickster actually solves the crime. (Except in this case, the trickster--Hildegarde--is just as big a bumbler as Ocsar is portrayed as.) Oscar spends the movie making wild accusations with almost no evidence--and is proven wrong either by himself or other characters, while Hildegarde pratfalls her way to uncovering clues. While amusing--especially since the comedy does play to ZaSu Pitts' strengths as a performer--it doesn't serve the characters nor the Hildegarde Withers series well. It doesn't even serve the film itself well but just drags it down.

"Forty Naughty Girls" could have been a very clever mystery where the main characters have to solve a double murder in real time, as the musical the film is named after unfolds on stage. It also had all the pieces to return the characters of Oscar Piper and Hildegarde Withers to the height of dorky coolness they were at when the series started. Heck, given the strong supporting cast, this film had all the elements to make it the best in the series. Instead, all those quality ingredients were slapped together lazily and sloppily and the end result was just another generic 1930s comedy-mystery... and instead of going out on a high note, the "Hildegarde Withers Mysteries" series ended almost as bad as it got. (It's better than "Murder on the Bridle Path", but only because it's funnier.)

Torchy Blane is a Whole New Woman!

Torchy Blane in Panama (1938)
Starring: Lola Lane, Paul Kelly, Tom Kennedy, Anthony Averill, and Larry Williams
Director: William Clemens
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

A violent bank robber (Averill) passes himself off as a member of the Leopard Lodge to conceal his identity and hide among its members onboard a cruiseship bound for Los Angeles via the Panama Canal. Ace reporter Torchy Blane (Lane), her police detective boyfriend, Steve (Kelly), and a rival reporter (Williams) board the ship in the hopes of identifying the robber before he escapes with the stolen money. Bumbling detective Gahagan (Kennedy) is also aboard, as a member of the Lodge and Steve hopes he'll be able to spot the fraud.

In this, the fifth entry in the "Torchy Blane" series, Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane are replaced by Lola Lane and Paul Kelly in the roles of Torchy Blane and Steve McBride. This recasting is partly to blame for this being the weakest film in the series yet, but even more blame can be placed on the writers of the screenplay.

First, Paul Kelly is a decent actor, but he's not quite right for the part of Steve McBride, because his slighter frame makes him less of a presence. It also doesn't help that the writers have given the character a streak of sexist immaturity that hasn't been present until this film: For much of "Torchy Blane in Panama"'s running-time, viewers have the sense that Steve and the reporter he teams up don't want Torchy's girl cooties disrupting their male bonding (which include an ongoing and obnoxious prank on Gahagan).

Second, while Torchy is more of an action heroine in this film than she's ever been before (she parachutes from an airplane, she scales the sides of ships and walls, throws punches, and more!), she ultimately ends up as a damsel in distress who must be rescued by Steve from the film's villains. She's as witty as ever, and Lola Lane makes of a good replacement--even if it's odd to suddenly have a brunette playing the lead character in a series that's made a big deal out of the fact she's a blonde--but she is let down by the script-writers who didn't seem to know how to write a woman who didn't need to be rescued.

Thirdly, while the "Torchy Blane" films have always been B-pictures, this is the first one that feels like a 1930s cheapie comedy/mystery. The story focuses more on the clownish antics of Gahagan than ever before, cruel jokes on other characters for no good reason are considered par for the course, and the cops, in general, are so dumb that you're surprised the manage to remember to breathe. While Torchy is ultimately reduced to a damsel in distress, she's still the smartest person around, because the cops are so damn dumb.
"Torchy Blane in Panama" is a major step down quality-wise from previous films, but it still entertaining. The dialogue is just as witty in previous films, and there are a few moments of genuine tension. Lola Lane also makes a decent Torchy, but she is ultimately let down by a script that's too much generic 1930s laff-bag, and too little Torchy Blane.

'Blondes at Work' has Torchy Blane at her best

Blondes at Work (1938)
Starring: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Thomas E. Jackson, Tom Kennedy, Frank Shannon, Rosella Towne, and Donald Briggs
Director: Frank McDonald
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Crime reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell) gets extra creative (and even more ethically dubious) in her pursuit of scoops once her fiance, homicide detective fiance Steve McBride (MacLane), is ordered by his superior (Shannon) to stop favoring her over other reporters.

"Blondes at Work" is the fourth entry in the Torchy Blane series, and it's the best one so far. The script is well-crafted; the dialogue is sharp, all the characters are intelligently written with no one taking brainless actions just so the plot can move forward, and even minor characters get their moments to shine. Every performance in the film is top-notch, with series regulars Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, and Frank Shannon giving particularly impressive performances. Thomas E. Jackson, who spent the 1930s and 1940s playing police detectives is a nice addition to the cast as Steve's right-hand man and the unfortunate person charged with keeping Torchy on a leash and out of investigation.

Speaking of the investigation, unlike the previous films, the murder mystery here is entirely secondary plotwise to the interaction among characters while Steve and his detectives try to navigate an increasingly ugly public relations and political situation that's being stirred up by Torchy's aggressive pursuit of a story the police department is trying to freeze her out of. Although she actually harms their ability to close their case more than once, I never felt that her behavior was out of line or unrealistic in the context of the lighthearted pulp-fiction universe the characters live in. I felt that way at several points during the previous film in this series, "Torchy Blane, the Adventurous Blonde", so that's another testament to the quality of the script. I did wonder if she would have any friends at the end of it all, given how she treated them--with poor, trusting Gahagen (Steve's less-than-brilliant driver, played by Tom Kennedy) getting the worst of it. Even that thought, however, was addressed neatly within the story... Torchy ended up paying a price for crossing the many lines she crossed in a way that gave her friends an opportunity to admit that maybe she went too far and for her friends to forgive her.

The only complaint I have about this highly entertaining film is that the murder mystery that both Steve and Torchy were investigating was ultimately resolved off-screen. It works within the context of the film, but it was still a little disappointing. (The resolution isn't a surprise, which is something else that makes the script praiseworthy; the basic solution to the "whodunnit" is out in the open the whole time.)

If you have an hour to kill, watching "Blondes at Work" is a fine way to do it.

Torchy Blane's 3rd adventure is a mixed bag

Torchy Blane, the Adventurous Blonde (1937)
Starring: Glenda Farrell, Barton McLane, Tom Kennedy, Anderson Lawler, Anne Nagel, Charles Foy,  Bobby Watson, and Natalie Moorehead
Director: Frank MacDonald
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Reporters at a rival paper (Foy and Watson) arrange a hoax murder to humiliate Torchy (Farrell) and expose what they view as favoritism toward her by her homicide detective boyfriend (McClane) when it comes to information. However, the hoax becomes very real when someone uses it as an opportunity to commit an actual murder.

"The Adventurous Blonde" is the third Torchy Blane movie, and it is a mix of really bad and really good material.

On the good side, we've got a back-and-forth subplot about Torchy and Steve's looming marriage. It was inching closer during the first two films, and it seems like it might actually happen in this one... but the various reasons for it being delayed--even as the magistrate stands ready to perform the ceremony--add to fun of the film. We're also treated to lots of witty dialogue, not only from McLane and Farrell as Steve and Torchy banter and bicker their way through the movie, but from the supporting cast as well. Even dimwitted Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) gets a couple good zingers. Finally, the intersection of Torchy and Steve's professional lives serves as a plot complication with both members of the media and the police department raising questions about the propriety of a crimebeat reporter and a police detective being in an intimate relationship with each other.

The intersection of police work and journalism is also what gives rise to some of the film's worst points. First, there's the hoax murder that Torchy's rivals stage. Initially, it makes sense within the rules that exist in the breezy, pulp-fiction universe of Torchy Blane... but as it continues, it becomes less and less believable. By the time the "corpse" is being loaded onto the coroner's transport vehicle, it has become downright stupid in its execution. How could the ambulance crew not notice the corpse wasn't dead? Or were they paid off to further the hoax? And if they were paid off, why didn't they give the hoaxters a heads-up that the hoax had turned real? But even before we get to that point, the number of people involved in the hoax beyond newspaper staff--people who will be serving jail-time for giving false evidence to the police--have gotten to the number where the intended reason for it was going to fail anyway. Finally, there's the "creative detective work" that Torchy engages in during the second half of the film. It's amusing, but it's doing things the hard way... and in a way that barely makes any sense and is as unethical (perhaps evenmoreso) than the hoax that set the events of the movie in motion.

In balance, "Torchy Blane, the Adventurous Blonde" is a fun romp, but it's not one that you want to think too hard about while it unfolds. Ultimately, the best part of the film ends up being the will-they or won't-they about Steve and Torchy's nuptuials and the many caustic exchanages between characters.

Having fun with the creative set

How Comedies are Born (1931)
Starring: Harry Sweet,  Harry Gribbon, Tom Kennedy, Doris McMahon, Jill Dennett, and Bud Jamison
Director: Harry Sweet
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Writers and actors get together for a brainstorming session, hoping to hatch the next hit movie.

"How Comedies are Born" is a fun little spoof of creative brainstorming sessions. Having been part of a number of these back when I was a full-time writer, I can attest to the fact that there's a lot of Truth here, even if its exaggerated for laughs. What there's also a lot of is gags, slapstick, and jokes revolving around beer--and beer-based slapstick routines--and snappy dialogue full of playful and not so playful insults. Some of the jokes were probably old even when this film was first released, but I think that was the point  of including them, so it's excusable. It all adds up to some very fun 18 minutes.

Unfortunately, in order to enjoy this film, you'll have to look past the awful quality of the print used for this DVD. It was plainly taken from a well-worn third- or four-generation (at least) videotaped copy--complete with the blurry image and static lines that come with that--and little or no effort was put into cleaning it up. I understand that distributor Alpha Video offers low-cost DVDs of old movies, so one can't except a lot of effort, but I still think it's a shame the picture quality isn't better.

"How Comedies are Born" is one of six short films included on "Ultra-Rare Pre-Code Comedies Vol. 4."

'Fly Away Baby' is a fun mystery

Fly Away Baby (1937)
Starring: Glenda Farrell, Barton McLane, Gordon Oliver, Raymond Hatton, Tom Kennedy, and Marcia Ralston
Director: Frank McDonald
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

In order to unravel the mysteries surrounding the murder of a jeweler, scoop-hunting reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell) joins two other reporters (Hatton and Olivier) for on-the-spot coverage of an around-the-world-record flight attempt. The other reporters are keeping secrets... but is one of them a killer?

"Fly Away Baby" is the second film in the "Torchy Blane" series, and like the first one, it clocks in at about an hour... and it makes good use of every second of running time, with a tightly delivered story, a lively cast delivering sharp and witty dialogue, and nice cinematography and sets that make the film look like it has a bigger budget than it did.

The relationship between Torchy (Glenda Farrell) and her police detective boyfriend Steve (Barton McLane) is again a nice center to the picture. It's also nice to see recurring supporting characters get some meaty scenes, like Tom Kennedy's dimwitted cop (who quits his job for reasons that become clear when he, too, shows up as part of the junket following the around-the-world flight).

The only serious complaint I have about the film is that it takes too long to get the characters in the air and overseas, and then doesn't spend enough time along the way. As a result, the climax feels a bit rushed and a lot deus-ex-machina with a heavy dose of "characters gotta do stupid things, or the story won't resolve in time" or the story won't resolve it time. This may sound like a bit of a contradiction to my comment above about the film making good use of its run-time, but it basically does: There is't a second of padding here and the clumsy plotting doesn't actually make the film any less entertaining. It does knock it from an Eight Rating to a low Seven.

'Smart Blonde' is a wise viewing choice

Smart Blonde (1937)
Starring: Glenda Farrell. Barton McLane, Addison Richards, Tom Kennedy, Jane Wyman, and Winifred Shaw
Director: Frank McDonald
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Newspaper reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell) and her boyfriend, Homicide Squad Lt. Steve McBride (McLane), unravel the mysteries surrounding the murder of an out-of-town investor poised to buy the businesses of Fitz Mularky (Richards).

"Smart Blonde" is a breezy mystery flick with just the right amount of suspects and story for its brief one-hour running time. Another strong element of the film is that the romantic relationship between Torchy and Steve is long-established before the beginning of this story, which is a nice change of pace. Too often, these films shoe-horn an insta-romance into the picture, but here the writers were smart enough to avoid that contrivance.

(Of course, to some degree, the source material can be thanked for that. In the story this film was adapted from, Torchy is a man who is best friends with MacBride.)

Aside from the well-cast, well-written central characters, the supporting cast is made up of similarly charming actors playing interesting characters. Stand-outs are Tom Kennedy, as Steve's small-brained, big hearted chauffeur, and Jane Wyman, a a chatty hat-check girl.

If you like 1930s mystery films that throw a "battle of the sexes" into the mix, I think you'll find "Smart Blonde" right up your alley... and a refreshing change in several ways.

Have a fun time with 'The Dancing Millionaire'

The Dancing Millionaire (1934)
Starring: Dorothy Granger, Carol Tevis, Grady Sutton, Tom Kennedy, and Jack Mulhall
Director: Sam White
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When her wrestler boyfriend (Kennedy) is arrested after a road-rage incident, Dorothy (Granger) decides to trade up to a rich man (Sutton) she meets at her job as a taxi-dancer. Things get complicated when the ex (who doesn't know he's an ex) gets out of jail and shows up at the restaurant where Dorothy is on a date with her new man.

"The Dancing Millionaire" is the most 'mature' of this allegedly risque series of pre-Hayes Code comedy shorts that I've watched so far, at least as far as the jokes and the character motivations go, as as Granger's character's main interest in men being what's in their wallets rather than their heart or personality. Some of the slapstick is a bit on the lame side, but the non-stop pace of this film makes that excusable. What is slightly more annoying is that Dorothy Granger appears to be doing the "high-pitched dumb chick voice" like Carol Tevis always does... and both of them doing that is a bit much. Still, this is a fun film... and a funny twist at the very end.

You can find "The Dancing Millionaire" with several other entries in the "Blondes and Redheads" series on DVD. I recommend picking it up. Some are better than others, but they all have something worthwhile about them.



Trivia: Almost everywhere you look on the Internet--including at IMD--the summary of this film is wrong. They even get it wrong on the back cover of the DVD I link to above. Just about everyone seems to think "The Dancing Millionaire" can be summarized as follows: "A thuggish gangster, trying to prove that he's "sophisticated", gets the girls to help him to win a local dancing competition."... But there is neither a thuggish gangster, nor a dancing competition anywhere in the film.