Smart Blonde is the first film, and it introduces the little firecracker known as Torchy Blane (her real name is Theresa, but that is not revealed until the second movie and only said twice in the entire nine films!). The plot centers around Torchy witnessing the murder of a man she just interviewed - a man who was set to buy a Club and all of the gambling enterprises of one Fitz Mularkey. Torchy's boyfriend, Steve McBride, is assigned to the case, and although he tries to keep Torchy out of the way, she manages to insinuate herself into every situation, ultimately exposing the true masterminds behind the murder! The movie, released in 1937, is subtitled "The Adventures of Torchy Blane," and definitely establishes Glenda Farrell as Torchy, alongside Barton MacLane as police detective McBride. The two actors have a natural chemistry that explodes on screen, keeping the comedic dialogue real and believable!
Farrell returned as Torchy in the second film, Fly Away Baby, which also used "The Adventures of Torchy Blane" subtitle (and was the last of the films to do so). This movie featured more action than the previous one, as Torchy inserts herself into a contest with a competing newspaper reporter to fly around the globe! After a jeweler is found murdered and his collection of diamonds stolen, Torchy's fiance McBride is on the case. Torchy tags along, and soon comes to suspect the other reporter of the crime! Thus, she convinces her editor to let her race the reporter around the world, hoping she can find the evidence to prove him guilty! Along the way, though, she uncovers the true identity of the killer and locates the stolen diamonds! Despite being filmed so quickly (the movie was released only five months after the first one!), it was actually very well done, considering the number of action sequences and stunts involved!
With the third film, Torchy Blane's name takes the headline over the title, The Adventurous Blonde, proving the success of this series (which I believe was largely in part to Farrell's superb portrayal of the character). The story opens with Torchy and a fellow train passenger reading each other's telegrams by mistake. Torchy learns her fiance has a minister lined up and ready to marry them as soon as she arrives home! Unfortunately, fate has other plans when four reporters jealous of Torchy's success plan a fake murder that they hope will lead Torchy to publish a false story. The plan backfires when the actor they hired to "play" dead turns up dead for real, and Torchy scoops them all once again! Postponing their wedding, Torchy and McBride set about the solve the case, and Torchy uses a fake confession of one of the suspects to lure the real killer into the light! This film set the stage for the constant postponement of Torchy Blane and Steve McBride's pending nuptials - every time you think they are ready to tie the knot, something gets in the way! Once again, it was another fast-filmed movie, as this one was released just five months after the second film!
Blondes at Work was the title of the fourth film, and it was Farrell's last appearance as Torchy Blane (well, so she thought). The story in this movie was a bit different from the previous ones. The focus of the film is on McBride being told to keep Torchy from getting all the scoops from the department, as they are getting heat from other newspapers that they are playing favorites. When the son of a department store mogul turns up dead, McBride and Torchy each run their own investigations - and Torchy seems to spend most of her time trying to trick the other papers! Torchy winds up behind bars herself for revealing the verdict of a jury trial before the jury announces it, and she misses out on the confession of the real killer (but don't worry - McBride does her a favor of calling in the story to her paper, so she still managed to get the scoop from behind bars!). Released in February 1938, this was probably one of the fastest filmed movies of the series, as it came out only three months after the last one!
Actress Lola Lane takes over the role of Torchy Blane in the fifth film, Torchy Blane in Panama. Interestingly enough, McBride was also replaced with another actor (Paul Kelly). The plot involves a bank robbery, where the thief hides out among the Loyal Order of Leopards, of which McBride's inept sidekick on the force, Gahagan, is a member. Torchy follows the Leopards onto a cruise ship headed for Panama, where she finds the thief but also finds herself kidnapped and held captive by him and his cohorts. McBride and Gahagan have to track her down and rescue her before it's too late (although Torchy was already planning a way to escape her predicament). Although the story was pretty good (and pretty standard Torchy fare), Lola Lane just did not have the spunk or spirit that Farrell had, and film did not do well at the box office. Lane and Kelly were out, and Warner Brothers brought back Farrell and MacLane for the next movie.
Torchy Gets Her Man is the last film of the series to come out in 1938, and thankfully brought Farrell and MacLane back into the roles they truly defined. This time around, Torchy overhears a secret service agent ask the police to help him catch a counterfeiter they believe will be passing phony money at the race track. McBride keeps Torchy in the dark about the sting, but she still manages to learn about it through Gahagan, and she manages to track the counterfeiter to his hideout. She,of course, gets kidnapped right along with Gahagan, and this time a dog happens to be the one to save the day! This story was actually a pretty creative one, since the crook turns out to be the very person asking the police for help, and Torchy is the only one who grows suspicious of the man!
The first film in 1939, Torchy Blane in Chinatown, proves the writing for these stories can get craftier and craftier! The story centers around three former adventurers who brought back some priceless jade tablets from one of their adventures. They are receiving death threats, and after the first of the men is murdered, and the second one is killed and his body disappears, McBride and his force work overtime to protect the third man. Torchy uncovers some inconsistencies in the stories and discovers a plot to extort money from a Senator that leads to a rather unique conclusion involving a payoff at sea and a submarine rescue! I think this is probably one of my favorite of the series, simply because the plot is so intricate and actually makes you think in order to figure out what is really going on!
Farrell and MacLane make their last appearance as Torchy and McBride in the eight installment of this series, Torchy Runs for Mayor. Torchy is getting a lot of heat for articles she is writing about the mayor, accusing him of colluding with a local crime boss. The newspapers are warned away from any future stories, and Torchy ends up getting a small publisher to print her story, distributing the paper herself along with Gahagan's help. When the publisher is murdered, Torchy ends up as a new candidate for major! Torchy, of course, gets kidnapped once again, and McBride begins to wonder if Torchy's articles didn't hold some truth to them. It's a race against time as he rushes to rescue his fiance, and the crime boss gets his just deserves when he is blown up by a bomb meant for McBride! The film has a humorous ending, as Torchy ends up winning the election as mayor, but quickly resigns when she finds out she has to hold babies for photographs!
The final Torchy Blane film was released on Augut 12, 1939, and as with the previous film without Farrell and MacLane, it doesn't hold up well. Torchy Plays With Dynamite (also known as Torchy Blane ... Playing with Dynamite) features Jane Wyman in the title role, with Allen Jenkins assuming the role of McBride. While Wyman does an okay job as Torchy, Jenkins is absolutely horrible as McBride. This last tale involves a series of bank robberies by Denver Eddie, who seems to be able to evade the police at every turn. Through a series of events, Torchy gets herself thrown in jail so she can cozy up to Denver Eddie's girlfriend and hopefully get the inside scoop on the man. When she saves Jackie's life, Jackie suggests she and Torchy escape from jail, saying her boyfriend will help them out. With McBride in on the plan, the girls escape and head to San Francisco. There is a series of close calls, and Gahagan goes undercover as a wrestler (which results in a few humorous physical scenes). Ultimately, they catch Denver Eddie, and with the reward money for his capture, McBridge and Torchy have the money they need to get married!
An interesting note about that final film - Jane Wyman, who takes over the role of Torchy Blane, appeared in the very first Torchy flick, Smart Blonde, playing the character Dixie, the hat check girl at the Million Club. As for the overall series, Tom Kennedy is the only actor to appear in all nine films, in his role as Gahagan, police detective Steve McBride's bumbling sidekick who loves to spout poetry at the most inopportune times. Actor George Guhl appeared in eight of the nine films as the front desk sergeant, Graves, but for unknown reasons, he was replaced in the last movie (and, in fact, the entire set for that front area of the police headquarters was changed).
Despite the films having different writers, the character of Torchy Blane was pretty consistent throughout (even though when played by Lane and Wyman, she lacked the spunk that Farrell brought to the character). What I did not realize, until after I researched the movies, is that the first film was based upon a detective stories by Frederick Nebel called MacBride and Kennedy. Of course, those stories were about two men, and Warner Brothers revised it to make Kennedy a woman and shortened the name of MacBride to McBride. It's interesting to note that McBride was played by MacLane ("Mac"Bride) and Gahagan was played by Tom "Kennedy," so there are some funny coincidences between the original source material and the actors in the films.
The most surprising thing I discovered was that Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel has been said to have used Farrell's portrayal of Torchy Blane as the inspiration for his character, Lois Lane, and that Lois' name was actually taken from actress Lola Lane, who played Torchy in the fifth film! So, in a way, I suppose we have Torchy Blane and the woman who played her to thank for comic book's most famous female reporter!
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movies and found them to be fun, for the most part well-written, and in most cases, well-acted. A part of me would love to see the character brought back to life today in a television series or series of films, but ONLY if they stick to the source material and keep Torchy and her supporting cast exactly as they were in these films!
RATING: 9 disappearing bodies out of 10 for some fantastic, fun-filled films with a title character that is truly memorable and enjoyable to watch!
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