The Adventurous Blonde

This is the 3rd film of the Torchy Blane series and once again Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane are in the leads once again. The film begins with the Lieutenant (MacLane) getting a slight dressing down by his boss. It seems that since Torchy is the lieutenant's fiancée, she gets an inside scoop of crimes that other newspaper people are now complaining about--after all, should the Lieutenant's girl get stories that no other reporter has access to? In addition, the reporters decide to play a trick on the couple to get revenge--they'll stage a fake murder and make them look like idiots when they investigate. The problem is that this fake murder turns out to be a real one--and once again, Torchy gets the scoop.

Throughout the film, Torchy takes the law into her own hands--making guesses and playing hunches again and again. And, since this IS a Torchy Blane film, you know that all of it will work out in the end. Unfortunately, compared to the earlier Torchy Blane films, this one more contrived and less believable. Enjoyable, sure--just not particularly outstanding in its execution.

The Adventurous Blonde (1937)

*** (out of 4)

The third film in the series has Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) and Lt. MacBride (Barton MacLane) soon to be married, which drives her fellow reporters crazy because they feel she'll get all the scoops. To get even with her they get a famous actor needing publicity to pretend to be murdered so that Torchy will report the story and then get in trouble. The tables turn however when the actor ends up murdered just the way the joke was supposed to happen. This third film in the series is actually the best up to this point thanks in large part to the cast doing a fine job but the story here is also extremely well-done with a couple nice twists at the end. The idea of a "joke" murder getting into the newspaper is a bit far-fetched but I really thought this was rather fun at the start of the picture. The jealousy of the male reporters was quite funny but once the murder takes place things get a lot more serious. As someone who watches every "B" murder/mystery that comes on TCM, I must admit that the story here was quite good and especially the various suspects and their connection to the victim. Farrell and MacLane are both at the top of their game here with the chemistry flying high. Anne Nagel, George E. Stone and Tom Kennedy are all good in their supporting bits as is Anderson Lawler, , Leyland Hodgson and Virginia Brissac. The twist at the end is something I won't give away but I serious doubt anyone will see it coming.

Glenda farrell is torchy blane, on a train, heading east to get married. Co-stars the usual barton maclane and tom kennedy. It's a battle of newspapers, and the other reporters want to put torchy in her place. So they stage a fake murder. Which turns out not to be fake. Will she ever get married? Some funny lines. Fast action. Well done who-dunnit, wrapped up in sixty one minutes. We were still pretty happy go lucky, between the two wars. I really liked the energy of this one... not a minute wasted. It really moved along. Fun stuff. Directed by frank mcdonald; he made six films with farrell. Torchy blane character by writer fred nebel.

Barton MacLane, William Hopper and George E. Stone all appeared in TV's Perry Mason. Hopper as a main character PI Paul Drake, Stone as the court reporter in many episodes and MacLane as a guest star.

When we last left them, Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) and Steve MacBride (Barton MacLane were still about to get married,. In this one, what keeps them apart is that her fellow reporters decide the way to keep her on the paper is to have her report a fake murder. So they set it up with Leyland Howard, only to discover that he is, indeed dead. So MacLane and Miss Farrell investigate at cross purposes.

The nine Torchy Blane movies produced by Warner's B unit from 1937 through 1939 are a lot of silly fun, mostly because Miss Farrell was Warner's champion motormouth, and MacLane was tops at playing a solid guy; together they are surprisingly charming. Tom Kennedy, Charley Foy, and Jimmy Conlin appear for their own brands of comic action, and while these were never intended as great movies, they were always solidly entertaining.